Caritas (Fall 2001)

A publication for the Sisters of Providence and Friends • FALL 2001\nProvidence Associates ild homes\nby Kate Smith, Staff Writer, Sacred Heart Medical Center\nhis summer, Providence Associates in Spokane planned to send people\nto El Salvador to help build replacements for about 200 houses damaged\nor destroyed by devastating earthquakes in January. The Associates, lay\nindividuals who share the mission and charism of the\nSisters of Providence, contributed $3,100 to pay the\ntravel costs for two of their members to work along­side\nEl Salvadorans and the Sisters of Providence\nministering in their villages.\nWhen Scott Manning was asked if he would be willing to participate,\nhe said yes. A media specialist in Educational Services a t Sacred Heart\nMedical Center, Scott has been a Providence Associate since 1 9 87.\nBill Bouten, owner and president of Bouten Construction in Spokane,\nalso a Providence Associate,\nwanted to send someone in his\nplace to help in cons truction\nefforts. He invited Kelly Casey,\na project engineer with Bouten\nwho was a likely and willing\ncandidate, considering his\nSpanish-speaking ability and\ntwo years' experience volun­teer\ning in Honduras.\nMM!\nit strikes you really\nhow life is for people\nunder those condi '\nlit\nAs is th e case with several o th e r Associates, Scott is n o t Catholic, b u t\nsays, "I like to be involved with anything th a t has honorable endeavors,\nhelping othe r people." Most of his involvement as an Associate has centered\naround volunteering a t local community programs, including serving as a\ncook a t St. Ann Parish, which operates a "soup kitchen" for th e poor.\nloing to a Third World country like El Salvador would be a life-changing\nexperience for Scott, who says he's never been to any o th e r country except\nCanada. And life-changing i t was—as quickly as th e f irs t day a t his\ncons truction site in La Papalota, which, like many of th e caserios (rural,\np ea san t villages), was filled with adobe homes th a t obviously did n o t w ith­stand\nth e force of la s t January's major ear thquake. While many homes\nremained standing, with th e ir roofs to rn off and th e ir walls caving a t certain\npoints, others quickly became piles of dir t bricks on th e ground. •*\nScott Manning mans a wheelbarrow.\nINSIDE: Providence Associates • Photos of Sisters & Friends • Emilie Gamelin Beatification Preview\nProvidence Associates . . build homes\nA member of th e National Geographic Society for a number\nof years, Scott had read plenty about places like La Papalota\nand had seen many photographs. However, walking on th e\nd ir t road and seeing, with his own eyes, th e people who live\nin th e se conditions was humbling.\n"When you experience i t by being th e re yourself, i t strikes\nyou really hard, how life is for people under th o se conditions,"\nhe says.\nand relationships\nSalvadoran girls pose\nin a church doorway.\nBebehind a damaged adobe home, S co tt, Kelly, Sis te r\nMonica de L. Campillay a n d a n um b e r of loc al com m u n ity\nmembers b eg a n th e work on a home for a woman nam ed\nEsperenza an d h e r two d au g h te r s . W ith o u t so p h is tic a te d\nto o ls , Esperenza an d h e r n e ig h b o rs worked to g e th e r—\nty in g rebar, soaking br icks, p o u r in g th e fo u n d a tio n , an d\nspreading mor ta r. A cem e n t mixer, p u rch a s ed w ith\ne a r th q u a k e re lie f fu n d s , was available for a sh o r t tim e,\nb u t w h en i t was t ra n sp o r te d to a n o th e r\nw o rk s ite, th e men an d women made\nco n c re te via th e "volcano" m e th o d .\nO c o t t remembers being amazed\na t th e way th e people worked w i th o u t th e\nco n v en ien c e of modern to o ls an d , even\nmore so, a t th e way th e y worked in so lid ar ity . A f ter all, i t\nwas someone else's home th e y were b u ild in g , n o t th e i r own.\n"The cu l tu re shock was p r e t ty overwhelming a t f irs t,\ne sp ec ially w ith th e lan g u ag e b a r r ie r ," S co tt explains , as he\nd o e sn 't sp e ak Spanish.\n"But as I h a u le d cem e n t in wheelbarrows an d did w h a t\nI could to h elp , th e s e people t r e a te d me w ith u tm o s t\nre sp e c t. We f ig u red o u t a way to com m u n ic ate somehow,\n□\nJUST WHO ARE\nthese Providence Associates,\nanyway?\nI hey are not all women, they are\nnot all Catholics, and they are not\nfrom any particular country or part of\nthe world.\nOne answer to the question of "who\nare they" comes from the website of the\nSisters of Providence International in\nMontreal, Canada: "Providence Associ­ates\nare caring individuals who desire to\nshare th e mission and spirituality of\nProvidence but do not seek vowed\nmembership ... Providence Associates\nare women and men who hold gospel\nvalues as the compelling force in their\nlives. They recognize themselves as\ndrawn by the same spirit and charism as\nthe Sisters of Providence."\nAs the number of Sisters of Provi­dence\ndeclines, the work of th e Provi­dence\nAssociates becomes increasingly\nimportant in ensuring th a t their shared\nmission continues. In fact, today there\nare about 1 ,0 5 0 Providence Associates\nworldwide - about equal to the number\nof Sisters of Providence.\n"I often have heard the Sisters say\nhow grateful they are to have us share\nin the ir ministry," says Betty\nHarrington of Spokane, one of the\nco-directors of th e Providence\nAssociates. "The Sisters learn\nfrom th e Associates, too, as they\nwatch them carry out these works\nwith the poor. I t broadens their\nperspective."\nBetty said the Sisters "manifest their\nwelcoming, acceptance and appreciation\nof the Associates in many ways," like\nincluding them in events and spiritual\nopportunities and the province's chapter\nmeetings. "They treasure and value us."\nOne of the first to join the Provi­dence\nAssociates in the Northwest was\nRoberta Sample, of Portland, who th is year\ncelebrates 25 years as part of this\nmovement. She was director of the\ndepartment of nursing a t PortLand\nProvidence Medical Center when she first\nheard about th e Associates program and,\ndespite being interested, she put the\ninformation on a back burner for a while.\n"One of the reasons I became more\ninterested is because my own Protestant\nchurch did not seem to have programs to\nhelp th e old, th e sick and the poor in the\nways th a t I saw Sisters of Providence\ndoing. I had a longing for th a t."\nRoberta, an active Christian who\nremains a Protestant, says th a t back then,\nshe was "seen with suspicion by the older\nSisters," some of whom questioned her\nmotives for becoming involved. "She's\n_ . ^ _ . not Catholic, she's not\nRoberta Sample interested in becoming\na Sister," was their\nreaction, she explains.\n"They didn't know how\nto relate to me."\nTwenty-five years\nlater, all th a t has\nchanged. Today, there\nare more than 25 Providence\nAssociates in the Portland\narea. The movement in\nMother Joseph Province includes\nSpokane, Seattle, Walla Walla and\nYakima, Wash., Great Falls, Mont.,\nand Oakland and Burbank, Calif.,\nas well as El Salvador.\nThey are a team - women and men\nwho share the same hopes, dreams and\ngoals of reaching out to try to meet the\nneeds of God's people and to alleviate\nthe conditions th a t befall them. In\nPortLand, Roberta says, the ir work has\nincluded supporting educational\nprograms in El Salvador with donations\nfor scholarships, providing winter\nclothes and coats to an Indian reserva­tion,\nand sending clothing, educational\nmaterials and vitamins to Ethiopia.\nShe is eager to share the organiza­tion\nwith others, Roberta says, particu­larly\n"when I see a person who has\ncompassion in the ir heart for people\nthey work with or on behalf of a similar\nmission. I feeL privileged to talk to\nthem about the Associate program," she\nadds. "The privilege of being\nassociated with the Sisters is an\nopportunity everyone should have."\nHis family's association with the\nSisters, dating back to 1 9 4 6 , is what\nled to Bill Bouten's involvement with\nthe Providence Associates. Bill, owner\nand president of Bouten Construction, of\nSpokane, says his grandfather founded\nBill Bouten\nan d e v e n tu a lly were even able to jo k e w ith ea ch oth e r.\nI en d ed up hav in g a w o nder ful tim e."\nWith all of th e o th e r people a t th e works ite, S co tt an d\nKelly some tim es wo n d ered i f th e y a c tu a lly were n e e d ed .\n"I e v e n tu a lly le a rn ed t h a t b ein g th e re was im p o r ta n t ,\nfor th em an d for me," says S co tt. "I h a d th o u g h t th e y\nm ig h t th in k we were being p re te n t io u s Americans by\ns te p p in g in , b u t in s te a d , th e y were to u c h e d an d so was I.'\nKelly agrees, ex p la in in g th a t\nw hen b r ig ad e s of Americans come\nto b u ild h o u se s , b ark in g orders an d\ntry in g to force a precise, fa s t-moving\no p e ra tio n to g e t th e job\ndone quickly, th e re o f te n are\nn e g a tiv e s a t ta c h e d to i t in such a\n" re la tio n sh ip -b a s e d cu ltu re ."\nIn s te a d , h e sa id, " th e re were ju s t\ntwo of us, an d we p a r t ic ip a te d an d\nsh a re d w ith th em . We d id n 't ju s t\nb u ild a house."\nBuilding processes seem primitive,\nbut they get the construction job done.\nthe business and worked with the\nSisters as a general contractor and\nconsultant - a role Bill continues in\ntoday. One of Bill's earliest memories\nis of he and his siblings being brought\nto Mount St. Joseph to visit the\nSisters each Christmas beginning in\nthe late 1960s.\nLater, upon his return to Spokane\nin 19 8 6 to work for the company when\nhis father was th e president, Bill met\nthe Sisters again through his work.\nr \\ s a re su lt , Kelly says, everyone was to u c h e d by th e\nexpe r ienc e. "Now th e y will say, 'I b u i l t a h o u se w ith my\nf r ie n d Kelly an d my f r ien d Scott.' It's a com p letely d if fe re n t\nexperien

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