Serve Well Blog

Register now for the 2012 Conference Guest Days! (May 26th and 27th) 

As someone who has worked on organic farms, let me tell you: transplanting is a risky job. Your baby plant has set roots in a warm and humid greenhouse, is pulled out, and shoved firmly into the earth. The soil is different! The lighting, strange. The neighbors, unfamiliar. The biggest danger is shock. A plant will wilt and wither from the inability to fit into its new landscape. The effect might be temporary. It might be permanent. And yet more often than not, the leaves unfurl and the flowers bloom and growth occurs: ripe, green, glowing growth.

In the few years since graduating from college, I have experienced some damaging transplants of my own. I have moved four times, traveled stateside and abroad, tried several jobs, made friends and left them, gone home and said goodbye again. After trying a term of service in the Dominican Republic developing environmental education, I spent a full season interning at an organic farm in Colorado. While neither 'transplant' held me for more than a years' time, the experiences certainly contributed to my growth. I am not sure there is such a thing as a perfect place. One half of my soul pulls me to keep searching for it anyway. The other half of my soul encourages me to embrace settling in my roots around the imperfections.

But roots can take shape in other ways. Relationships take root in my heart. My spiritual learnings and discoveries create deep-rooted ideals and beliefs. While at times I can feel uprooted or face a challenging transplant, I can remain grounded to people, to causes, to choices, actions. This is where the Krista Foundation comes in. They are the tomato stake that supports my gangly green service limbs. The Krista Colleagues are a network of supporters to remind me that, in spite of the risks, I can still be grounded in a community based on nurturing a service leadership that inspires social justice.

This Memorial Day weekend (May 26-28) the Krista Foundation is putting on a conference with a theme I can relate to: Growing in Service Leadership: Rooted for Life. If you're at all like me, your very being resonates with the idea that serving our community stretches beyond a single event or commitment; it is simply a way of living that filters through to everything you do.

Come on Saturday or Sunday as a guest to support and connect with the Krista Colleagues. Come to participate in workshops that tackle practical, personal, social, and timeless issues in the world of serving our communities. This year, I have the opportunity to co-lead a workshop about how to live simply and eat well. Anthony DeLorenzo, a colleague from 2008, called me on the phone and we buzzed like bees with ideas and excitement about how and what to bring to the workshop. This is what it's all about: the exchange of ideas, the thrill of moving forward, the beauty of dwelling in place, and the humble commitment to intentional choices. The connections we foster lead to the most universally shared attribute of living things: growth. We live because we grow. And we grow when we give thought, intention, time, and love to the causes and communities rooted in our souls.

I hope to meet you at the Conference!

Register now for the 2012 Conference Guest Days! (May 26th and 27th) 

Day of Prayer | 5.20

Each year, the KF marks May 20th as a special day of prayer for the life of The Krista Foundation extended community. We pause to remember the young adults accompanying people around the world in mutual service and learning. Krista Colleagues serving around the globe send in celebrations and prayer requests.

In Spokane: Join a gathering from 3-5PM at the Hearth for afternoon tea in the garden.
(9115 N. Mtn. View Lane, Spokane, 99218)
Elsewhere in the world: Join in prayer at 12 noon where you are.

To request the full Prayer Guide in PDF, please email jonathan@kristafoundation.org (we will email it to you on the 18th).

Due March 20th

Dear Krista Colleague Nominators and Foundation friends!

DO YOU KNOW A GRADUATING SENIOR OR ALUM BEGINNING OR CURRENTLY ENGAGED IN SIGNIFICANT VOLUNTEER SERVICE?

Please nominate young adults heading out or currently engaged in long-term volunteer or vocational service to become a 2012 Krista Colleague, including a $1,000 Service and Leadership Development Grant.

Nominations are due March 20th. Click here for Nomination criteria, Online Nomination form, Downloadable form in Doc or PDF.

• Every year, we welcome a new cohort of "Krista Colleagues". Each joins a multi-year ecumenical Christian mentoring community and receives a $1,000 Service and Leadership Development Grant.
• New Krista Colleagues engage in supplemental training as they begin extended volunteer or vocational service with the service organization of their choice (examples include PeaceCorps, Jesuit Volunteer Corps, Presbyterian Young Adult Volunteers, AmeriCorps, etc.)
• After concluding their assignment, Krista Colleagues participate in a debriefing retreat, and engage in ongoing peer-mentoring and leadership development through the Foundation.

Please complete online nominations, or download the Doc or PDF and email to our office.

Questions?
Call 206-382-7888 or email our office if you have questions regarding a candidate's eligibility (acceptable income range for vocational or volunteer pay, duration of service, Pacific Northwest ties, etc.)

Please click the "share" button below and forward this to community members who may know potential nominees.

"Transforming service experiences into lives of service leadership."

Related Documents

2012 Colleague Cohort nomination ad Download (743Kb, pdf)

The Krista Foundation for Global Citizenship announces the selection of Sharon London to be honored as Global Citizen Award recipient for embodying a life of service leadership in the area of Environment.

Sharon London, Strategic Initiatives Director at EarthCorps, is a leader in the pioneering field of "citizen science." Drawing upon global service experiences that shaped her understanding of environmental and economic disparities, London empowers community leaders and young adults from the United States and more than 75 countries to do scientifically grounded environmental education and restoration. London's service leadership inspires local citizens to become active stakeholders in local parks and natural areas. Their efforts are making a ripple effect with communities across Puget Sound becoming equipped to assess, advocate for and care for their local natural areas.

"Whether training young adult Corps members, partnering her Jewish faith community with EarthCorps to plant trees, or opening her home to international volunteers, Sharon London embodies the Krista Foundation values of service leadership to create a sustainable Puget Sound and planet," says Krista Foundation Executive Director Valerie Norwood. "Sharon's service journey is an example to the Krista Foundation's young adult Colleagues of leveraging service experiences into a life of service leadership."

London is one of three mid-career professionals from the Puget Sound region to be honored by the Krista Foundation for exemplifying the qualities of Global Citizenship: service leadership that creates community and sustainable futures for people and the environment.

The 2012 Krista Foundation Global Citizen Award recipients will be formally announced and honored at a public event on Sunday, March 4th, 7:00 pm in the Campion Ballroom at Seattle University. The three honorees demonstrate the event theme: "The Ripple Effect: Service changes you. Service changes the world." Tickets for the event are available by contacting The Krista Foundation for Global Citizenship at 206-382-7888 or nissana@kristafoundation.org. RSVP required for this event.

Global Citizen Award recipients are selected for demonstrating the Krista Foundation values: intercultural competence, adaptive leadership, young adult empowerment, respect for spiritual values, global-local connection, and service as a way of life. The other 2012 Global Citizen Award recipients to be honored are:

Trise Moore, Family and Community Partnership Advocate, Federal Way School District (Urban United States)
Joseph Whinney, Founder & CEO, Theo Chocolate (Developing World)

About the Krista Foundation for Global Citizenship: Founded in 1999, The Krista Foundation honors the life and vision of Krista Hunt Ausland who died at age 25 while volunteering with her husband in rural Bolivia. Through mentoring, a colleague community and re-integration services, the Krista Foundation helps young adults fully understand and employ the learnings from their service experience. A service year, when nurtured, becomes a life of service leadership. The Krista Foundation provides ongoing program connections for more than 200 Krista Colleagues and offers program development resources and services, including The Global Citizen journal, for local universities and volunteer service organizations.

Link to the Ripple Effect Event Page

Link to the KF Facebook Event Page

Reflection by Krista Colleague Allie May

"When I came to Seattle from my corporate desk job in Nashville, TN 4 years ago this month, it was honestly not with the intention of building up my "life resumé." I thought, I'll take a break from looking at a computer screen to plant some trees with EarthCorps, then I'll go back to my graphic design career having done good and feeling refreshed. Only looking back now do I recognize that EarthCorps, which connected me to the Krista Foundation, was going to be the place where I learned that doing good (aka service) and feeling refreshed (aka being inspired!) would become constants in my personal and professional life that could not be switched on and off.

Doing 14 months of environmental service, which at times simply looked like crawling in circles under blackberry bushes in the rain, became my way of understanding how good intentions were turned into good actions. I learned that actions, big or small, were the key to moving forward. This model was not something for me to start and stop when convenient; service was meant to be a way of Iife (Krista Foundation, you're on to something!). We can initiate change, and become leaders, by participating on diverse teams and teaching our skills to others along the way.

I recognized that a necessary piece of leadership was the ability to connect with others, and it is people like my coworker Sharon London who have shown me how time spent with others is always an opportunity to know their unique gifts and experiences. And that by knowing ourselves and others we can form connections in new and unknown ways, allowing for mutual inspiration and action to take place. There were times in my own service journey when my good intentions were not enough to keep me going, but as soon as I became connected to a greater community of peers, resources, teachers, and mentors, I found I was being held up, inspired and carried along.

I am thankful for the perspectives that the Krista Foundation and my peers at EarthCorps like Sharon have opened my eyes to. Service will continue to spread through every part of my life, and by connecting myself with others, our stories and inspirations will spread and spread until we are all linked and moving forward together."

After 2 years as an EarthCorps service volunteer (Corps Member and Crew Leader), Allie May is now Development and Communications Coordinator at EarthCorps in Seattle. She is an active participant and volunteer with the Krista Foundation's mentoring community.

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 I used to think that being "globally minded" was the important thing. I would stress the need to open ourselves to other people and cultures, and discover our interconnectedness. I would encourage accepting our responsibility to care for and advocate for our brothers and sisters around the world.

I still believe global awareness, appreciation, and respect are important, yet over the past few years I've come to discover the importance of local. I mean, to be global without being local is to have your head in the clouds without your feet on the ground. In a pragmatic way, you can only be as global as you are local—doing real things with real people in real places while understanding their global implications. Becoming locally involved also provides insights on the elements of any healthy community around the world. (To clarify-- I don't see those insights or elements as a blueprint to be replicated exactly. Contextual and cultural difference should be honored in each community.)

In the spirit of the KF's August 20th event: Think Globally, Move Locally, I want to hear what your neighborhood celebrates and values: What are the unique local things that your neighborhood is known for? What are sources of pride for your neighborhood or city?

To get the conversation started, I'll speak to our Seattle KF Office in Greenlake...
A food or two? On a warm summer afternoon, our staff has indulged at Gelatiamo, the gelato shop around the corner. Beyond Greenlake, trekking to nearby Fremont to sample Theo chocolate at their factory is a worthy quarterly outing. : )
A geographic marker/hike/adventure? Greenlake itself-known for speedwalking moms with strollers, fancy Frisbee spinners in the park, and some of the most competitive outdoor basketball in the city. It's a place of meeting/play, and a nice 3 mile stroll. We had a wonderful picnic a week ago with Colleagues.

Something else? A type of music/band or instrument? / Something of historic significance?/ Something with cult-worthy appeal?

Whether your neighborhood is Brooklyn, Boulder, or Bombay... what aspects of local life are you loving? What are your neighbors most proud of?

To read one Krista Colleague's thoughtful consideration of being local while in global service, read Nathan Brouwer's article from The Global Citizen.

"How do we let the city be our classroom, and the world our teacher?" Asked Ron Ruthruff. 

At the Krista Foundation Annual Mentoring Conference, former, current and future service volunteers gathered to discuss the "Beautiful Struggle" of hope, tension and grace that we live out in an increasingly diverse and rapidly changing world. We asked the question: How do we encourage and recognize hope in surprising places, in the gifts and perspectives most different from our own, in companions persevering together to love the world?

By sharing the ways his own transformation through encounters from the streets of Seattle to the slums of Calcutta, Dr. Ron Ruthruff challenges us to listen, unlearn, and be transformed. Part 1 begins with a 90 second introduction by Krista Foundation Executive Director Valerie Norwood. 

 

Watch Part 2 (Ecumenism and loving the city)
Watch Part 3 (Cities can tell us the best and worst about ourselves)
Watch Part 4. (How do we DO all of this? Listen and (un)learn...)

Ron Ruthruff is the author of The Least of These: Lessons Learned from Kids on the Street. He has worked for 26 years with homeless and street-involved youth and families as Director of Ministry and Program Development for New Horizons Ministries. He and his wife, Linda recently opened a nonprofit Seattle café called Street Bean that provides job training and employment for young adults working to exit street life. Ron has lectured in Kenya, Guatemala, Cambodia and India and speaks across the nation on topics including high-risk youth and early intervention strategies; street culture and sociological aspects of prostitution; adolescent culture, development, and trauma; and urban missiology. Ron serves as adjunct faculty at Bakke Graduate School and guest lectures at a variety of seminaries and colleges.

At the Krista Foundation Annual Conference, 17 new Krista Colleagues were commissioned. They are entering or currently engaged in volunteer or vocational service in urban America, developing nations, or environmental projects. 

Take a minute to let them introduce themselves!

Watch the video:

 

or CLICK HERE to glance at their web profiles:

 

The University of Washington's Center for Human Rights recently hosted its annual celebration marking Amnesty International's (AI) 50th anniversary, and recognizing around two dozen organizations including the Krista Foundation. AI believes combating human rights abuses and nurturing a world where justice is rooted in the sustained efforts of ordinary citizens, from letter writing campaigns to advocating at the policy level.

The keynote speaker was AI's Director, Larry Cox, who began by highlighting the power of civil society. In December, when Larry met with top national leaders in DC, he was told that regime change in Egypt in its current state was ‘impossible.' Culturally appropriate behind the scenes pressure was not working and civil society was too weak. Yet two months later, the efforts of Egyptians, (and the sustained efforts of human rights advocates) made radical revolution possible. Larry shared this story as an inspiration and reminder that we all play a role in bringing about change and advocating for the basic needs of our local or global neighbors. Our success in overcoming the most entrenched challenges our globe faces does not rest solely on the leader, but rather on each and every person involved.

The Human Rights Symposium also showcased work closer to home. The panel that followed Larry Cox included: Pramila Jayapal, founder and E.D. of OneAmerica, James Bible, President of the NAACP-Seattle/King County, and Magdaleno Rose-Avila, an author/artist/activist who is the outgoing E.D. of the Social Justice Fund. These speakers addressed a wide variety of issues, from the institutional discrimination and profiling in the US of people of Middle Eastern descent following 9/11, to incarceration rates and the industry of prisons in the US (the country with the most people per capita locked up). They agreed that there is much work to be done within our national borders.

Amnesty International has been working to broaden the view of what qualifies as human rights, sharing that systemic oppression takes place in social, economic, and cultural areas. Human rights are often associated with high profile international abuses, political prisoners or torture cases in foreign nations. However, Larry advocates that basic human rights abuses occur within the US and abroad in areas such as the right to free and fair elections, employment, legal representation. There is often an unjust distribution of and access to wealth, power and legal rights which perpetuates poverty and disproportionately impacts marginalized segments of a population.

At the Krista Foundation, we hear many Colleagues who would resonate with this broader definition of human rights. Whether working in urban education, in law, or with people caught in human trafficking, whether at home or abroad, whether during formal service or service as a way of life—Colleagues are advocates for human rights alongside the people they serve and learn from. As they integrate service as way of life, Colleagues become engaged civic leaders in local communities and at all levels/sectors of society.

Excitement is building for the KF's Annual Memorial Weekend Conference! This conference brings together Krista Colleagues, spouses, and invited guests.

Guest Day (Sunday) is open to the public who want to celebrate or learn more about our mentoring community-including mentors, parents, and other friends of the Foundation. Register if you'd like to come!

TO REGISTER click http://kfconference2011.eventbrite.com/

A Beautiful Struggle: Recognizing Hope, Embracing Tension, Living Grace

Troubles produce endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope. -Romans 5:3

Keynote Speaker: Ron Ruthruff has worked for the past 26 years with homeless and street-involved youth and families as Director of Ministry and Program Development for New Horizons Ministries. He and his wife, Linda recently opened a nonprofit Seattle café that provides job training and employment for young adults working to exit street life. Ron serves as adjunct faculty at Bakke Graduate School and guest lectures at a variety of seminaries and colleges.

Save-the-Date:
Memorial Day Weekend, May 27th - 30th 2011
(Lodge open on Friday evening, the 27th)
Clearwater Lodge, outside of Spokane, Washington
Krista Colleagues, spouses and children are welcome!

GUEST DAY is Sunday, May 29th. Come for Brunch, the Keynote & Krista Colleague Commissioning. Guests are welcome to sit in on afternoon workshops and share a festive dinner.

A special 10th anniversary welcome back to our Krista Colleague Class of 2001!

Come and reconnect with old friends, make new friends, be encouraged and encourage others as we continue to learn what it means to be a "Global Citizen"!

To register click http://kfconference2011.eventbrite.com/

"It's like every carrot is an educational tool, every tomato is a shared excitement. Everyone gets hopeful in the spring for the peas to come up... I love sharing that feeling with people." Says Krista Colleague Ingrid Hannan ('09), who is on a mission is to "revive and cultivate a sense of intimately knowing what we're eating." She credits Krista Foundation ideas with influencing her approach to her work: "Staying for Tea" has become ingrained in how I see service, how I approach a conversation with a community member, how I think about the goals and mission of growing vegetables. The way I see it, there are major problems with food production and distribution in the world. And I am more empowered thinking about fixing it—as Aaron says in the article—'at eye level.' Instead of coming into the scene with all these grandiose solutions and changes, I feel like a member of the community working for and with everyone." Whether growing vegetables, selling at farmers' markets, or building relationships with community members Ingrid brings valuable insights to her daily work.

Last season, Ingrid spent long and busy days working for Cure Organic Farm, a business-minded production farm that sells to a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs, farmers' markets, and restaurants. This season, Ingrid works for Lykins Gulch Community Garden, whose primary function is not production, but rather creating a beautiful space with very well-tended and healthy vegetables. She has found excitement adapting to working close to nature: "The exciting thing about having a job to grow vegetables is that every day is different. There are so many factors out of your control, so most of the job is about working with and alongside nature. It's incredibly surprising how important things like rainy days and temperature become."

Providing vegetables to people and talking with them about them is a joy for Ingrid, yet an even deeper joy is in reconnecting the local community with where their food comes from. "I am becoming increasingly passionate about steering our food choices away from impersonal, unhealthy, corporate-minded food and towards the community-minded, natural and healthy beautiful food." Her conviction is evident as she says, "Support farmer's markets! Eat local! Eat seasonally! And best of all, grow your own."

Meanwhile, living on the farm and close to the land has taught her valuable life lessons. "I've learned so much about balancing work and rest; about how to integrate myself into a role of serving the community; about what good growing practices are, and..." she laughs, "about how to cook kale when there is a mountain of it growing!"

She appreciates her connection to the Krista Foundation: "Every KF event is a really cool moment in which I feel beyond supported, it's where I know other Colleagues feel the excitement and importance of social food equality...and promoting good health for all."

Even without a clear sense of the future, Ingrid is committed to integrate her service to the earth "as a way of life." "Guaranteed-everywhere I go I will poke my nose into the local agricultural community; now that I am tapped into one, I feel it's vitality and joy. And I never really want to leave that again."

Ingrid's gardening blog is a must read: joylikecucumbers.wordpress.com

See a few photos on Ingrid's KF page.