Being a Good Seattlite

Community groups at Quest have a simple goal: "a place to belong, believe, and become."  We want c-groups to be a place where people feel valued and heard, where their spiritual roots grow deeper through study and conversation, and where they become doers of justice, mercy, and compassion.  That last aspect, become, may well be the hardest to do because it requires change and stepping out to serve our neighbors.  So, along those lines we are launching a c-group in Jan. specifically aimed at becoming as well as doing our second annual Good Neighbor Fund.  The Good Neighbor Fund is our attempt to spark the imaginations of our c-groups and give them just a bit of a push to be the hands and feet of Jesus to their neighbors.  We give each group $200 and ask them to creatively use it to simply serve their fellow Seattlites.  Last year we had everything from dinners being made and relationships formed with a small Karen church to a speed dating fundraiser.  Below is a letter from a case manager at Elder Health that greatly encouraged me about what can happen when our imaginations are put to the service of the Kingdom of God:

Dear Quest Church,

I am writing to say thank you for a generous donation given over the past summer to ElderHealth Northwest.  It has meant so much to us, more than we can put into words or cards, or photos.  It was a gift of $1000.  It was a gift of time spent.

Our church gave each C-group money to use last year.  Last spring, Mark To’s community group set forth to raise money for non-profits through a speed dating event.  I nominated ElderHealth Northwest, an adult day health care center where I am a case manager and the activities and Alzheimer’s coordinator.  I nominated this non-profit for our C-group to do a service project and spend the $200 that each c-group was given by the church.  We voted it in.  In the meantime, we also decided to support another non-profit and do a huge speed dating event to raise more money. 

On Memorial Day, 2008, 14 volunteers from my c-group, who go to Quest Church, worked for 4 hours in our patio garden area, here at EHNW and brought back to life, our beautiful garden patio and side yards!  Over the summer many neighbors, clients, and caregivers commented on its beauty and thanked us for making the neighborhood a better place.  The $200 was spent on plants and soil.  Thus we accomplished our mission of using the money for something that would improve our neighborhood (Ravenna/Bryant), and help a local non-profit.  Already, that project was an amazing blessing to me personally, as I run the gardening group with my elderly clients, and care for the outer garden area.  I should add that a few of the c-group volunteers also worked along side my elderly clients, and helped them created the hanging baskets for outside.

To my surprise and delight, in August, I was contacted by Randall Ajimine who let me know that we (ElderHealth Northwest) were being given an additional $1000 from the speed dating fundraiser.  My co-workers and I were so surprised, as we had been told that we would not receive anything further, since the service project and $200 had been given to ElderHealth already. 

I cannot tell you how much this money has made a difference to us.  We aren’t usually remembered when people think to give money to a non-profit, so we aren’t used to getting such huge donations.  We decided to give the money to the activities budget, my department!  With the money we have been able to purchase items that were long overdue to be purchased.  We finally have a digital camera!  We finally have new paints, scissors, glue, paper, arts ‘n’ crafts supplies, sports and exercise equipment.  Our Occupational Therapist was able to purchase much needed supplies for our clients’ exercise programs.  We have supplies to do special gift making groups this fall/winter.  Our clients rarely get to make gifts or purchase gifts for their loved ones, and now they are being given that opportunity.  I know this all may sound small to you, but $1000 really is a lot for us and has made a huge difference for our 14 staff members, and our 120 clients. 

We serve both the elderly and disabled, as well as younger adults with Developmental disabilities.  All areas of our program have been improved and benefited from this very generous and unexpected donation.  We want to say; Thank You Quest Church and Mark To’s c-group from last year, for your amazing blessing to all of us.  I personally want to say thank you, for hearing my request and taking me seriously.  I have been blessed by this experience and see my church family responding in real ways to those in need in our community.

Sincerely and with heart felt thanks,

Lindsey Ismailova

Case Manager

Activities & Alzheimer’s Coordinator

ElderHealth Northwest