blog

on defining "community"

Monday, 13 July 2009 12:07

In July and August 2009, four community-wide assemblies will be held throughout King County to discuss how we care for each other. Some of the questions that will be considered by the attendees of these assemblies will include, “What do we need in order to be the kind of community that truly cares for one another?” "What assumptions must we question to nurture and sustain this caring community?” “Who needs to come together to create this new way of viewing the world--and each other?”

Working as a Care Manager at Jubilee Women’s Center is a continual reminder of how important it is to understand how “care” is defined by the women whom we serve. Jubilee residents may hold differing perspectives of what actions and support are truly caring for her needs and for her humanity. As such, it is essential that I hold the capacity to look at the concept of care through each woman’s eyes and heart rather than simply dictating my concepts or definitions of what I define as appropriate care and support. It is my belief that by stopping to consider how we--as a community--can holistically care for one another, that I will increase my ability to offer care to Jubilee residents in a manner that is inclusive of the cultural, ethnic, spiritual, emotional, and physical realities of human existence.

Dannette Allen
Care Manager

are we ready?

Monday, 06 July 2009 12:12

Disasters have been on my mind lately. As someone not originally from the beautiful Pacific NW and who has never experienced an earthquake in her life, they terrify me. It is a fear of the unknown. What would happen? What would I do? What would I need? And when I bring all the other important people in my life into the picture, including JWC’s residents, I think – what would THEY do? What would THEY need?

I challenge you today to think about these questions for yourself and your loved ones, AND take action. Today’s the day to build your own 3-day emergency disaster kit, if you don’t already have one. Go here to see what goes into an emergency kit, you can even purchase one through the Red Cross here and order one for a JWC resident while you’re at it.

If everyone looked out for not only themselves but also their neighbor, wouldn’t we feel a lot more secure that we could handle it if a disaster came our way? I know I would.

Bryn Cowgill
Volunteer Coordinator

tours, open-houses and PBS - oh my!

Thursday, 25 June 2009 10:30

There has been a lot going on at Jubilee over the past few weeks!

We had the celebratory open house for our new property next door to Jubilee. The home houses an additional seven more women. Many friends of Jubilee came together to help make the purchase of this stunning home possible. With approximately 40-50 people joining us for this celebration – the house was packed!

Left to right: Susan Fox, Bob Peterson, Mary Gustaveson, Diane (Flood) Gustaveson, M.A. Leonard and April Kristjansson.	Left to right: Matt and Kristine Sweeney, Susan Fox and Speaker Frank Chopp.	Left to right: Susan Fox, Lynn Garvey, Beth Struckhoff, Pat Kennedy, Dick and Mary Beth Gemperle, Kristine and Matt Sweeney.  Front: Bill Parks.

We then hosted an open house on Sunday, June 7th with the St. Joseph Parish. Over 75 parishioners came over to Jubilee to see the newly renovated building or be introduced to Jubilee for the first time. We had so many people come over – there were tours all over the house!

Then we jumped on an opportunity to work with a PBS program highlighting the “New Face of Homelessness” in a six-minute photo essay feature on Jubilee. We have been working with a photographer all week and the women are so supportive.

Today, a resident came up to me and gave me a big hug thanking me for all she was given while living here at Jubilee. Today she moves into a beautiful new apartment of her own. She is so thrilled – as are all of us for her success.

With so much going on, it’s nice to know we never lose sight of our mission, and our goal of moving women into permanent housing. It’s what Jubilee does best.

Andrea Johnson
Development Director

wilderness poetry

Monday, 15 June 2009 12:19

This weekend I discovered Gary Snyder, wilderness poet:

        Once Only
 
          almost at the equator
           almost at the equinox
            exactly at midnight
             from a ship
              the full
               moon
                in the center of the sky.

                  Gary Snyder
                   Sappa Creek near Singapore
                    March 1958

When we comb through our memories, we tend to remember snapshots of shaping experiences.  Once, my father and I took a wrong turn on the hike to Bridal Veil Falls.  Our mistaken path along a cliff’s ledge momentarily dwindled away only to resume after about two steps of vertical nothingness. 

“Grab that branch and swing across,” he said.

I wasn’t convinced.  The wind was whipping along the edge of the cliff through the green, fir-filled valley below, across to the slumbering giants of other mountains, and through the spectacular view of – well – our impending death.

My father grabbed the branch and swung from ledge to ledge before I could stop him.  As he landed, a rock dislodged from beneath his boots and fell into space below, with an occasional CLACK CLACK then clack as it bounced and fell, bounced and fell.

I said, “No – okay – no.”  Then, of course, I grabbed the branch and swung across.

Once only.

Where am I going with this? 

Well obviously, Jubilee is the branch.  It’s where women who would have been left behind can take a deep breath and swing across.

For some reason that particular poem made me imagine Jubilee’s women before they came here: frazzled, tired, maybe sleeping in the back seat of a car, maybe holding a backpack and looking around a shelter, maybe huddling under a blanket in Pioneer Square.  Visualize the most physically and emotionally exhausted you have ever been, then multiply it by 10.

When would these women finally get a moment of true rest?  To arrive, figuratively, almost at their equator, their equinox, exactly at midnight, while on their journey through life?  When would they feel their own perfect center?  How could they possibly experience these moments while so painfully beyond exhaustion?

They needed a branch.  They needed an opportunity.  Once only.

Now, as we watch them swing across at Jubilee, we learn that the most memorable shaping experiences don’t always happen on the edges of cliffs; sometimes they happen every day.  Sometimes they’re just a phone call telling you – you have a place to live.

Becca Petrin
Office Manager