Sign of Hope

Please check out this new slide show.

Sign of HOPE is the name we have chosen to describe our newest initiative. Our dedication of this house took place on April 15th, 2023.

To read Keith’s speech at the groundbreaking, click here.
To read Keith’s speech at the dedication, click here.

Hospitality is a central paradigm for the way Good Works welcomes people without homes. Our vision is to expand the forms of hospitality we are already practicing today.

In 1981, Keith Wasserman started Good Works in the basement of his own home, when he and his friends began welcoming people to stay with them who had nowhere else to live.
In 1984, Good Works outgrew Keith and Darlene’s basement and moved to the house on Central Avenue, which was later named the Timothy House. Today, Good Works provides shelter, care and community to men, women, and families who are experiencing homelessness in 8 southeast Ohio counties.
In 2009, through the gift of a generous donor, Good Works purchased the empty lot across the street from the Timothy House with the vision of developing a home there that would benefit the community.
In 2012, Keith and his wife Darlene intentionally moved into the same neighborhood and bought a home near the Timothy House in order to receive people at their own home when the Timothy House was full. They called this initiative at their home Sign of HOPE.

A Vision for Moving Forward

Good Works vision to build a new home at 100 Central Avenue is designed to use the same model that the Wasserman’s have been practicing in their own home. This house will provide people with a place to stay who are currently turned away from the Timothy House because of space or other limitations such as:

People who must use a wheelchair or have other mobility issues that would prevent them from accessing the upstairs bedrooms at the Timothy House.
Adults with pets
Single adults who can not share community sleeping space because of a particular difficulty they are experiencing.

In 2019, the city of Athens re-approved our building plans for this home. In accordance with existing zoning for the property, this home will accommodate no more than three unrelated people at any time.

A Good Works staff family will live on the second floor of the building and offer hospitality and supervision to our guests. Each first-floor bedroom in the house has an external entrance and direct access to its own bathroom.

Several years ago, a local organization – The Athens Marathon — committed to helping us raise $50,000 toward building this house. In 2019, they increased that commitment to $100,000 and released these funds at the September 2019 groundbreaking!

We had estimated that the total cost of the materials will be about $250,000. Because of the massive changes COVID 19 brought, prices of materials have significantly increased. If you would like to participate in supporting this new initiative of Good Works, mark your gift Sign of HOPE in the memo.

If you would like to know more about this initiative, please contact Keith through email or by phone at: email@good-works.net or 740-541-0816.

This 2 minute video was developed in December 2019 by Andrea Robinson will offer some perspective on how far we have come!

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Photos taken in April 2023