Serve Well Blog

The Krista Foundation supports Christian young adults in long-term service to transform their service experiences into lives of service leadership. 

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).

Join or continue the conversation on service leadership with the KF staff and Colleagues. How can we continue to build connections and make ripples? Share a story of service leadership that shapes you or a vision of service leadership that inspires you. 

Please join us for tea and conversation. "Steep" in stories of TEA (Transformation: Ethics and Accompaniment).

Get a taste of how the Krista Foundation helps young leaders transform service experiences into lives of service leadership.

It's a conversation. We look forward to your input. There won't be an ask.

When:
Wednesday April 4th, 5-6pm

Where: 
Our Seattle/Greenlake office
6827 Oswego Pl. NE
Suite A
Seattle, WA 98115

Service changes you. Service changes the world.

Thank you for expanding The Ripple Effect!

More than 375 enthusiastic guests filled Campion Ballroom to celebrate the power of service leadership to change our world. The Krista Foundation honored three exemplary service leaders making a ripple effect. 

The 2012 Global Citizen Award honorees included Sharon London of EarthCorps (Environment), Trise Moore in parent involvement (Urban United States), and Joe Whinney of Theo Chocolate (the Developing World). The three recipients were honored with a beautiful handmade award and a video crafted and narrated by Krista Colleagues.

Krista Colleagues Amy McNair and Chris Bhang illuminated the ripple effects that service volunteer experiences continue making in their lives, and how the Krista Foundation mentoring community helps them transform those experiences into lives of service leadership in law and education.

Leading up to the event, 75 Krista Colleagues (including 32 Colleagues in attendance) had contributed more than $9,000 in gifts and pledges as challenge to guests to contribute. We're thrilled that nearly 75% of guests were brand new to the Foundation's vision: empowering young adults to transform service experiences into lives of service leadership. Their tremendous generosity raised $30,000 to further the Krista Foundation's mission.

Take this opportunity to make your own contribution to The Ripple Effect. Click Here.

Last but not least, thanks to our sponsors Seattle University Mission and Ministry and Sozo Wines... and thanks to YOU!!

What resonates for you about The Ripple Effect of service and service leadership?

Please share a comment below.

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.

Related Documents

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

Event Announcement:

The Krista Foundation for Global Citizenship is pleased to invite you to a special author reading and signing. Andrea Palpant Dilley is the sister of Krista Colleague Nathan Palpant, and a long-time friend of the Foundation. We anticipate a lively and meaningful evening of connection and dialogue.

Faith and Other Flat Tires:

Saturday, March 31, 7:00 p.m.
The Green Bean Café
8533 Greenwood Avenue North, Seattle, WA 98103
Visit andreapalpantdilley.com for more information.

In her deeply personal memoir, Andrea navigates the doubts that plague believers and skeptics alike: Why does God allow suffering? Why is God so silent, distant, and uninvolved? And why does church seem so dysfunctional?

Yet amid her skepticism, she begins to ask new questions: Could doubting be a form of faith? Might our doubts be a longing for God that leads to a faith we can ultimately live with?

About Andrea: Andrea grew up in Kenya as the daughter of Quaker missionaries and spent the rest of her childhood in the Pacific Northwest. She studied English literature and writing at Whitworth University. Her work as a writer has appeared in Rock and Sling, Geez, and Utne Reader, as well as the anthology Jesus Girls: True Tales of Growing up Female and Evangelical. Her work as a documentary producer has aired nationally on American Public Television. She lives with her husband and daughter in Austin, Texas.

"Andrea tells her story without becoming indulgent as a victim or preachy as the victor . . . It is so carefully and seamlessly crafted that, though I began the book thinking about her story, I ended up thinking about my own . . . Her ability to reflect on the past, to find meaning, and to see grace in people and events that seemed anything but gracious is what won me over. I suspect it will win you over too."
-Jerry Sittser

Related Documents

Faith and Other Flat Tires Download (2.11MB, pdf)

The Krista Foundation for Global Citizenship invites you to...

The Ripple Effect:

Service changes you.
Service changes the world.

Join us for a fundraising celebration of service-centered leaders who are shaping our local communities and the world.

Global Citizen Award recipients include:

• Sharon London, Strategic Initiatives Director, EarthCorps
• Trise Moore, Family & Community Partnership Advocate, Federal Way Public Schools
• Joseph Whinney, Founder & CEO, Theo Chocolate
  Learn more about the three honorees.

Sunday, March 4th, 2012
7:00-8:45pm
Doors open at 6:45pm for wine & light hors d'oeuvres

Seattle University, Campion Ballroom
914 E. Jefferson St.
Seattle, WA, 98122

Be inspired and share wine and dessert at this free event!

The Krista Foundation for Global Citizenship
Empowering young adults to transform service experiences into lives of service leadership

Please RSVP by February 22nd to your table host, or to nissana@kristafoundation.org

Click to add this event to your calendar.

Special thanks to our sponors— Seattle University—Mission and Ministry, and Sozo Wines!

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.

RSVP to attend this event

Share this event using links in the upper right corner of this page.

The Krista Foundation for Global Citizenship announces the selection of Trise Moore to be honored with a Global Citizen Award for embodying a life of service leadership in the area of Urban United States.

Moore leads the increasingly diverse Federal Way School District's community partnership initiatives to improve student achievement. Implementing innovative strengths-based approaches, Moore navigates intercultural and adaptive challenges, dismantling barriers and empowering parents to become effective partners in student academic success. Moore, who became Family and Community Partnership Advocate for the Federal Way School District in 2003, previously received national honors as chair of the City of Federal Way's Diversity Commission.

"The Krista Foundation is delighted to honor Trise Moore for her service-centered leadership in the diverse urban context of Federal Way," says Krista Foundation Executive Director Valerie Norwood. "Service that transforms communities is not a one-way path of giver to receiver. It must be mutually transformative. Trise leverages the insights of parents and other key stakeholders, together creating a model of family engagement that is gaining national recognition and making a positive ripple effect in Federal Way and beyond."

Moore 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. This is an RSVP-only 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:
Sharon London, Strategic Initiatives Director, EarthCorps (Environment)
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 KF Ripple Effect Event Page
Link to KF Ripple Effect Facebook Page

Krista Colleague endorsement for Trise Moore by Carmetrus Parker

As a former AmeriCorps volunteer and Krista Colleague, I am so happy to see that Trise Moore is being honored with the Krista Foundation's 2012 Global Citizen Award in the area of Urban United States. I value the tremendous work Trise Moore is doing in Federal Way as a Family Partnership Advocate and I applaud Federal Way School District for taking steps in engaging parents.

As an AmeriCorps volunteer in the urban setting of Tacoma's Hilltop neighborhood, I provided in class assistance to students and coordinated an after school program focused on literacy development in early readers. The after school program was housed at Trinity Presbyterian Church and the primary focus was of the program was on students reading below grade level. It became apparent to me that my students needed more than just an after school reading program and I soon found myself in the uncomfortable position of being an advocate.

I did not understand what being an education advocate meant. I was confronted by frustrated parents that truly wanted the best for their child. Some parents felt they were not getting their concern heard, let alone addressed. Others didn't see school as a safe place and turned to the "girl at the church" as a confidante. Many more respected the program and viewed the church as a place of integrity. Whatever the reason, parents came to me. I soon began having conversations with teachers and principals that ended in uncomfortable eye and leg shifting.

I began to ask hard questions. It seemed the more questions I asked, the fewer answers I received. I began to research and seek answers independently. I discovered resources that I never knew existed! As a parent, I soon realized how ill equipped I had been to advocate for my own children. I was not only ill equipped, but ill informed. I began sharing information on student and parent rights and responsibilities. I requested information and brochures from the Education Ombudsman. I referred parents to advocacy trainings and encouraged them to contact their assigned school director when a situation could not be resolved at the school level.

In AmeriCorps, my primary function was to serve when and where I was needed most. I never imagined that I would become an advocate for families, yet I am proud and honored for being called into this role. I recognize that there was a deficit within the system and a need that was not being fulfilled.

It is obvious that Trise Moore has a heart for families and a true desire to serve her community through her role as Family and Community Partnership Advocate. Her vision for family engagement resonated with me because it shifts from blaming parents to empowering them. I have often felt that I was not a partner in my children's education. Trise Moore is committed to ensuring that all parents have an opportunity to participate and, ultimately, become partners in educating their children. In a society focused on individual achievement it is refreshing to see a collective approach to ensuring success for all. Focusing on family engagement in our schools is an approach that is often not a priority in public education. The benefits are countless, as issues of the ever-widening achievement gap can be more readily addressed, and increased parental involvement is an invaluable resource to students and teachers alike.

Hats off to Trise Moore and her colleagues in Federal Way for prioritizing and focusing on family engagement, and recognizing the ripple effect it has on student achievement.

Carmetrus Parker is a 2009 Krista Colleague, Program Coordinator at Tacoma Urban League, and Director of Community Relations and TAP at Trinity Presbyterian Church.

The Krista Foundation for Global Citizenship announced the selection of Joseph Whinney to be honored with a Global Citizen Award for embodying a life of service leadership in the Developing World.

Joseph Whinney, Founder and CEO of Theo Chocolate, is a leader in fair trade business. As young adult conservation volunteer, Whinney recognized opportunities to improve the environmental and economic livelihood of farmers in the cacao industry. Through Whinney's service leadership, Theo Chocolate is making a ripple effect: improving conditions for farmers, educating chocolate consumers, and gaining recognition as leading model of conscious capitalism.

"A global citizen recognizes, nurtures and strengthens constructive relationships between local communities and their global impact," says Krista Foundation Executive Director Valerie Norwood. "Joseph Whinney not only understands the global-local interconnection, he lives out an ethic of mutuality through Theo Chocolate. He is inspired both by farmers seeking education and basic quality of life, and also by Theo customers. Together they create a movement of healthy stewardship globally and locally. For the young adult service volunteers across the world connected to Krista Foundation programs, Whinney's example shows how business offers creative and effective tools to transform social and environmental challenges."

Whinney 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. This is an RSVP-Only 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:

Sharon London, Strategic Initiatives Director, EarthCorps (Environment)
Trise Moore, Family and Community Partnership Advocate, Federal Way School District (Urban United States)

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 KF Ripple Effect Event Page

Link to KF Ripple Effect Facebook Page

Krista Colleague endorsement for Joe Whinney by Joe Tobiason

As a Krista Colleague, and a former international service volunteer, I'm so impressed with what Joe Whinney is doing with Theo Chocolate. I'm also excited he was recently selected by the Krista Foundation for Global Citizenship to receive a 2012 Global Citizen Award in the area of Developing World.

Theo, located in Seattle's Fremont neighborhood, is making a ripple effect in so many important ways. Theo is the first and only organic fair trade chocolate maker in the United States. The words "fair trade" get tossed around a lot, but I learned through my volunteer experience in Lima, Peru, that those words have the power to break the cycle of poverty and change lives.

Working alongside women in the Bridge of Hope Fair Trade Organization opened my eyes to how good trade practices can lift entire communities out of abject poverty and into a life that is healthier and safer. Over my year of service I built deep connections with an artisan community called El Mercurio in the town of Huancavelica. The group was begun by a woman named Jodi (pictured second from right- J Tobiason Photography). During my visit, I had the privilege of translating her story for a group of international visitors.

She shared that she was just a normal housewife who needed to find a way to make some extra money. She had some friends who had heard about this fair trade. They got in contact with the Red Uniendo Manos and their Fair Trade branch. With access to export tools, they started their group, named after the chemical that continued to contaminate their town. They began to produce small stuffed animals and their most well-known llamas. To hear Jodi talk about how this fair trade organization had changed her life showed me the incredible value of tools for poverty relief. Not only did this give her family some extra money so that her kids could go to school, but it changed the way her house worked. Her husband was no longer the only money-maker and thus he had to shift the way he looked at her. The family became more equitable and she had never felt so respected. Her transformation is something that can only be truly understood by looking at the smile on her face every time she talked about Fair Trade.

Joe Whinney, Theo Chocolate, and the chocolate loving community are making a real impact. Consider the connections that his company has built with its growers. They use the Fair Trade principles because this is the middle way for commerce that honors the value in all parts of the process. The fair trade community seeks to provide wages that are equitable and fair for workers on the ground, while still providing the highest quality possible. Theo really exemplifies this as it is known throughout the Northwest for producing some of the best chocolates. But the fair trade principles don't end when the cacao beans are in shipment: Joe has ensured that it continues all the way through Theo employees. The company is known for helping its own people to grow in their skills and truly thrive in the community. Theo exemplifies how trade can benefit the growers, the sellers and the buyers and has made Fair Trade principles a reality in Seattle.

Just take their tour and you'll be buzzing about Theo too. Then come and celebrate Joe Whinney and Theo Chocolate when he receives the 2012 Global Citizen Award on March 4th at Seattle University. Learn more at: http://www.kristafoundation.org/index.cfm/page/therippleeffect.

Joe Tobiason is a 2008 Krista Colleague. He currently resides in Greenlake and works at Big Fish Games in Seattle. He has a serious passion for photography. (@JTobiasonPhoto on Twitter or J Tobiason Photography on Facebook)