Glory Doing It
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ANNUAL REPORT 2019 Doing it all for the Glory of God 1 Cor 10:31 Good Works Annual Report Purpose Founded in 1988, Good Works Inc. is a faith-based nonprofit organization headquartered in Coatesville, PA. From our warehouse sites in Coatesville, West Chester, Phoenixville and St. Peters Village, we now serve 49 municipalities in Chester County. We transform sub- standard houses into warmer, safer, and drier homes, and despair into hope. Our services are offered to homeowners at no cost and volunteers do most of the repairs. Our goal is to see the inhabitants of these homes rise above their level of poverty and experience a richness Hugs express what words cannot. through being cared for and knowing that their circumstances matter to their community and to God. We believe that everyone benefits when people from different races, cultures and backgrounds join together with a common purpose. Charge “We are God’s We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared Workmanship, created in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10 in Christ Jesus to do Mission good works, which God Transforming lives by repairing homes for low-income families and sharing the hope found prepared in advance for in Jesus Christ. us to do.” Vision Repairing homes and restoring hope in communities nationwide. EPHESIANS 2:10 Belief God’s plan for us is revealed in the Bible where it is written that all who trust in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as their Lord & Savior will one day spend eternity with Him in Heaven. In response to God’s unrequited love, mercy and grace towards us, we are compelled to serve others and share His love with them. GOOD WORKS BOARD OF DIRECTORS Marifrances Bolger* Robert Lisowski Betty Traver DOWNINGTOWN EXTON President David Bowman Doug MacQueen DOWNINGTOWN POTTSTOWN / CHESTER Secretary Anthony Williams Steve Caggiano WEST CHESTER COATESVILLE CHESTER SPRINGS Nora McEvoy Robert Beggs (ex officio) Ernie Cecilia GLENMOORE MARSHALTON Treasurer Diane Moretzsohn* Dr. Norm Alexander (Emeritus) Special thanks: WEST CHESTER MALVERN COATESVILLE Julie Heald, designer; Paul Clough* Matthew Redding Brilliant Graphics, printer; and BERWYN EXTON Kurt Brenner, Mary Damian, Steve Harris* Doug Thompson Fred Hershey, and *Directors who completed service in 2019 WEST CHESTER GLENMOORE NOTE: Officers listed as of 3/31/20 Steve Yost photographers GOOD WORKS STAFF Carol Beaujean Peter Cooper Larry Lukacs Learn more Volunteer Coordinator Materials Manager Development Director about Good Works Rob Beaujean Denise Jordan Kim Paul Repair Technician Staff Accountant Applications Coordinator Robert Beggs Deb Lego Ally Ruch Executive Director Outreach Director & Administrative Assistant Bob Bryan Business Coordinator Sr. Repair Technician Joe Lisowski Repair Supervisor From the Executive Director One of the things I most appreciate about Good Works is how people from different races, cultures, and socioeconomic backgrounds join together in a common purpose – repairing homes and restoring hope. This “joining together” is not exclusive to the volunteers who serve. It includes homeowners, their families, neighbors, local contractors, churches, businesses, donors and friends. It is a vastly diverse collection of people who intentionally or There is no joy like the joy unintentionally are living out one of the most recognizable scripture passages in the Bible of serving others. – to love God and to love others (Mark 12:30,31). It is by doing this that we bring glory to God. While loving God is our priority, it seems more difficult to genuinely love our neighbors, especially if they think and act differently than us. “The God Honoring This year, Good Works is launching a special initiative entitled the “God Honoring Experience.” The intention is to turbocharge something we already do pretty well. But as Experience will be the acclaimed author Jim Collins would say, “Good is the enemy of great.” Our goal is to be catalyst that transforms great because we serve a great God. Good Works from good The God Honoring Experience will compel each of us to look at every interaction as an to great.” opportunity to glorify our Creator. And, it all simply starts by seeing everyone the way that BOB BEGGS, God sees them, as uniquely created, deeply loved and hungry for a relationship with Him. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR God’s perspective should change our perspective. That’s our 2020 vision! As you read through this Annual Report, you will discover the five tenets of the God Honoring Experience and I hope you begin to see how those principles are being put into action in our daily operations. I trust you are as excited as we are to experience how God will use this initiative to draw us closer to each other and to Him. To God be the glory! Bob Beggs Executive Director Glory of God 5 Tenets of the God Honoring Experience 1. See People as God sees them. (1 John 4:11) 2. Give God your Best. (Colossians 3:23-24) 3. Serve without Expectations. (Luke 6:35) 4. Give God the Glory. (2 Corinthians 10:17) 5. Let the Holy Spirit guide you. (Galatians 5:25) 1 Homeowners Honoring our Veterans Teddy Cheshire never thought he would be asking for help. He considered himself a self- made man, fiercely independent and ready to take on the world. He came from a family of veterans. His father served in the Army Air Corps during WWII, his brother Wes was a B-52 mechanic in the Air Force, and his other brother, Frank, served with the Army 101st Airborne. Teddy chose the Navy because he heard, “the food is good and you can see the world.” Teddy Cheshire, He hoped to go into aviation, but was sent to school to become a guided missile technician U.S. Navy veteran and deployed on the USS Farragut, a Destroyer. In 1974, Teddy was honorably discharged, went home to New York, and joined the “God does not forget, so Carpenters Union. That was until the bottom dropped out of the building boom in 1988. “The recession left too little work for too many tradesmen,” Teddy lamented. It was then we will not forget those that Teddy moved to Malvern and took a job with the Post Office as a clerk. He didn’t enjoy who society has forgotten the work, but he had a family to support and it payed the bills. Disaster struck in 2018 when – and we will certainly Teddy’s son Michael passed away suddenly at the age of 24. It devastated Teddy, and seemed to be the final blow in a life where so many things didn’t turn out the way he had hoped. not forget our veterans.” The mobile home park manager where Teddy lives noticed that his home had slipped into noticeable disrepair, and encouraged Teddy to contact us. Teddy recounts how, “My place was going down fast and so was I.” Teddy was afraid his mobile home needed to be demolished, but after Joe Lisowski, our Repair Supervisor, did his inspection, he told Teddy we could repair the unit while he was still living there. “That was the first good news I had in a long time,” Teddy said. Teddy now works part time as a delivery driver for a local auto parts store. “Things are starting to happen for me,” Teddy shared. Teddy helped out by using his carpentry skills, and did the majority of the drywall finishing. Teddy describes his experience with Good Works as a miracle: “I’m convinced that God and my son helped make this happen. Smack me! This must be a dream!” “For the needy shall not always be forgotten; the expectation of the poor shall not perish forever.” 2019 PSALM 9:18 Households Served Metrics Veterans: 6% Families with Children: 22% Living in Mobile Homes: 37% Disabled: 47% Seniors: 53% Learn more about Teddy’s story Teddy’s home receives a total makeover. 2 Repairing Homes Before & After... Volunteers make a work day fashion statement in Tyvek. “God doesn’t simply renovate the past. He BEFORE makes all things new.” ISAIAH 43:18-19 BEFORE AFTER 2019 AFTER BEFORE Repairing Homes Metrics AFTER Applications Approved: 44 Weekday Repair Visits: 891 Families Assisted: 178 Homes Completed: 45 “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock.” MATTHEW 7:24 3 Restoring Hope My Ways are Not Your Ways When the Good Works Board of Directors established “Replication beyond Chester County” as a goal in its 5-year strategic plan, they never imagined how it would play out. Over several years, a Replication Committee developed an affiliate-based model complete with everything necessary for a champion in another community to become an affiliate and grow an organization the “Good Works Way.” Taking Good Works nationwide was not envisioned Bob & Deb accept the ReFrame as an aggressive expansion strategy, but instead an exercise in waiting for God to make the Association Best Practices Award for first move. There were multiple expressions of interest and engagement with “champions” “Partnership with Homeowners” in communities both inside and outside of Pennsylvania, but most withdrew before incorporating as an Affiliate. It was initially disappointing, but what we didn’t realize at the “Good Works will follow time was that God had an altogether different launch strategy for Good Works Replication. God’s lead!” During that time, Good Works became a member of the ReFrame Association, a national BETTY TRAVER, network of home repair non-profit organizations. Their goal is to share wisdom, resources BOARD PRESIDENT and best practices for providing occupants of substandard housing with safer, more livable shelter. At the national conference in 2018, Bob Beggs, Good Works Executive Director made a presentation on using metrics and a balanced scorecard to measure and manage the Operations, Financial and Faith aspects of Good Works.