Angels among us Methow Valley Guardian Angels provide care and support for the elderly By A sh l e y L odat o
T
wo years ago Jerry and Lillis Young, then both in their mid-80s, packed up their lives in California, drove to the Methow Valley, moved into a rental house, and quietly began the next chapter of their lives in a place they had only visited once and where they knew hardly a soul. “We were called to move here,” says Jerry, one finger pointing upwards. “God told me to move to this place hidden away from the world. It’s a sort of Promised Land.” But with limited financial resources, some health issues, the inevitable trials of old age, and no adult children in the vicinity, the Youngs found themselves in need of more than just the hope of milk and honey. It was fitting, then, that assistance came in the form of an
angel — that is, a guardian angel from the Methow Valley Guardian Angels (MVGA) program. Formed by Glenn Schmekel in 2002 as an extension of the Methow Valley’s food bank, The Cove, the MVGA seeks to “improve the care and support of the elderly and persons with chronic illnesses or disabilities in our community, through personal contact by a special friend — a guardian angel.” The MVGA “matches volunteers to those people in our community who want to remain in their home, but are at risk of becoming socially or physically isolated.” Guardian angels nurture a caring relationship with a client and may help with things like transportation, errands, and shopping. The main purpose of the connection, however, is companionship. When MVGA administrator Eunice Marchbank reached out to Winthrop resident Karen Evans soliciting help for the Youngs, Karen was quick to answer that call. “I like to help people,” says Karen of her motivation to volunteer with MVGA. She
adds, “And I just can’t sit still.” No surprise, since she was a physical education teacher for 30 years, and at age 75 still volunteers at the public school. Developing relationship Karen’s relationship with the Youngs began with driving Jerry to medical appointments in Omak and Wenatchee, but soon developed into something more substantial: shopping trips, weekly visits, lunches out, trips to the Methow Valley Senior Center in Twisp. “I care about them,” Karen says simply. About their relationship with Karen, the Youngs mince no words. “She deserves a halo,” says Jerry, adding that when he first met Karen, he liked her immediately. “I told her, ‘I would love for you to be my guardian angel.’“ With all this talk of angels, one might imagine the MVGA to be a faith-based organization. Although its inception as a Faith in Action program is a nod to its faith-based roots, there is no formal focus or expectation that religion plays a role in the services
offered. Karen is not particularly religious, but a relationship with God is the defining element of both Jerry and Lillis’s characters. But “religion doesn’t matter,” says Jerry, who is a retired Baptist minister and former practicing Pentecostal. “Karen is a good person, she really is. It doesn’t matter that she doesn’t go to church.” He adds, “People who let their religious principles dictate who they associate with, they miss out on things.” Jerry was raised in Los Angeles, California, graduated from Life Bible College in 1950, and enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1952, eventually being posted as a chaplain service specialist at the former Harlingen Air Force Base in Texas’s Rio Grande Valley. After marrying Lillis in 1957 (and again in 2000, after being divorced from her for 12 years — but that’s another story), Jerry worked as a public school teacher in Modesto, California. California background California looms large in the Youngs’ background. They were both born and brought up there, raised their own two daughters there, and lived comfortably in Clearlake, California, until God called them to abandon all that was familiar and move to the Methow Valley. The call came in the form of
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