Good Works, Inc.

Hi! My name is Sydney Teagarden, and I am a second-generation Good Works staff member working full time 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 born in Wooster, Ohio, but then we moved to Florida when I was almost 6 years old. I was homeschooled for almost my whole life, and I graduated in May 2023 with my Bachelors of Arts in Community Development from Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, GA. During that time, I worked in our IT department, chapel department, and was a TA for the Community Development department. I loved getting to sing in our Chorale and play mallet percussion in our Percussion Ensemble.

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 volunteering with Good Works, since the Good Works Vision of Hope references the book When Helping Hurts, which was written by my professors, so I knew we had some common ground in treating people as active participants in their development and growth instead of merely passive recipients.

Because I had a background in summer camp ministry, I worked with the Kids Discovery Club for half my internship, and 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. 2022 was a busy summer for me!

God used this internship to immerse me in a community that so profoundly lived out a truly hospitable Gospel that I cried multiple times during those 12 weeks as my soul adjusted to being truly safe. After that summer and then senior year ended, I knew I had to ask Keith if I could come back. Thankfully, he said yes!

My religious background is eclectic. I grew up in both a non-denominational church context and a Messianic Jewish context. My stepdad is now the rabbi of our synagogue in southwest Florida, and I’ve served there as both the cantor and a worship leader. I love talking about how the Lord has been faithful to us through ALL generations, especially how that is shown in the Old Testament. 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. 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, craft fairs, Renaissance Faires, and concerts, both small and large.