GOOD WORKS exists to connect people from all walks of life
with people struggling with poverty
so that the Kingdom of God can be experienced.
Good Works Mission statement

Good Works provides more than 1,000 different volunteers an opportunity to serve their neighbors each year. About half of our volunteers came to serve in our Short-Term Missions program and served widows and citizens with disabilities in rural Athens County. The other half served in one or more of the 18 different volunteer opportunities listed below. 

Ohio University students represent a small segment of our volunteers. This recent article and video produced by Ohio University highlights several of our volunteers last year.  Click here.

FRIDAY NIGHT LIFE: A different kind of community meal since 1992.
Friday Night Life (held from October-March at The Plains UMC and from April-September ‘picnic style’ on the Good Works Luhrig Road property) is a weekly event where community members, homeless individuals, formerly homeless people, families, and college students join together to provide a public meal to an estimated 120-150 people. Click here to watch a video about this opportunity. 

Specific volunteer opportunities include:

Sponsor a supper. Organize a group (not less then 7 and no more than 14) to provide the meal and help with the clean up once or twice a year. For more information about being a volunteer sponsor, click here or e-mail us.  You can also contact Sherilyn Weinkauf @ 594-3339 to select a date and obtain further information.

Participate in our KIDS CLUB held every Friday night. This will involve working with other KIDS CLUB volunteers in one of several areas with children: pre-K children, K-6 grade children, and teens. The Good Works KIDS CLUB relies on volunteers who make a minimum 20 week commitment. For more information, e-mail us,contact Cory Blackwell or Amanda Porter @ 594-3339.

Food Recovery:  In partnership with Ohio University, volunteers pick up food from the Ohio University dining hall stores and transport it to the Good Works locations once a week. This food is set aside and distributed to participants in our Friday Night Life community each week. On an average week, we provide food for about 40 families to take home. We will provide a vehicle for volunteers to pick up and transport the food. For more information about how you help, contact Emily Axe @ 594-3333, or e-mail us.

SENIOR CARE: Do you enjoy visiting with seniors? Would you like to develop a friendship with a widow or an older citizen with disabilities? The Good Works Senior Care program was developed to connect volunteers with seniors in Athens County who have requested visitation. Many people don’t realize that before Good Works began serving the homeless of SE Ohio in 1981, we organized a senior care visitation outreach.

Many in our community feel forgotten, neglected and lack the support systems they need during their senior years. They are delighted to have someone take a genuine interest in them. Volunteers are often introduced to our seniors either by participating in a Samaritan Project or by an introduction through our staff. We ask volunteers to commit to visiting weekly or bi-weekly for 2-3 hours. For more information e-mail us or contact Amanda Porter @ 594-3339. Senior Care usually involves volunteers who are willing to build long term relationships with seniors over a period of months. You can click here to read a reflection by Elizabeth Franko, who has worked with Senior Care and is pictured above with her senior friend.

THE WALK FOR THE HOMELESS is an annual community event held in Athens on the Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend. The next WALK will be held on Saturday, January 17th, 2009. Registration starts at 8:30 am, and the WALK is from 9:00 am–1:00 pm. The WALK leaves from and returns to the First United Methodist Church at 2 College Street in uptown Athens. People from all walks of life join together in an educational and inspirational experience for adults and children of all ages. Last years' WALK attracted about 500 people and raised more than $45,000. Volunteers help the staff of Good Works develop an experience for the community to learn about poverty and homelessness and to raise funds to support the Good Works Timothy House. Would you like to serve on the 08-09 WALK TEAM? Volunteers begin serving in September (although some can begin earlier). We are looking for volunteers to help with organization, WALK promotion, media, OU/Hocking College participation, public school involvement, church involvement, graphic design, and a wide range of other practical projects. Internships are available during the fall. Contact Cory Blackwell by e-mail or by phone @ 594-3339. To visit the WALK FOR THE HOMELESS webpage click here. 

New Construction Project

THE HOPE CENTER: We have begun construction on a new building on the Luhrig Road property behind our Administrative Office building. The Hope Center will provide desperately needed meeting space for visiting work groups, volunteers and staff. This facility will also provide new opportunities for education and a place to strengthen and build community. Funds for this project are currently being solicited from individuals and organizations. If you have any construction skills that you would be willing to share, e-mail us, or contact Paul Richard at 594-3336.

WEEKLY NEEDS: Want to help from time to time but can’t make a regular commitment right now? You can:

MAKE THE CALL… TAKE THE TOUR… COMPLETE THE APPLICATION.

Note: To complete the application, you will need three personal references so please bring e-mail or telephone contact information about your references with you. 

Also, any volunteers seeking class credit, community service hours or internship credit must request this in writing, in advance, through our application process. We will not sign off on any volunteer time that is required for class credit, community service or internship credit after it is completed, unless it is approved in advance.

THANK YOU for your interest in exploring volunteer opportunities with Good Works! Good Works was established through volunteers. The organization did not have any paid staff until the fourth year. Volunteers provide a necessary component to our work that cannot be accomplished any other way.  Click here to read an article by one of our staff who regularly works with volunteers.

By filling out an application, you will provide us with some information that will help us determine where you might fit inside the Good Works Community of HOPE. In addition to reading the two handouts (1) Good Works, Inc., A Community of Hope (our newsprint brochure), and (2) Good Works Volunteer Opportunities 2007 (above), please read the statement below about our philosophy & worldview before you answer the questions in the application.

PHILOSOPHY AND WORLDVIEW
      Good Works, Inc. is a faith-based Christian ministry, which has been involved in the lives of those struggling with poverty in rural Appalachia since 1981. Through a variety of outreach and residential services, Good Works has established a community network to assist and support our neighbors who are struggling with various forms of poverty. Our three focus groups are (1) homeless men, women and children. (2) widows, widowers, elderly and the disabled. (3) children considered “at risk.”
     As a Christian ministry, we are motivated by the love of God (“…God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom he has given us.” - Romans 5:5). Our care for people in need is born from the overflow of Christ’s love and care for us. Half of our ministry is to care directly for those mentioned above through our various outreach services. The other half is to provide an avenue for volunteers to become involved in caring for those we are serving. We believe that only a limited amount of education occurs in the classroom; the rest of our education is obtained through the experience of associating, serving, loving and knowing those in need. Our intent is to create opportunities that bring volunteers face-to-face with people in need, and in doing so, to encourage and inspire our volunteers toward personal growth.

WITNESS
     As a Christian ministry, our primary purpose is service. With each person Good Works serves, we seek to build trust and place love as the foundation of each relationship. We want to both demonstrate and communicate our faith. Our approach is four-fold: (1) We must first earn the right (permission) to share our lives, values and convictions with those in need. (2) Through integrity, we must work to establish trust as the primary ingredient and foundation of all our relationships. (3) We must seek to recognize that whatever we have to say about our faith and our relationship with God comes in the context of and builds upon what already exists inside each person we are learning how to love. (4) We believe that RESPECT is the primary lens through which we must conduct every relationship.