Friendly Visitors and Other Non-Profits

In today's economy many of the most moving and hope filled non-profits are having difficulty with funding. It is our responsibility as citizens to encourage our city council members to fund organizations that we are moved by. Take a moment to share your thoughts and focus on the hope non-profits offer. Below is my letter to my city council members to give funding to Friendly Visitors.



Dear Mr. Pete Kremen & City Council Members,

My name is Kashia Gale and I have been deeply empowered by the Friendly Visitor program. When I started out as a volunteer for the non-profit organization Friendly Visitors I was only 12; the youngest volunteer they have paired with a senior. Within a couple of months I was matched with Boots, a vibrant full of life individual that was suffering from the common loneliness that many elders of our community feel. As Boots said, “More people die from a lonely heart than should ever be allowed.” So I am writing to you today, as a daughter, teenager, and most of all a concerned citizen to request that this sector of our community not be left in the dust. Friendly Visitors is depended upon and needed for the vitality of our community.

Take a moment to think of yourself as Boots. You’re an artist, animal lover, connoisseur of literature, tennis champion in high school, and have more kindness to give than one person experiences in their whole life. You talk to your Friendly Visitor for hours about your experiences and about the experiences you hope my generation is lucky enough to have. Never once do you stereotype your friend for her age or put any sort of judgment on her or the others around you. Instead you take people as they are and try to offer your life lessons to others. You teach the people around you more than you could ever comprehend. Meanwhile, you finally have a Friendly Visitor to talk to. But when you meet your Friendly Visitor, your new best friend, you get to do so much more than talk. You watch sports with this new-found friend, or maybe the interest of the day is baking. You read stories of history and vast civilizations and make up your own stories of the people, all while including your new-found best friend as the main character. Or possibly you draw and paint or write a Valentine’s poem; maybe you go shopping and find this gorgeous lip gloss that makes you feel young again every time you put it on. You go to a dance with your friend and she spins you around and dances with you all while being confined to your wheel chair. Maybe, you have a bad day. Fever, pneumonia, ice cold hands, but your best friend walks into the room and you forget those things for a few hours. You forget your worries because there are no worries when your best friend is there. Three years pass and you become closer and closer to this best friend. Then one day you see your best friend. She paints your nails and watches Iron Chef with you. You give her a glass guardian angel that day and tell her you will see her in two days. That night you have a stroke. No longer conscious, you live for a week more. Every day your best friend sits with you for hours. You know she is there for the first couple of days. You get a smile on your face when your friend takes your hand. Then after that you slip deep within yourself and soon pass from this life. These are all real things that Boots and I experienced. All opinions I shared were those of Boots and the experience she had because of having a friend from the Friendly Visitor Program. By funding the Friendly Visitor program you would be offering these life changing experiences to the volunteers that visit and the elders of our community that have no other friends.

Now I am 16. It has been over eight months since Boots passed away. My formative teen years were spent with Boots by my side; encouraging every step. I have found that Friendly Visitors does not only bring joy back into the lives of the lonely elders we visit but also enables so much within the visitor. Listening and talking to Boots enabled me to think about issues that never would have crossed my mind in the past. She gave me kindness and in turn taught me how to be kind to everyone I encounter. But it was so much more than that. She offered me friendship in a form I had never experienced. With every caring and compassionate word or story I felt like I finally had that friend that understood me and never judged me. I think this type of friendship is one that people encounter only a few times in their life. From talking with other Friendly Visitors, I am not the only one that has had this experience with their match. Think about your generation and the younger generations that follow you. Wouldn’t everyone be a lot more happy and kind if we were all paired with an elder that showed us their wisdom and taught us the ways of the world all while supporting each step of our journey through kindness and encouragement? Friendly Visitors is truly a two way street. The visitors and the visitees agree that they are both getting a wonderful and powerful friendship and knowledge out of being paired.

I hope that through my experience you have come to realize how devastating it would be if this program has to be discontinued because of lack of funding. Friendly Visitors brings so much vitality to our community. It improves individuals and in turn brings so much to the people we encounter. This cycle continues reaching people that have nothing to do with the Friendly Visitor program and thus brings hope and vitality to everyone we know. Mr. Pete Kermen, your goal is, “To lead Whatcom County to improve the vitality of our community and the health of our families.” Friendly Visitors does just this. So as a daughter, teen, and concerned citizen I request that you keep Friendly Visitors doors open with your funding.

Thank you.

Sincerely,
Kashia Gale