Good Works, Inc.

 

Aliza Mann

Since 2010, a class from Wright State University has been coming during the spring. Aliza came with this class in the spring of 2016. Her visit resulted in two Weeks of Service during Summer Service 2016.

Through the relationships I formed with volunteers, interns, staff, and community members I developed a better understanding of what it means to be a neighbor, as well as the importance of community building. I learned what it means to trust God, and I learned what it looks like to be the hands and feet of Christ. Read more…

 

 

Meg Vance

Meg is a former Good Works Weekend Volunteer who now lives in Xenia, Ohio. She joined us for a week in the summer of 2017.

Thank you sweet Jesus for this wonderful week. I feel so honored and privileged to have had this experience. Please help me to remember all that you have taught me. May this week be an Ebenezer in my life. May the seeds that GW have planted be watered by your Spirit, take root, and grow to produce what You have planned and purposed. Help me to love you and my neighbor as I return home and in whatever context you place me in the future. Please continue to bless everyone associated with Good Works. Thank you for this, your ministry.  Read more…

 

 

 

Zach McFarland

Zach came to Good Works from Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky. He spent a week with us in January 2016.

Some of those I served this week simply needed material stability (whether it be something repaired or painted, steady income, a place to stay, food, etc.), but all of them needed community. Whether the family members lacked the resources or compassion to care for them or they had no one, those that I served needed someone care for them, include them in a community, love them, and simply treat them like they matter. Read more…

 

 

 

 

J Robert Parks

J Robert teaches part-time at Columbia College Chicago and also tutors younger children. He’s involved in a church in Chicago that’s exploring how community works in an urban setting. We also had the privilege of enjoying a week with his parents, Phil and Joan Mitchell, during Summer Service.

I knew that Emily had been doing something before she got drafted to give me a tour, and I was afraid that I was keeping her from things she had to do. So I offered her a chance to end the tour. Then she told me about the “ethic of inefficiency,” which says that relationships must always be prioritized over work, and that we don’t strive for the most efficient way to do something. Rather, to be inefficient is often more important if it frees us to be human and interact with each other. As she described this, so much about Good Works clicked into place. I understood why people take the time, and take it consistently, to stop what they’re doing and engage with other people. That’s part of what we do, or at least what we need to do. Read more…