Ken Gass Community Building Award

I was honored to be recognized at the Ken Gass Community Building Awards dinner December 7th.

Truly it was splendid to have been included in that evening's array of many contemporary community servants. I was one among 17 others to receive this sweet expression of love by the Whatcom Family and Community Network. Thanks Geof, Kathy and Amy for this!

Here is how Geof Morgan of WFCN introduced me:

I have known Jeff for over 15 years. Every time I see Jeff, he is excited about something. He has always shown a heart for community. He has a genuine interest and curiosity in other’s gifts and believes to his core in the strengths and leadership of residents to guide their neighborhood’s future. We met when working together with the residents in the Roosevelt neighborhood in 1996, he was driven from his faith-based belief in service and in the residents of a neighborhood that were often seen as the problem or the “client.” Jeff has become a leader in our community for training in John McKnight’s model of asset-based community development and his home cooked lunches at his trainings model simplicity, welcome, and what my friend, Joe Erpenbeck, calls “radical hospitality.” He is a founding board member for the Whatcom Dream, an organization that has focused on building people’s ability to focus their personal assets to build financial assets in order to stabilize their lives and achieve their dreams. His current focus is partnering with residents and community leaders to support families at Regency Park Apartments. John Gardner wrote, “In the conventional mode, people want to know whether the followers believe in the leader; a more searching question is whether the leader believes in the followers.” Jeff is an example of how contagious belief is. Jeff’s belief in the community lifts up our belief in ourselves. Jeff believes in us and we are all better for it.

Thank you Geof!