Good Works, Inc.

 READING from the bottom up, you can get an idea from the reports on the fire about how we navigated through the 4 months from April 7 to August 5.

August 14, 2014
Click here for a recent article in the Athens News on the Timothy House and the April 7th Fire. 

August 6, 2014

REJOICE with us, we were able to open entire Timothy House on Tuesday August 5th.  The house looks great and the adults and children we are providing a home for right now are very happy to be able to sit inside once again, access the kitchen, cook food, do laundry and relax!  We will be announcing the date for our open house sometime in the next few weeks. In the meantime, THANK YOU to each of you for walking with us during this very difficult time. Right now, we have several urgent needs. If you are able to assist us, give us a call at 740.594.3333 to let us know. 

July 31, 2014

” I can see the light…. that is coming… for a heart that holds on… ”   We have passed all of our inspections and we plan to re-open the downstairs of The Timothy House on Tuesday August 5th.  It has been a long 4 months.  We will be planning an open house in September but feel free to drop by and see the house. We have a list of things we need. If you can help us, e-mail us and we will send it to you.

July 13, 2014

As most of you know, we are in the middle of Summer Service 2014. So far this summer, we have hosted youth and adult Work Retreat groups from Kansas, Michigan, Kentucky and Ohio. This week, in addition to our Neighbor Helping Neighbors projects, we are planning to put a new roof on the ADM building (it has had a leak for almost a year). At the Timothy House, the painters will be finishing up and we hope to be moving some furniture into the downstairs area. There are several things we need for the kitchen and house right now, If you’d like to assist us,  call us or e-mail us.  (Photo at left is of our interns and Aaron Smith, the Hannah House Manager).

July 10, 2014

 WE ARE SEEING SOME LIGHT at the end of the tunnel !! We are hoping that this will be the last week of renovation and that we will be able to move into downstairs of The Good Works Timothy House in the next week or so. The photo on the left is our new laundry room (where the fire started).  There is still some final cleaning to do in the living room and eating /meeting room from the smoke damage. This week, a paint crew is working in the building. We do have several things we need to purchase for the house so let us know if you’d like to buy some of the household items we need.

We are so very thankful to all of the people (more than 50 families) who have brought a hot meal for the residents of the Timothy House during the past month. Meanwhile, Good Works is hosting the 4th Work Retreat group of the summer. So far this summer, groups have come from Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Kansas. Volunteers have been out in Athens County volunteering at the homes of our friends who struggle with a disability (Neighbors Helping Neighbors) and assisting our staff and summer interns with the Summer Kids Discovery Club and Summer Lunch.

June 23, 2014

MANY THANKS to everyone who is “walking with us” as we continue to persevere through the fire recovery. Progress on the re-construction of the downstairs of The Timothy House is slow; indeed, much slower than we had hoped. It is both frustrating and challenging as we seek to balance love for our neighbors who are without a home with love for our neighbors who are doing the cleaning, renovation and reconstruction. The floor tile has been completed, the kitchen cabinets installed and we do have some working plumbing but the downstairs is far from ready to use at this time.

THE NEED right now  is for volunteers to bring a dinner meal each night through July 19th. Because we still do not have access to a kitchen or laundry facility, we have severe limitations in caring for the people living at The Timothy House. Therefore, we remain very dependent upon volunteers willing to bring a dinner meal ONE-TIME for about 15 people now through July 19th.  If you can organize a meal and deliver it at 7:00 pm to 91 Central Avenue, call The Timothy House at 740.594.3333 or e-mail andrea@good-works.net to get on the schedule.

If you want to help but are unable to bring a meal, we would be grateful to receive gift cards from local restaurants like Subway, Wendy’s, Chipotle and others.

WE are also looking for volunteers willing to do a food drive for Good Works.If you know of a group willing to collect food for us, please let us know.  We continue to provide more than 21,000 meals each year through the donations of people who want to help.

June 16, 2014

THIS WEEK is one of the most exciting weeks of our entire year. On Monday, we launched Phase II of Summer Service 2014.  Phase I was launched a week ago when our summer interns arrived and training week began. This is the 15th year of Good Works Summer Service!!
– Summer Kids Discovery Club begins for children grades K-6, along with our every day Summer Lunch for adults and children of all ages!
– TWO  TEEN summer internships start this week: (1) Our Teen Agricultural Internship and (2) The Kingdom Internship.
– Our first summer Work Retreat arrives from Michigan. We have many neighbors in rural Athens County who are looking forward to assistance and friendship at their homes this summer!
– We are preparing for several WEEK OF SERVICE volunteers and several Family Work Retreat groups!

Meanwhile, The Timothy House reconstruction is moving along. The cabinets are being installed and the new floor is being finished up this week. There is still some final cleaning to be done from the fire and we are hoping to see that begin soon.  We are so grateful to everyone who has brought food and sent food cards from local restaurants our residents.  We see light at the end of the tunnel!

June 9, 2014

THANKS to everyone who has stepped up to bring a dinner meal for our residents each night. Thanks as well to everyone who is continuing to support Good Works financially. We  have experienced some significant challenges this week with the limitations of the Timothy House. Our residents only have the upstairs bedrooms and the front porch/front yard to sit in. When it rains or when the electricity goes out (as it did this week), this is very difficult for everyone. We are also experiencing some new challenges with the plumbing at The Timothy House . While we don’t fully understand what is happening, it appears that there are some blockages in the plumbing lines effecting the water pressure especially on the hot side. Thus, our residents are forced to take cold showers. Thankfully,  Keith and Darlene Wasserman (who live very close to The Timothy House on the West Side of Athens) have offered their home so that residents can take showers.  We are hoping to occupy the rest of the house as soon as possible but the work is taking much longer than we expected. Please pray for us and those we are reaching out to right now. We are doing the best we can.

June 2, 2014

TODAY we moved our residents from the Hannah House  located on the Good Works Luhrig Road property back to The Timothy House at 91 Central Avenue. We are only using the upstairs of the house at this time. Work continues to repair, restore and clean the downstairs. Residents are having meals each day outside at the picnic table. For a detailed update and information on how you can help right now, call us at 740.594.3333, e-mail us or  visit our Facebook page at

www.Facebook.com/Good.Works.Athens

May 22, 2014

Right now, we are working towards the goal of having the upstairs of the Timothy House  ready for residents to move back into the house by June 1st. The floors have been refinished, walls painted and bunk beds are being reassembled all in an effort to use the top floor of the TH while workers finish reconstruction on the first floor kitchen and bathroom. We have a growing list of things we need. Email us for more information.

May 16, 2014

This past week, the bedroom and hallway floors on the second floor were refinished.  Transformation Station Volunteers along side of GW staff worked to ready the floors for a final treatment of polyurethane. Meanwhile, re-construction of the first floor bathroom laundry room and kitchen is now underway.  We are working hard to try to get the second floor ready for residents by June 1st.

 

May 1, 2014

The primary work on the Timothy House this week has been cleaning and tearing out the fire and smoke damaged areas to prepare for rebuilding. Paul Richard, the Director of Operations for Good Works has been overseeing the complex process of the clean-up and the rebuilt.

We are caring for people without homes at the Good Works property on Luhrig Road. The Timothy House staff are working with our “guests” and receiving new people into the Hannah House. Friends who want to bring a dinner meal for our guests and staff are encouraged to contact us at 740.594.3333.

 

 

April 24th, 2014

Last Tuesday, the process began to clean The Timothy House.  We are told that the cleaning process will take about 4 weeks.  We are hoping to start reconstruction next week. Right now, we are sorting through things which must be thrown away and things which can be cleaned and restored.  The work feels very large. Paul Richard is overseeing this project.  Our HOPE is still to move back in on or before June 1st.

 

April 17th, 2014

On Monday April 7th around noon, the Good Works Timothy House had a fire.  It appears that the dryer in the laundry room caught fire. We were not able to extinguish the fire with our fire extinguisher and the fire department had to be called. They arrived within minutes and put out the fire.  The damage to the laundry room/downstairs bathroom is extensive.  In addition, there is significant smoke and soot damage throughout the entire facility.  The electric and gas has been shut off and the house is not able to operate at this time. We are so thankful that no one was injured in the fire.  At the time of the fire, ten residents were living at The Timothy House. In addition, three people without a home were expected.

We have moved the residents living at the Timothy House temporarily to the Hannah House located on Good Works Luhrig Road property.  The Timothy House staff will be providing caregiving to the current and  new “guests” who will be staying at the Hannah House.

HOWEVER, the Hannah House is not designed to accommodate people experiencing homelessness on an emergency basis. This facility is home to our year-long interns, residents in our Life in Transition Program and guests who come to participate in Work Retreats. The structure of the house is not suited for people needing emergency shelter.   We are simply going to do the best we can in this situation.  We have made a temporary adjustment to the Hannah House facility but  we do not think this could work for more than a short period of time.

For the next few weeks, our focus will be on cleaning the facility and beginning the process of reconstruction. It is our intention to open up The Timothy House again by June 1st, 2014.

To view a news article on the fire, click here