Garage / Lighthouse
Started small
A garage, donated items, bread on tables, and handmade signs became the first public evidence of the mission.
GG's House Giving Grace
Our Story
A chronological journey from Getting & Giving, to a garage called The Lighthouse, to a campus vision rooted in nearly a decade of practical service.
2015–2016
Getting & Giving
GG's House began when Steve and Angel Sheets felt led to begin “Getting & Giving” — gathering items and giving them directly to people in need. Angel bought useful items at Goodwill, they gave away belongings from their own home, and donations soon overflowed the garage.
The early garage era, remembered in photographs as The Lighthouse, shows the heart of GG's House before it had a public campaign: bread on tables, clothing racks, household goods, and handwritten signs offering free items to anyone who needed them.
Historical thread
The phrase “A Hand Up, Not a Handout” is visible throughout GG's House stories: people were not just given items; they were listened to, encouraged, and treated with dignity.
Food & practical help
Needs came daily
The work grew around ordinary necessities: food, clothing, hygiene, household goods, and listening.
Dignity
More than supplies
Haircuts, conversations, and personal care show a culture that sees the person before the need.
Next chapter
A permanent home
The Life Transformation Campus follows years of documented service and repeated need for more room.
2015
Garage Beginnings
Steve and Angel begin collecting, purchasing, and giving away items to people who need practical help.
2016
First Dedicated Space
The garage overflows and GG's House rents space in Gaston, Oregon, trusting that the rent would be provided.
2017
Nonprofit Recognition
GG's House receives IRS 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status, creating the formal structure needed for the growing work.
2020
Forest Grove, COVID & Food Response
After moving toward Forest Grove, the pandemic changes the need almost overnight. GG's House responds with food distribution, emergency help, and continued service when many resources were limited.
2020
Wildfire Relief
During Oregon wildfires, GG's House becomes a donation point and helps move supplies to evacuees and evacuation centers.
2020–2021
Christmas Outreach
GG's House hosts a Christmas drive-through event and later expands holiday outreach to nursing homes, assisted living, group homes, schools, mentors, families, seniors, and unhoused neighbors.
2021–2024
Growth Beyond the Building
Food, clothing, school supplies, furniture, medical equipment, hygiene items, household goods, and referral support grow into a regional network of practical help.
2025
Forced Move, Rapid Reopening
After being asked to move unexpectedly, volunteers pack, relocate, set up the new space at 1714 Pacific Avenue, and reopen by Angel's July 1 target.
Today
The Life Transformation Campus
The campus vision extends what the newsletters have documented for years: the need for more room to serve, teach, gather, support, train, and walk with people toward stability.
The Culture
Volunteers became family.
The newsletters repeatedly describe GG's House as more than an inventory room. Volunteers sorted, packed, loaded, unloaded, listened, laughed, prayed, cooked, drove, cleaned, created forms, wrote newsletters, handled finances, and helped clients carry items to cars.
Over time, the same theme appears again and again: people who first came for help often returned to help someone else. That movement from need to contribution became one of GG's House's clearest signs of health.
“You Be You”
Angel Sheets“Everyone is a piece of the puzzle.”
GG's House theme“Take what you need.”
Early Lighthouse signStories That Explain The Mission
Real stories carry the message better than slogans.
Across the newsletters, the strongest stories are practical and personal: a birthday gift, a parent reunited with a child, a volunteer who once came for help, a haircut, a food box, a chair, a pair of shoes, a ride, or a conversation.
Brenda
Brenda's story moves from hardship and survival to housing, cancer treatment, friendship, and returning to GG's House as part of the community. Her story shows the long arc of relationship-based help.
Micheal
Micheal first came to GG's House as an unhoused individual. During the 2025 move, he showed up daily to load and unload the box truck. By the November 2025 newsletter, he had secured housing and continued volunteering.
Chris
Chris thanked GG's House for hygiene products, clothes, a backpack, shoes, and being there on his birthday. Small items became a human moment.
Tom Owen
Tom began volunteering in early 2020, riding with Steve on weekly pickup runs and helping load and unload inventory until his doctor told him to retire at 91.
April 2026 Love Story
Safety, welcome, and genuine kindness.
The April 2026 newsletter tells the story of “Sally,” a mother rebuilding after domestic violence. She came to GG's House around Christmas after fleeing with little more than clothes. She later began volunteering because GG's House felt like a safe place to give back and heal.
Her phrase: “It costs nothing to be kind.”
The Next Chapter
Why the campus follows the story.
For years, GG's House has written about needing more room. The Life Transformation Campus is the next chapter of that same story: a larger place for the work already proven through donated space, volunteer hours, community trust, and practical service.
Meet the Founders