Sammy Dallal/ THE POST Sandy Irwin stands at Good Works mobile cart to sell items from third world countries. She and other OU students began volunteering with Good Gift, part of Good Works, to help those on welfare get back on their feet.

Ohio University sophomore Sandy Irwin has found she can help disadvantaged people locally and globally without stepping foot outside Athens.

Irwin and about 12 other OU students are volunteering at Good Gifts, a new wagon business on Union Street. The business is run in cooperation with Good Works, a community of hope that, according to its literature, provides 24-hour care for people in Southeastern Ohio and the surrounding area who find themselves in a homeless situation with nowhere else to go.

"Originally, I needed service learning for one of my education classes," Irwin said. "I knew of Good Works and knew that I wanted to work with that. I talked to Keith (Wasserman) and he told me about a new project."

Literature on the Good Gifts program said the purpose of the business is "to assist and train citizens in the welfare-to-work program in the job readiness skills necessary to obtain and maintain employment."

Keith Wasserman, executive director and founder of Good Works, said the business is a job training site. He said student volunteers will work alongside the people in the program, called partners.

"Students will volunteer about four hours a week and we will train them to run the business and mentor the persons moving from welfare to work," he said. "They are role models (to those on welfare)."

The business has been open several times since last Thursday. A grand opening has been planned for today.

Good Gifts sells gifts made in third-world countries, Wasserman said. The business has contracted with Ten Thousand Villages to obtain the items for sale.

"The international organization (Ten Thousand Villages) goes into these villages, primarily in third-world countries. They are lifting the standard of living there," Wasserman said.

While some gifts could be bought elsewhere, he said people in Athens are helping the poor internationally and locally. Good Gifts' motto is, "Buy a gift, change the world."

Irwin said she has worked with Ten Thousand Villages before with her home church in Pittsburgh. She said she enjoyed being involved with the organization.

"It's wonderful," Irwin said. "So far, everyone I've talked to loves it."

She said that when she tells people where the products are from and that, as a consumer, they are helping people in Athens and around the world, it makes the customers feel good.