Center for Sharing

3525 East A Street

Pasco, WA 99301

Sharing Stories Building Community

Serving Together

March April 2017

CENTER for SHARING

Inside this issue:

Director:

Cheryl Broetje

Board Chair:

Jack Moffett

Members:

Glenn Cross

Jay Ballinger

Board of Directors:

DO YOU HAVE A COPY?

The Center for Sharing is humbly proud

to be featured in a new publication: The

Call to Community: Fruits of Servant

Leadership magazine. We hope you

have received your own personal

printed copy by now! The Center for

Sharing stories are featured on pages 3

-8. We would love to hear your thoughts

and answer any questions that have

stirred up while reading through the

magazine.

The Power of Solidarity

On March 27, CFS held its

5 th annual International

Women’s Day event. We

celebrated women who have

made their journey from fear to

love and now act as

pathfinders for others. Shasta

Meyers, Lupe Mendez, and

Twigy Tellez shared personal

test imonies of adverse

childhood experiences that led

them to isolation and

disconnection. Each of their

stories portrayed the power of

relationships that would show

her love and acceptance.

Twigy explained that she

had been raised by strong

women and thought that if she

shared that she was being

domestically abused, she

would be seen as a weak

woman and as a victim. Even

after leaving the abusive

relationship she lived in fear.

Twigy shared that it took her 7

years to share her story and

begin her healing. She said;

“that is the day the mask came

off and I was free”.

It takes courage to let

others in behind the mask.

When we can, we often

experience the acceptance,

belonging and freedom that

has eluded us for so long-and

a desire to help free others as

well .

love and community support to

h e l p t h e m h e a l .

Shasta testif ied that a

supportive community has led

her to embrace her past pain

and suffering, and in doing so

she can offer others authentic

caring and empathetic listening.

She shared that she found

freedom in finding a community

that genuinely wanted to know

her true self, brokenness and

all.

Lupe’s growth and healing

through community allowed her

to make a commitment to

herself to no longer play small

for fear of her size. Lupe’s

struggle with body image and

her understanding of society’s

definition of what is ideal,

caused her to remove herself

from life with friends at a very

young age. She craved

http://www.centerforsharing.org/the-call-to-community/

The Power of Solidarity 1

The Call to Community:

Fruit of Servant

Leadership Magazine

1

Servant Leadership

Graduation

2

Stations of the Cross 2

Living in Community 3

Following One’s Calling 3

FCS Ministries Visit 3

Servant Leadership Graduation ………..By Cheryl Broetje

On March 2, the Collegium Café

hosted participants of SL courses

in three PAC communities who

came together with those close to

them, for an evening of sharing

stories about the impact of the

course on their lives. Rick Griffin

led with his testimony about how

the power of respect and

unconditional love for every person

had drawn him to our first SLS

course 25 years ago. As a result,

Rick went on to become a founder and now the director at Jubilee Leadership Academy in addition

to joining the SLD core team this year, which is called to give guidance to the on-going work of

servant leadership development in 5 local and 3 international communities.

Several people spoke with gratitude about receiving deepened self-knowledge and tools to

help them truly claim and implement their own unique expression of God in the world while

nurturing healthier relationships with others through Enneagram work. One man was able to admit

that he had been shocked to discover that he is an angry man. He had no idea!

A main theme of the night was that we aren’t created to do life alone! We need each other!

And together, we can create the places in which we most want to tend the garden for God,

ourselves and each other.

Stations of the Cross ……….By Shasta Meyers

What Does Living Intentionally Look Like?

When was the last time you set time aside to just reflect on life and your surroundings? Not

taking the time to reflect on our own lives and on the lives of those around us, can be perilous.

We often get so caught up in the hustle and bustle of activities that we end up becoming numb

to what’s really going on. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

On Good Friday, we held a Stations of the Cross event with 23 people participating in a bus

ride taken in silence together through Pasco. It was a day to break from our busy daily

schedules and become aware, to be stirred, to pay attention to 11 stations we visited where

people suffer today: places like the court house, jail, Union Gospel Mission... When we take the

time out for intentional awareness we notice things we pass by every single day.

Not only did this event evoke the desire to support and pray for those served in the stations

we visited, it also provided encouragement to

many who participated. Two of our job

training participants, Shaunee and

Cassandra, accompanied us. Shaunee read

the passage, reflection, and prayer for the

CAC, and was emotional with the reading as

she is currently receiving assistance from

them. Cassandra read the passage for the

Union Gospel Mission, a home to her for

several months before coming to the Center

for Sharing where they are both finding new

life in Christ.

This event stirred so many of us and it was

recommended that we do something each

day of Holy Week next year. If you are

interested in joining us, please let us know!

“Praise be to the God and

Father of our Lord Jesus

Christ, the Father of

compassion and the God

of all comfort; who

comforts us in all our

troubles, so that we can

comfort those in any

trouble with the comfort

we ourselves receive from

God.”

~ 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

“We are afflicted in every

way, but not crushed;

perplexed, but not driven

to despair; persecuted,

but not forsaken; struck

down, but not destroyed;

always carrying in the

body the death of Jesus,

so that the life of Jesus

may also be manifested in

our bodies.”

~ 2 Corinthians 4:8-10

“For I know the plans I

have for you, declares

the Lord, plans for welfare

and not for evil, to give

you a future and a hope.”

~ Jeremiah 29:11

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Check out our websites!

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www.collegiumcafe.com

Living in Community ……….By Nevresa Beganovic

Shaunee Hooper, pictured to

the right, works at The Collegium

Café, and like so many of the young

women who come to the Center for

Sharing, Shaunee came here

through our Job Training Program.

The steps that she’s taken in such

a short amount of time, to give

herself and her daughter a better

life, is truly commendable. She has

worked her way through drug court

and is graduating in early May. Only

a few weeks after coming to CFS

Shaunee volunteered to start

teaching young girls and boys, from

the Tierra Vida Community how to play basketball, a community that she will be

moving into soon.

So what’s the big deal about living in community? We find that it’s easier to move

from hurt to healing while living in community. Knowing your neighbors and having

friends who live nearby makes us feel like we belong and are a welcomed member of

the community, which in turn creates a sense of security. Surrounding yourself with

people who only have your best interest at heart, makes trusting, learning to love, and

letting go of past mistakes, a lot easier.

As we become, healthier, wiser, freer, more able to take care of ourselves we

recognize the importance of having friends who are authentic and genuine - people

who love, respect and support us, people who need our love and support as well!

FCS Ministries Visit …By Cheryl Broetje

Recently Jim Wehner from Focused

Community Strategies in Atlanta was in

town for a workshop. We have followed

the work that Robert Lupton began

there, of transforming broken,

impoverished neighborhoods one at a

time, for years. After the event, Jim

came over to visit Tierra Vida and the

Collegium Café. It was fun comparing

notes on the challenges and the joys

involved in fostering place-based, people

centered community development. We

shared about the time when we were

teaching their book: Toxic Charity with a

group of social service providers…we

heard the story of a woman who came to

the same agency for a pair of pants

every week for the past 5 years! No one

asked why?! Was she making quilts?

Selling them out of her basement? What

was her name?

What does it take to foster mutually

engaged cit izenship? Sufficient

economies? Healthy lifestyles? Life

giving education? These are the things

that we now believe contribute to the

overall sense of spiritual wellbeing,

leading to flourishing communities. As

Jim sat with us in the café, looking out

on the park behind the Collegium, where

an immigration forum was being held,

he said: why aren’t you guys teaching

this stuff for the public…you don’t need

me coming from Atlanta to do it! It was

indeed, a beautiful day in the

neighborhood!

Following One’s Calling ……….By Nevresa Beganovic

Joe Vidot worked at the Center for Sharing as a Marketing Coordinator while

Jackson Woodard managed the Café. With warm personalities, and the ability to

connect with youth, both Joe and Jackson immersed themselves in the Café and the

Tierra Vida Community, dedicating their time, day and night to help the youth in the

community . The impact that they made on this community is immeasurable. Both Joe

and Jackson moved into the community, Tierra Vida, shortly after starting to work for

the Center for Sharing.

Joe started hosting Saturday “family dinner” nights at his home for the high school

students in the community. It wasn’t just about getting together to eat a warm meal

and have a good time; It was about making these teens feel like they belong and that

they are an important part of something. Each night they also set aside time after

dinner to read from the bible and get to

know Jesus and what His vison is for us all.

Jackson, has been an immensely positive

influence on the youth in this community as

well. We recently celebrated Jackson’s

birthday at the Collegium, and something

that Jackson said stayed with us. “This

place, this team, this community has done

more for me than I could ever do for it.”

Jackson has had an incredible

transformation, emotionally, spiritually, and

physically as well since he became part of

our community a year ago.

We bid a cheerful and heartfelt farewell to

both Joe and Jackson and wish them all the

happiness and success that Jesus desires

for them.

Center for Sharing

Sharing Stories. Building Community. Serving

If your business, non-profit, community, or church group is interested in Servant-Leadership Development, we can be reached

at the following phone and email.

If you wish to unsubscribe from receiving this newsletter please let us know.

Phone: 509-308-8142

Email: info@centerforsharing.org

3525 East A Street

Pasco, WA 99301

By supporting the Center for Sharing and the Collegium Café you are making it possible for women like Shaunee

and Cassandra to flourish, and become members of community.