News
Walk For Homeless Set For Athens’ Timothy House
< < Back toHaving shelter during this week's record-low temperatures can mean the difference between life and death for scores of area residents.
One facility in Athens meeting that need is the The Timothy House on Central Avenue which is preparing to raise most of its funding through the Good Works Walk set for February 22.
Keith Wasserman founded Good Works 34-years ago while still a student at Ohio University.
Grants helped keep the operation going but all the funding for the Timothy House now must be provided by the community, a need consistently met by area residents.
"The Timothy House is such an example of what a community can do when we work together," Wasserman told WOUB on Newswatch Monday night.
Last year's budget for the facility is around $180,000 and Wasserman said he hopes the Good Works Walk with raise most of this year's funding.
While the facility housed 159 adults and children in 2013, most seeking shelter still had to be turned away.
Wasserman said there was no space for 177 seeking shelter, including 55 children.
The Timothy House is the only shelter for people without homes in nine southeastern Ohio counties according to Wasserman.
The Walk is deliberately scheduled during one of the coldest times of the year.
Wasserman said the first and foremost intention of the Walk is to teach adults and children about the "struggles and challenges of people who experience hunger and homeless every day in our region and what we can do to alleviate their suffering."
More information on the Timothy House and this year's fundraising Walk can be found at www.goodworkswalk.net.