Good Works, Inc.

Hi there!

My name is Sydney Teagarden. I am a second-generation Good Works staff member working full time at the Good Works Hannah House as the Community Life Coordinator after spending two years at the Good Works Timothy House as a House Supervisor and Caregiver. My parents, Casey and Michael Teagarden, met while working at Good Works 25 years ago, and it’s a joy to get to see God’s faithfulness to them and their legacy by bringing me back into this community.

 

I was homeschooled in SW Florida by my mom, then I attended Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, GA, and graduated in May 2023 with my Bachelors of Arts in Community Development. One of the requirements for my degree was to do a Research Internship with a ministry that was putting into action the principles that I was learning. I asked about interning with Good Works, since the Good Works Vision of Hope references the book When Helping Hurts, which was written by a couple of my professors. I knew we had some common ground in treating people as active participants in their development and growth instead of merely passive recipients of whatever we defined as “help.” God put the pieces together, and I ended up in Athens for the Summer of 2022. Because I have a background in summer camp ministry, I worked with the Kids Discovery Club for half my internship, while the other half had me conducting interviews with past and present Transformation Station Volunteers, analyzing that data, and then presenting my findings at the end of the summer. God used both sides of my internship to immerse me in a community that so profoundly lived out a hospitable Gospel that I cried multiple times during those 12 weeks as my soul adjusted to being genuinely safe. After that summer and then my senior year ended, I knew I had to ask Keith if I could come back. Thankfully, he said yes, and my hiring interviews began, leading to me coming on staff in 2023.

My faith background is eclectic, and I’m grateful for how it’s shaped me. I grew up in both a non-denominational church and a Messianic Jewish context. My stepdad is now the rabbi of our synagogue in southwest Florida, and I served there part-time as both the cantor and a worship leader throughout high school and college. I then attended a Presbyterian college for 4 years, so that has also influenced both my theology and my practice of it; I love Jesus and I want to learn to love those He loves. I love talking about how the Lord has been faithful to us through ALL generations, especially how that is shown in the Old Testament.  Some of the passages of Scripture that continue to be a blessing and encouragement to me are Lamentations 3 and Isaiah 58.

I’m grateful to be back up in Ohio around family and friends, both old and new. I’m a birdwatcher, photographer, fiber artist, musician, and big fan of petting other people’s cats. I enjoy attending the Athens Farmer’s Market & Art Markets, Renaissance Faires, and concerts of any size.