• Letters of support and inspiration from our volunteers:

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Safe in our own beds, with our own security, it is difficult to believe that homelessness even exists, and harder still to imagine what circumstances and issues might bring an individual or family to such a crisis point. Yet, the problem of homelessness continues to grow in our world, in our nation, and in our own back yards.

Welcome to my back yard.

Athens, Ohio. Home of Ohio University. I was entering my sophomore year and looking for a way to get more involved in the community. I had realized that I spent more time in Athens then I did anywhere else. The ad in the paper requesting evening volunteers for Good Works, a local homeless shelter, caught my eye. Homeless? Here in small town Ohio? I thought that was only a big city problem. There were no homeless here. But according to the ad there were and enough to require a shelter.

My mind wondered back to my seventh grade trip to Washington D.C. I saw many historical sites on that trip, including my first homeless person. People dressed in layers of rags were wondering by the White House, pushing around shopping carts full of cans, carrying cardboard signs asking for work, money or food. Large cardboard boxes served as makeshift houses. As a naive twelve-year old I took this hard. I even cried. I just didn’t understand.
I still don’t understand. Was it the same here in Athens? Wouldn’t I have noticed the cardboard houses, and carts full of cans? I was curious. I wanted to see the homeless here.

I called and went to the shelter the next day to fill out an application. I stood nervously on the front porch. A tall man with a friendly smile sporting an Indiana Jones hat answered the door. He spoke with the familiar voice and I knew that it was Ken, the man I had spoken with on the phone earlier that day.
Ken invited me to join them for dinner. I walked into the house keeping my eyes wide open. I did not want to miss anything. I would get the grand tour after dinner Ken informed me. I sat down at the small crowded table with four men and a buffet of food. I assumed they were there for the same reason I was or that they were other staff. Dinner began, as it still does, with everyone around that table saying what they were thankful for. I don’t remember what I said, but I do remember the voice of a white-haired man I assumed to be a volunteer saying- “a place to stay tonight.” I had to pick my jaw up off the floor. Having a place to sleep each night is not a problem I have to worry about each day. My problems seemed meaningless and selfish now that I sat and thought about them.

After dinner, I filled out the application and listened as Ken told me the history of the shelter and Good Works. A couple of days later I received a call from Good Works. It was Ken. He had an opening for a volunteer on Friday evenings. He asked if was I interested. Of course I was.

Here I am now, nearly two years later, still spending one night a week befriending the homeless. I have met a variety of people: men who want to see their children again, women fighting to get their’s back and expecting teenage mothers. And an occasionally a person who is traveling through who resembles the sites I saw on the street of D.C.

I leave each evening emotionally drained and stimulated. Gratitude, sympathy, fear and relief fill my heart. Good Works has become my sanctuary. A chance for me to engage in an activity where the focus is on other’s problems, not my own petty ones.

The homeless are not just alcoholics, drug users and the mentally ill. The homeless are people with no where else to turn when the bills add up. Homelessness can happen to anyone and it is not a choice that one makes. No one chooses to go hungry, to have their families live in cars, to wear the same clothes for a week or to lose his/her job.

Helping the homeless is a choice. One that I have made. One that I’m glad I made. One that has impacted my life permanently.

Lori Montgomery, Student at Ohio University and former volunteer

When we applied to be volunteers at Good Works, we really did not know what to expect. We knew about the philosophy of Good Works, but little else. Our goal was to help as a spousal team, doing the experience together, sharing, and learning. What we have learned the most is about the people. Each individual resident brings his/her own unique circumstances to the home (we call it a home because that is what it feels like, not some “cold shelter”). Although these circumstances can be significant, serious, and sometimes hard to comprehend, the residents have taught us many things, and we have seen some common themes. We share the following:

• Almost all of the residents really try to help one another and to get along. In a matter of hours or a day or two, the residents tend to reach out to each other, do favors, provide emotional support, and have some fun together. We could all learn from these “strangers” who come together and very quickly provide friendship and fellowship.

• Almost all of the residents are decent, honest individuals, who merely find themselves in a difficult life circumstance that has created their homelessness. These are not urban street people that are publicized in the news.

• Some residents return to Good Works on more than one occasion. These individuals face the struggle of “breaking the cycle” and must learn coping and behavior strategies to succeed. Good Works provides them an opportunity to deal with these challenges.

• Most are willing to share their feelings and sit and have a good conversation.

• Some have unique talents in writing or music; and many are highly educated and articulate.

• The staff at the Timothy House do not simply “have jobs.” All of the staff we have met really care about the people and the place. Their dedication to the job goes beyond their shifts of duty.

In the pressure of our daily jobs where we deal with personnel issues, large budgets, and sometimes large egos, it is a grounding for us to come to the Timothy House and see some of the real life issues being faced. We have learned much from the residents, have had fun with them (we are now addicted to playing dominoes!); and we look forward to meeting new and different people in the future.

Ted and Joyce Kohan, Tuesday Evening Volunteers

Good Works-Growing Spiritually and Socially in Community

Volunteering for most social service organizations is an opportunity to give altruistically first of one's self, but also to receive in return a feeling of spiritual and social well being. I have always felt that this component of giving without expectation of pay or compensation is a manner of returning humbly the blessings we each have surrounding us. At a time in my own life when I needed to be reminded of this basic human social principle, Good Works Timothy House became a part of my life. Here I found a place to give not only of my time one day per week, but also to learn much more about the face of homelessness in rural Appalachia Ohio.

Being first a writer and journalist, I could explain at great length about the intellectual theories that contribute to being without a home. This would, however, fall short of why I return each week to volunteer. There is something affirming about encouraging the volunteers to take responsibility of our commitment to each other--and to the residents. This principle was explained early in the orientation--that my presence at Timothy House contributes to an environment of sustainable support. If unable to be present, then I need to sincerely make an effort to find another volunteer to cover in my absence. Experiencing this feeling of validation and inclusion grows beyond the self--to the point that I have heard many residents express a strong desire to not forget what they have felt at The Timothy House. I have expressed to many, and in a sense to myself, that this feeling is the magic of life--that each one of us can experience and create this feeling of community. I will always be grateful for the opportunity of being a Good Works volunteer--where I have once again found the magic of evolving spiritual and social growth.

Karen L. Moore, Graduate Student, E.W. Scripps School of Journalism Ohio University

"I hadn't been to Good Works for about six months. When I came back, it was just like walking into my own house. That's what means the most to me--that Good Works tries to be a home, not just a shelter. It just feels like a place where people really care."

"It wasn't what I expected. I came to volunteer as a university student and I thought it would be just a bunch of beds and maybe a hard, cold floor. It turns out that it's just like any house. I like to come here to get away from the dorms."

"I try to see Christ in the different people here. I have a chance to come here realizing that I don't have to change anyone. The Lord wants me to try to love and care for them, and Good Works gives me the opportunity to do it."

"I usually feel strengthened after working here because I see people who are stronger than I am. I come in, burdened by the trials of the week and see people with much less than me, struggling and dealing with life. It humbles me, too, that people have so little and need to do so much with what they have."

"I was struck by the women...They're just like me!"

"I started working at Good Works for selfish reasons. Having just moved here, I wanted to meet and be with other Christians. Good Works has given me that opportunity."

"Being at Good Works reminds me that people have worth just because God created them; not because of beauty, intelligence or money--the things that our society values."

"Working at the shelter brings me back to reality. I was born poor and this is a good reminder that the Lord's been good to me."

"Working here has given me hope. As I returned from Latin America, I realized that most of the world is poor. Good Works brings that reality home. It's good to know that someone is dealing with the problem."

Snippets from volunteer feedback