From Aaron Scott, Diocesan Missioner of Anti-Poverty Organizing and Chaplain and Organizer with Chaplains on the Harbor:
Dear family in Christ and in the struggle for survival and dignity for all people,
We’re adding an extra week to our year end appeal, and we still need to raise $25,000 to finish the year! As individuals and as a team, we have come a long way in six years – from homelessness, from active addiction, from incarceration, from family separation, from a budget of $500 and backpack full of sandwiches – to a thriving staff of 11 leaders who fight daily for our own healing, our families, and our whole community, testifying before the US Senate and settling two federal lawsuits in the defense of homeless people’s human rights. If our true stories move you, please contribute to our mission. Your financial gifts fund everything from tents and tarps, to Narcan training, to tractor repairs for Harbor Roots Farm, to printing our jail and prison newsletter, to feeding and sheltering people, to recruiting and retaining our staff who are getting off the streets or out of jail, to our organizing with the Poor People’s Campaign.
This week’s featured staff interviews: Aaron Scott and Jim Campbell!
Aaron Scott, 34 years old, Seattle WA:
How did you first get connected with Chaplains on the Harbor?
Sarah and I met in 2013, back when we were both in the ordination process. I dropped out, she didn’t, and along the way we co-founded Chaplains on the Harbor – first with Sarah coming on to build a network of relationships, volunteers, and hospitality programs on the street, then with me joining as our organizer later on.
Why did you stick with Chaplains on the Harbor?
I love the people in our congregation. This parish keeps me honest about what is at stake, what is possible, and where God is alive and on fire with love and power in the midst of a deeply broken world.
What work do you do at Chaplains on the Harbor?
Organizing, preaching, and education. I coordinate our work with the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival. I write our grants, head up our communications, and I’m learning (on the fly) how to do development so we can keep up with all the incredible people across this diocese and beyond who materially support us.
What have you done that you’re most proud of since you’ve been with Chaplains on the Harbor?
I feel proud to have helped recruit some truly talented leaders into this organization, and I am so honored to have witnessed folks’ journeys as they step into their own authority. To watch people go from jail and the street to testifying before senators and federal judges – hell, to watch people who are still living on the street march and protest alongside Presiding Bishop Curry! – if that’s not Gospel work, I don’t know what is.
What one thing do you want to do MOST while you’re still with us?
I want us to set up a childcare collective because all these babies (especially my own three-year old) are too wild to sit through staff meetings anymore.
Jim Campbell, 67 years old, Aberdeen/Hoquiam WA:
How did you first connect with Chaplains on the Harbor?
I first connected with Chaplains when I agreed to help with their finances in November 2014 and also helped Sarah get the Westport building ready for its use starting in February 2015.
Why did you stick with Chaplains on the Harbor?
We need an accountant/treasurer and I am our ongoing inexpensive version of one.
What work do you do at Chaplains on the Harbor?
I am our bookkeeper/accountant/treasurer.
What have you done that you’re most proud of since you’ve been with Chaplains on the Harbor?
Keeping their finances going in such a way as to help Chaplains know how they are doing and what their challenges are every day with the finances.
What one thing do you want to do MOST while you’re still with us?
Help us get through the transition to our incorporated non-profit.
