KSER celebrates impact made by voices in the community

Sylvia Anderson, CEO of the Everett Gospel Mission, is stunned and honored. State Sen. John McCoy is surprised. Neither knew they had been nominated for a KSER Voice of the Community Award.

Both recently learned they’ll be recognized at Tuesday’s 2015 Voice of the Community Award breakfast. McCoy and Anderson will be honored for Community Impact by an Individual. Theirs are among several awards to be presented by the Everett-based independent public radio station.

“I am still stunned and really honored,” said Anderson, who has headed the Everett Gospel Mission for 15 years. In 2014, she was co-chairwoman of Everett’s Community Streets Initiative, a task force that explored homelessness and other street-level social problems.

The breakfast is scheduled for 7-9 a.m. Tuesday at the Tulalip Resort Casino. Other award recipients are:

Community Impact by an Organization: Housing Hope. The award will be accepted by Fred Safstrom, the agency’s chief executive.

Community Impact by a Business: Drew’s List. Through this email service, subscribers share information about items for sale, jobs, businesses and activities. Drew Kampion is CEO.

Cultural Impact by an Organization: Sky Valley Arts Council, which supports local artists and musicians. And Voices of the Village, a music program of Arlington’s Village Community Services, which serves people with disabilities.

Tom Clendening, KSER’s station manager, said award nominations can come from anyone. Winners are chosen by a committee of KSER staff and board members, members of the station’s community advisory board, and past award recipients.

Nominations for Anderson cited her work with the Everett Gospel Mission, which operates shelters and other programs, and her leadership role with the streets initiative, Clendening said. “For Sen. McCoy, it was his leadership in the aftermath of the Marysville Pilchuck shooting,” he said.

McCoy, D-Tulalip, was first elected to the House to represent the 38th District in 2003. While the tragedy at Marysville Pilchuck High School was mentioned in the award nominations, McCoy said he has worked on many issues over the past year.

Mental health, homelessness, education, oil trains, “and unfortunately the MPHS incident” have all been on his priority list. Learning of the award “was a pleasant surprise,” McCoy said.

Anderson was hired in 2000 as the Everett Gospel Mission’s interim leader, a role that became a fulfilling career. “Everett captured my heart,” she said. She previously headed Big Brothers Big Sisters in Tacoma and was a foster parent for at-risk boys.

Calling herself “a front-line CEO,” the 60-year-old Anderson said “I’ve always had a rapport and a great comfort with people who are in life struggles.”

While leading an organization that houses more than 200 people at its Men’s Shelter, the Women &Children’s Shelter and transitional facilities, Anderson teaches life skills classes and takes part in the agency’s support groups. “I want people to feel they have a voice,” she said.

Along with Community Streets Initiative co-chairman Chris Adams, she helped lead a months-long conversation about homelessness, drug problems and other troubles in Everett. Solutions remain elusive, but Anderson said the process brought people together — from businesses, social services, law enforcement and churches — who might otherwise not be talking. “It was nice to see all the players at the table,” she said.

Yet she is worried about what she sees, especially young people on hard drugs. And with housing costs so high, there are big barriers to people trying to get off the street.

“It’s the worst I’ve seen in the whole time I’ve been here. People are sicker. People are more aggressive. The hopelessness is higher,” Anderson said.

This week, she is talking with city officials about homeless encampments. “We’re not unique. It’s happening all across the country,” said Anderson, who is on the board of the national Association of Gospel Rescue Missions.

Anderson and McCoy will take time Tuesday to say thank you for KSER’s awards, but they’re in a hurry to get back to work. “It’s a slow-moving train and a fast-moving problem,” Anderson said of homelessness.

“There are a lot of issues in our communities that we need to work on together, and we need to move forward,” McCoy said.

Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460; jmuhlstein@heraldnet.com.

KSER awards

The KSER Voice of the Community Award breakfast will be held 7-9 a.m. Tuesday at the Tulalip Resort Casino Orca Ballroom, 10200 Quil Ceda Blvd., Tulalip. Tickets are $15. Information at www.kser.org or 425-303-9070.

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