Legacy of hope

“I am designed to show God’s love through actions …”

– Krista Hunt Ausland

Ten years after she was killed in a bus accident in Bolivia, Krista Hunt Ausland continues to inspire and touch people’s lives.

Her legacy endures – in the developing world, as volunteers restore agricultural lands and create opportunities for marginalized women and children; in the inner cities of Seattle, Los Angeles and other areas through efforts to alleviate poverty and improve education and health; in Spokane, where young people strive to promote social justice and protect the environment.

Krista was 25 years old when she died on May 20, 1998. Along with her husband, Aaron Ausland, the Spokane resident had been working as a community development volunteer with indigenous families when the bus they were riding in one night drove off a cliff and plunged into a ravine.

Amid their grief and sorrow, Krista’s husband, family and friends wanted to honor her memory and create meaning from tragedy. A year after her death, they established the Krista Foundation for Global Citizenship – a nonprofit organization that celebrates Krista’s vision and life of service by supporting and encouraging young adults who volunteer to live and work among the poor and others in need both locally and throughout the world.

This week, on the 10th anniversary of Krista’s death, many who have been touched and inspired by Krista’s life will join the annual day of prayer at the Hearth, a guesthouse in north Spokane that serves as a gathering place for the Krista Foundation. Next weekend, more than 60 Krista Colleagues – the young people who have received support and mentorship from the foundation – will gather at Clearwater Lodge in Newport, Wash., for the yearly Krista Foundation mentoring conference.

In an era when fear and mistrust pervades the lives of some Americans – causing them to “cocoon” and become less willing to engage in other cultures – the United States needs leaders with a global vision, said Krista’s mother, Linda Lawrence Hunt.

One of the goals of the Krista Foundation is to cultivate future leaders by nurturing their ethic of service – encouraging young people to broaden their world view, to serve others with a spirit of hope and humility, and to find meaning and purpose in their everyday lives.

By taking part in annual retreats and conferences that explore what it means to be a global citizen, these Krista Colleagues receive the inspiration and sustenance they need to continue living out their values. They also remain part of a Spokane-based community that promotes Krista’s vision: Service as a way of life.

After graduating from college, there are other visionary young adult leaders, like Krista, who desire to use their talents and education for a sustained time of volunteer service said Hunt, a Spokane author and director of the Krista Foundation. But those who choose to pursue volunteer work for a year or two often don’t receive the support of their peer group or families who believe it’s pivotal to start one’s career track.

“We wanted to encourage these motivated young people in their 20s” she said. “We wanted to introduce them to other adults who say that this is a wise choice and that these experiences will shape them for far stronger leadership and a lifelong ethic of service.”

Since it was established in 1999, the foundation has supported more than 150 Krista Colleagues from Spokane and throughout the Northwest. Their efforts have made a difference in communities all over the United States and throughout the world.

“I’m always in awe of the spirit and determination of these young Americans,” said Hunt, who, with her husband, Jim, has worked with young people as volunteer, mentor and as professor at Whitworth University.

Some of the Colleagues serve as AmeriCorps or Peace Corps volunteers; others work with organizations such as the Jesuit Volunteer Corps, Lutheran World Service, the Mennonite Central Committee and other nonprofits.

Modeled after the Fulbright Scholarships, the program seeks to help those who work in the three areas that were important to Krista: urban communities; developing nations and environmental stewardship.

Wherever they go, Krista Colleagues serve with “a spirit of mutual indebtedness,” explained Hunt. Instead of coming to a community with the attitude that they have all the answers, these young adults arrive with an open mind and heart, willing to learn and knowing that they have the most to learn and benefit from the situation.

Before they embark on their journeys, they gather at the Hearth and also at Clearwater Lodge, where they learn from Krista Colleagues who have served before them. After their own volunteer experience, they then become mentors to future Colleagues and remain part of a community that sustains their own ethic of service and sharing.

This past year, the foundation received more than 60 applications for its 2008 Class of Krista Colleagues. Eighteen college graduates were selected.

Nominated by their school or church, each Krista Colleague receives a $1,000 service and leadership development grant from the foundation. Because volunteers live on a subsistence salary, it’s often the only funding they receive to attend conferences, purchase tools or enroll in distance-learning courses.

The foundation helps “bring guidance and wisdom for astute service,” Hunt explained. “It’s not enough to have a big heart. You also need wisdom. … We need our new leaders to connect to places that help expand them, to grow, learn and serve with humility.”

Some of the more recent Krista Colleagues include:

•Megan Hurley, a graduate of Gonzaga University who served as a Jesuit Volunteer in Portland. During her year of service, she worked with a project to help homeless people who were just released from hospitals. She played an instrumental role in helping community leaders expand their health and hospital care. She’s now in Colorado, where she’s training to become a nurse.

•Nathan Palpant of Spokane, a graduate of Whitworth University. After taking part in a medical relief mission in southern Sudan, Palpant used his grant to create a video to educate Americans about the crisis in Darfur. He has since received a fellowship to complete his Ph.D. work in medicine at the University of Michigan.

•Stephanie Cotton, who graduated this spring from Gonzaga University School of Law. She decided to pursue a law degree after working in Seattle with prisoners as a volunteer with Lutheran World Service.

“The Krista Foundation provided a great network of wonderful people who shared similar values and the importance of service in everyday life,” said Jason Duba, a Krista Colleague from Spokane who worked as a volunteer at the Westminster house in the West Central neighborhood and also with AmeriCorps. “They helped me see that service isn’t just something you do for a year after you graduate. Through the foundation, I’ve come to see that service is a way of life.”

After graduating from Whitworth with a degree in math and physics, Duba worked with low-income youth from Holmes Elementary. He also helped establish the Interfaith Council’s Faith and Environment Network. Duba, 25, now lives in Connecticut where he’s working toward a master’s degree in education at the University of New Haven.

Being part of Krista Foundation also made all the difference to Destiny Williams both during and after his year of service in Guatemala and El Salvador.

While living in Central America, the Seattle Pacific University graduate spent much of his time writing the histories of 25 families in a small Guatemalan village that was practically destroyed during the civil war. Over meals of beans and tortillas, he recorded people as they told stories, sang songs and shared their lives. Williams took their oral histories and wrote them down for the families in both English and Spanish.

While the experience was extremely gratifying, Williams also suffered some secondary trauma from hearing their tragic stories as well as culture shock when he returned to the United States.

“It was a challenge to come back and fit in,” recalled Williams, now 30 and the communications associate for the Krista Foundation’s office in Seattle. “It helped me to receive the support of people who were carrying around some of the sacred experiences of service and some of the same burdens and wounds.”

Being part of the foundation helped ease that feeling of isolation as he asked himself, “Where do I go from here? How do I live my life differently after this experience?”

During the annual gatherings at Clearwater Lodge, Williams usually leads the other Krista Colleagues in an evening of salsa dancing. It’s one of the ways that he lives out Krista’s legacy, he said – by taking the time to dance and to celebrate all that is good in the world.

“She’s a reminder to me that we live for something beyond ourselves,” Williams said.

In addition to donations from private donors, the Krista Foundation has received funding from grant organizations including the M.J. Murdoch Charitable Trust, which supported the opening of the Seattle satellite office.

The funds continue to support young adults as they work alongside the poor, the needy and the marginalized in places such as the Tri-Cities and Leavenworth, Wash., as far away as India, Kazakhstan, Zambia and Afghanistan.

“It gives me hope,” said Hunt. “When we read the newspaper or watch the news on TV, our hearts can break for what we read and see. What gives me encouragement is that Krista Colleagues, who will be future leaders in America, are growing and learning and serving in all of these places.”