In just three months, SPiN has grown from 183 meal guests, on 12 days of service, to 527 guests on 26 days of service. This growth would not have been possible without our seven local churches who selflessly volunteer their service.
From Your SPiN Executive Director
SPiN Cafe’s feeding program has grown 250% since switching to sack meal distribution in March. Last month, May 2020, we served an amazing 527 meals at Flintstone Park on Bayshore Drive.
We are delighted to have seven local churches volunteer to make and distribute these vital meals to those in need in our community six days a week, Monday through Saturday. These volunteers donate over 500 hours per month in order to maintain our program. Our guests express their appreciation on a regular basis.
In addition, SPiN has reinstituted laundry services, enjoyed by over 40 guests per month. Our outreach to guests also has provided coordination of clothing and toiletry needs with Garage of Blessings, and we coordinate when needed with Island County Human Services for assistance with our guests’ needs.
We currently anticipate that our sack meal program will continue at least through September and possibly beyond. We appreciate the great commitment from the large number of volunteers who make this a success.
Passersby, and in some instances our guests themselves, donate money at Flintstone Park to keep this program going. It takes a strong and dedicated community to care for our vulnerable neighbors, and we are grateful to the citizens of Oak Harbor and all of Whidbey Island for standing behind our efforts.
Tom Saunders is a member of SPiN Cafe’s Board and serves as the Executive Director.
Laurel Fagan is a welcome and comforting face, as she has been for nearly a year volunteering at SPiN Cafe.
Board member Tom Saunders expresses gratitude and wonder at Laurel’s dedication, as she serves sack meals and assists guests with their laundry. Saunders says the seven churches who serve with her each week thoroughly enjoy working with her, and “Laurel sees opportunities to help our guests and initiates the dialogue to bring solutions to their needs. She is an absolute delight to be around and we’re blessed to have her in the SPiN Organization.”
We managed to pull her from her duties long enough to answer a few questions.
Laurel Fagan, unmasked at Flintstone Park.
How long have you been volunteering for SPiN? I started last August, serving meals in the evenings when we were still in our original space on Bayshore. So, yes, I’ve seen a lot of changes in a pretty short time.
What caught your interest in helping? Back when Vivian Rogers-Decker was just starting SPiN out, I attended a meeting where she went over SPiN’s vision and brought together community support. I loved the idea of providing meals and laundry service and a place of community. That was five or six years ago. I just didn’t have the time to commit, but last year I retired as a Head Start preschool teacher, so I decided to take action, and here I am.
What wonderful things have you seen as a SPiN volunteer – things that bring you joy? The resiliency of our guests. To see people struggle so hard for so long, and not give up, inspires me. And with SPiN, definitely I love the community feeling. From the moment I first came down to volunteer, everyone – our guests, fellow volunteers, SPiN staff – made me feel welcome. It’s a strong community, a group that looks out for each other.
What frustrations have you had in serving our guests? With the current health crisis, people have nowhere to go when it’s not a good day outside. Today, for instance, it’s rainy and cold, and the library is closed, and many coffee shops have been closed, so a person can’t just get out of the weather and get a cup of coffee. These are things that most of us take for granted.
In your year (almost) serving our guests week after week, have you ever felt like you were in danger? No.
Not ever? Never.
…but don’t some people try to tell the community that they should be scared of our guests? People get scared when others act in a way that’s unfamiliar. That’s why some in the community are fearful of our guests with mental illness: they may act out in a way that another community member hasn’t seen before, and the reaction is fear.
Is there anything else you’d like to say about that? All of our guests, including the ones with mental issues and substance abuse problems, everyone, they’re all part of this community.
What are your thoughts on the churches that have joined forces to bring meal service to six days a week? Oh my gosh, what a blessing. And our guests are so grateful! They thank us, especially the church volunteers, every day.
Are you still serving about 25 meals each day? Actually some days now, it’s over 30. Usually we see the numbers go up a bit at the end of the month when people’s money gets tight, but we’ve had an increase early this month.
Is that a sign of something, economically? I don’t know. But we have such a wide range of people who come. We have lots of regular guests in that number, but we’re always getting new people too. We get everybody from single adults to whole families. Some stay at the Haven because they have nowhere else to go. Some are staying outdoors. Others have homes but they’re struggling financially, so they really appreciate a meal they don’t have to pay for.
As you get to know your guests and their stories, do you find yourself advocating for them with the County or other agencies for services? Oh yes. I call the County for them, and I give our guests info on services available for housing and health issues. That’s another frustration with the library being closed. Many of our guests don’t have smartphones, so going to the library is the only way they can access the internet – which is where a lot of County services are found, especially now as County caseworkers are trying to get a lot of their work done remotely.
So, the virus has forced a lot of services onto the internet, but the people that need the services can’t access them because they can’t get on the internet? That’s right. And once again, internet access is something most of us take for granted.
…and if they’re living outside, or at the Haven, and they want to be housed… and they don’t have internet… they can’t access County services to get housing? That’s right. It’s a struggle. It’s why I help some of our guests to call the County. But some of our guests have felonies on their records, and you can’t get subsidized housing with a felony…
…so a person with a felony record already has less chance of finding a job, and now they can’t get help with housing… so it’s a vicious circle. It is.
And back to an earlier question, even with people around you with felony records, you’ve never felt you were in danger? Never.
Are there some success stories from your outreach on behalf of our guests? I’ve contacted Garage of Blessings when one of our guests needs some help with clothing, bedding, or tents. GoB is closed now, but they can still put together the gear I need, and I can arrange to pick things up at the door. Then I’ll have it the next day at lunch for the guest who requested it.
Has there been any talk among our guests about the current George Floyd protests? It doesn’t seem like there’s been an impact on the discussions I hear from our guests. They’re just trying to survive every day. And as I mentioned, many of them don’t have internet access, so they’re not hearing the news like the rest of us.
What’s the future for SPiN Cafe in our community? You know we’re helping guests with their laundry again, right? That was Vivian’s original vision for SPiN. We’re still looking for a new place to land, a permanent place to continue that mission, and we won’t stop. None of the changes, not even the virus, have stopped us. We admire the resiliency of our guests, and I suppose we owe it to them to show the same strength to keep going.
You are a great asset to SPiN, and to our guests, Laurel. Well… I’ve been helped along by so many people throughout my life, people who have been there for me when I needed a hand up. Since I can’t pay them back directly, the only way to do it is to help others. I find a lot of joy in what I do for SPiN.
Together with our fabulous volunteers and their churches, SPiN Cafe is now serving sack meals to our guests SIX DAYS A WEEK, from Monday through Saturday! The most recent to join our outstanding group is the Oak Harbor United Methodist Church. Janice Hayes and her team will be preparing meals and serving on Saturdays, beginning May 2nd. With the recent addition of Friday service beginning on May 1st, we have grown from serving three days a week on March 17th with 3 churches, to a total of 7 churches participating today. Dreams do come true!
Tom Saunders is a SPiN Cafe board member and acting Executive Director.
SPiN Cafe sack meals are served beginning at 12:15 PM in front of Flintstone Park on Bayshore Drive in Oak Harbor. SPiN and our guests are deeply grateful to the seven churches participating: St. Stephen’s Episcopal, Church on the Rock, Christian Reformed, Living Word, Whidbey Presbyterian, Oak Harbor Lutheran, and Oak Harbor United Methodist.
I would like to thank everyone for their tremendous support and the efforts you have made to provide this essential need to members of our local community who are less fortunate. We are all thanked daily by each of them for the food provided. I would also like to thank Laurel Fagan for joining the SPiN Cafe team and coordinating this program on a daily basis. We are making our island a better place with each meal we serve.
To our Faith Community leaders, thank you for your guidance and prayers which has led us all together to this calling.
In Christ,
Tom Saunders Spin Cafe Board Member Executive Director (acting)
SPiN Cafe announced today that we will restart our laundry services this week, which is tremendous news. The program was on hold for over a month to protect the health of our guests and staff due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
As of Thursday, April 30, SPiN will provide washing and drying at no charge at the Dutch Maid Laundry, 75 S.E. Barrington Drive, in Oak Harbor.
This will be a weekly service, every Thursday from 6:30 – 9:30 AM. Guests will be asked to follow social distancing precautions on site.
Dutch Maid Laundry is convenient to downtown Oak Harbor.
Guests at our Flintstone Park lunch service are welcome to sign up for Thursday laundry with Laurel. This isn’t a requirement, just a way to let her know you’re coming.
SPiN’s laundry services will be extra helpful to overnight guests at the Haven shelter, who will be dropped off by the Haven’s bus right in front of the Dutch Maid if they need to wash their clothes. This will be an extra level of support and will provide a little dignity for these citizens, who have no reliable place of their own to sleep, and no other way to get their laundry done.
Many thanks to SPiN’s Laurel Fagan, who will host and assist our guests, and to Fran Stevens for putting the Haven bus schedule together.
Today’s announcement brings SPiN Cafe right back to our roots. As an advocate for local school kids whose families were struggling financially, SPiN founder Vivian Rogers-Decker saw the need for a place in our community where families wouldn’t have to choose between clean laundry and food or other crucial expenses.
Clean clothes, which most of us take for granted, lead to self confidence and dignity. And they might make it just a little easier to climb out of hard times. So clean clothes have been a part of what we do since the very beginning.
The laundry program is funded through donations, and we can always use your help. To support us, please donate here. Thank you to the many generous members of our community who make this vital part of our mission possible.
Shannon McLeod sensed a lull, and decided to do something about it.
When Oak Harbor’s Living Word Church put programs on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic, McLeod, the congregation’s Discipleship Pastor, saw members of the Legacy internship program facing isolation and searching for purpose.
“These are people in training for the ministry, and the stay-at-home orders have been hard because they’re used to having something to work on. They are young adults, not just adults, which I think makes it even harder to be isolated and stagnant. Even though they live in a group situation, they still faced that lack of motivation.”
Properly masked and distanced, Living Word interns (l-r) Carter Liddycoat, Samantha Welch, and Kayla Rose serve a SPiN Cafe guest at Flintstone Park on Bayshore Drive. During the COVID-19 pandemic, meals are available at 11:30AM Monday through Thursday, plus alternating Fridays. SPiN hopes to fill the need for service on weekends as well.
With SPiN Cafe’s sack meal program, Pastor McLeod’s interns found a chunk of that purpose they needed. Through parishioner Gerry Fitzgerald, a regular volunteer at The Haven overnight shelter, McLeod connected with SPiN’s board member Tom Saunders.
“I was amazed,” says Saunders. “Shannon contacted me out of the blue, we discussed details on a Friday, and they were down here serving lunches on Monday.”
Pastor McLeod chuckles in agreement. “We jumped on it, and mobilized.” And now she sees the energy returning to her young interns. “They were commenting on how good it feels to get to be a part of such an important contributing factor for our community. They feel blessed to be a blessing.”
As to a relationship between Living Word and SPiN Cafe in the future, whatever a “new normal” looks like, Pastor McLeod takes a positive approach with a wait-and-see attitude. The church has a few local partners that they work with, and SPiN is “on our radar, so we need to hear what the needs are and continue to assess.”
And pray, of course.
For now, SPiN is grateful for the help, the service, and the blessing of Living Word’s interns.
