Shelter:
The Rural Homeless
I work with people who have often been overlooked by society and opportunity. I noticed with Mitch (name changed) that I too sometimes overlook people's uniqueness, making unfair assumptions about the people I am serving. Mitch was a quiet guy who had been with us for a few months. He was always polite and never caused trouble with anyone. He kept a regular schedule, rarely complained, and though he didn't mind talking at all, he also didn't go out of his way to strike up conversations. I notice as I am writing this story that I was spending so much of my energy scanning for arguments, strife, mischief, and other negative influences on community atmosphere here that I failed to see many of the positive things going on. In short, Mitch was easy for me to overlook. It wasn't until he left that I realized the impact he had been having here. His quiet, peaceful nature was calming to other people. Although he suffered from depression, his endurance was encouraging to others. He didn't have a fantastic job, but he enjoyed what he did, and that attitude rubbed off on others. People, including me, missed him when he left. Meeting Mitch taught me to spend less time focusing on the problems of the house, and to spend at least as much time identifying and encouraging the positive things, particularly people, happening here. Thankfully, Mitch still stops by the house every now and then to hang out and talk. I got to tell him about the impact he had on the residents while he was staying here. And the impact he had on me.
-Patrick Filipiak (Patrick serves Good Works as Shelter Supervisor)

Ralph and Lenny
We recently had a Pastor call us to refer a young man. "He is a good kid," he said, but he hangs out with people who get him in trouble. He doesn't have good relationship with his family and he needs someone who can hold him accountable to getting his life on track. Can you help him? We met with Ralph and his pastor, and we determined that we would be willing to help him if he was focused on getting his GED. After he was accepted here he began to pursue his plan earnestly. He took a pre-test and passed it! This means that the cost for taking the real test would be waived. He plans to attend a college in Cincinnati, possibly in the winter, if he can get the funding. Ralph is a very likable guy, and given a chance, he will go far. We hope we have given him that chance.
Lenny is the kind of a guy that seems to get on people's nerves. It seems like he intentionally irritates the other residents. He has a hard time taking anything seriously, including the house rules. He is the kind of a guy who comes to us every so often to test our the limits of our love. It is easier to love guys like Ralph, who get along well with everyone in a good natured way. But how do you get along with a guy who always finds your last nerve and then gleefully steps right on it? We have tried to help this guy, and sometimes the only way we can do this is to limit his access to the house. That is, he is required to leave early in the morning and not return until almost bedtime. He can get a bite to eat when he arrives and is permitted to make a lunch for himself before he leaves in the morning. We try to send the message that it is your offensive behavior, Lenny, that has forced you outside the boundaries of the household. It is a metaphor for his entire life. We are hoping to help him see that his alienation from people is the direct result of his unwillingness to care for anyone but himself. We have hopes for Lenny, but we have seen that sometimes it takes more than one stay at the shelter until a person realizes what they are doing to themselves and others. I know. I was once a resident myself.
-Ken Weinkauf (Ken serves as the Timothy House Manager and as our Web Master)

Summer Service
As with everything at Good Works, we began to dream of another way we could serve people and this dream came into being! Summer service was started about 7 years ago originally to help Good Works with various work projects at our properties. In recent years, we began to help lower income home owners have a way to be able to afford projects that need to be done. Because many of the citizens we serve have limited incomes, they often don't have money for things that are above their very basic needs. A lot of people we do work for would do the job themselves but for one reason or another they are no longer physically able to do those things.
The process one must go to get us to do the work starts with our ad in the local papers. Then people inquire about getting an application. After the applications are received we set up a time to visit the site. At the time we visit we evaluate the projects requested and look to see what is a priority and if we can realistically provide the help and skills needed to finish a project. We provide primarily unskilled labor. Some of the projects we get into are painting, mowing grass and other general maintenance.The work is done by an estimated 200-300 volunteers who come to Good Works in groups of 5-25 to share their love and time. We see this as a great opportunity to love and serve our neighbors. -Jacob Stallings (Jacob serves Good Works as a Job Coach)