Service Project Supports Walk for the Homeless
By Tori Patterson, AmeriCorps*VISTA for Development

      Rural Action VISTA volunteers and staff members joined the local community in supporting Good Works, Inc. at its fifth Walk for the Homeless on Saturday, January 13th. Despite rainy conditions, many community members turned out to lend their support, take to the streets, and raise funds for the Timothy House shelter in Athens.
      This year Rural Action VISTA volunteers coordinated a new portion of the event, the Mystery Walk, as their Martin Luther King Jr. Day service project. Over 100 people participated in the Mystery Walk, an interactive, 2.2 mile journey that led walkers down “the road to homelessness.” The participants weaved their way across Athens, stopping at different dramatized scenes to learn how it might feel to lose their jobs, their financial security, their housing, their support system of family and friends, and with no alternative, to turn to the Timothy House for help.
      Rural Action VISTA volunteers and staff members served as the actors at each of the five stops on the walk. As the scenarios played out, the crowd of walkers actively participated in the drama, making it a meaningful street theater experience for all. Rural Action VISTA volunteers also narrated the walk, served hot chocolate to the walkers and facilitated a debriefing session for the group.

Good Works partnered with Rural Action to design one of the five WALK experiences. This article describes the "Mystery Walk" and includes a wonderful slide presentation.
Slide show created by Matt Presutti, AmeriCorps*VISTA for Media.
These pics of the "Employment Walk" were taken by Brian Dudis an OU Alum and former volunteer with Good Works. Brian came all the way from North Carolina to do the WALK with us.  This WALK focused on the issues homeless people face in obtaining and maintaining their jobs.  Click on the thumbnails for larger pictures.