Good Works, Inc.

Your family has offered themselves to serve. What follows will give you an idea of what you can expect during a Work Retreat with Good Works. Please feel free to discuss any possibilities for projects or needs with the Good Works staff member coordinating your Work Retreat. It is our preference that there not be any surprises for your family regarding the projects with which you will be involved. If there are any changes to the schedule, we will discuss these with you. We want you to be comfortable with what we are assigning to your family.

Doing the Work

While the projects are an essential help to Good Works and to our community, we do not feel they are an end in themselves. Rather, each is a catalyst to something greater—the formation of relationships and the building of your family. Your act of service together becomes a catalyst not just for individual growth but for community growth. God is seeking to form you into a people who choose unity to follow Him.

We are probably less concerned with finishing a project than your family is. While it is nice to come and finish a project and see what has been accomplished, it is not our primary goal. There are many other volunteers coming after you who can finish an incomplete project.

We do not consider a work retreat “successful” when a group comes, finishes a project and leaves. When your family has made relational connections with the people you serve, the community of Good Works and with one another, that for us is a successful work retreat. This is when we experience the mission of Good Works — to connect people from all walks of life with people struggling with poverty so that the kingdom of God can be experienced.

All that being said, we want to do all our work with excellence as unto the Lord as a worship offering to Him. It is not helpful to anyone to do our work poorly for the sake of forming good relationships. What we are saying is that the quality of the task and the quality of the relationship are both important.

Skills and Types of Projects

When a family comes to serve with us, our objective is to enable you to serve together. This often means doing a project requiring less skill so everyone can participate in a way that is appropriate for them. While the project is still important, the focus shifts from the project to providing you and your family the opportunity to serve together.

In the past, families have come to serve by raking leaves for our elderly friends, sorting food, cleaning, mowing, yard work, gardening, or participating in an appropriate construction project. These decisions are all based on the ages and skills of your family as well as the goals you have outlined for your Family Work Retreat.

We have found that for the task-oriented individual, this can be a bit of a challenge. Their focus is on accomplishing the task at hand, which is a very real need for someone or for Good Works. We want to allow you to set aside the agenda of the task and provide you with time to take advantage of teachable moments with your children.

Materials

Good Works will usually have the materials needed for the project you are doing on our properties. These are paid for with the donations groups give to us. Special projects may require materials that are beyond our budget. Please let us know if your family could help with these materials.

We are not able to fund materials needed for Neighbors Helping Neighbors. It is expected that the person seeking assistance pays for these materials themselves. This may be an area your family could help with while you are with us. If you are interested in making a separate donation toward materials for Neighbors Helping Neighbors, please let us know as soon as possible. For some people, this makes the difference in helping them with their project.