Karla Jack has a job she loves

Published 10:47 pm Monday, January 7, 2008

Three weeks into her new job, Karla Jacks faced a sticky situation.

As executive director of the Camano Senior and Community Center, she was called on to speak at the annual volunteer recognition luncheon.

She didn’t know all the seniors

She didn’t know their accomplishments.

What she did was a stroke of genius.

“I couldn’t thank them for their work,” Jacks said. “Instead I said I appreciated their generation’s sacrifices for me and my children.”

She said she knew she was speaking to the ultra generation of volunteers.

One might think she has decades of experience with seniors, but the opposite is true.

Talk about going from one end of the spectrum to the next.

Jacks, 46, worked for six years for the Infant Toddler Early Intervention Program at the Island County Toddler Learning Center. She did screenings and coordinated services for children with special needs under the age of 3.

She brought experience to that job: Jacks has three sons, one with autism. And she is the guardian for her sister who is developmentally delayed. She was 10 when Ann was born and helped take care of her.

At Washington State University, Jacks studied history with an eye on working for the State Department. Then a TV show called “Hotel” caught her attention and she ended up working for the Marriott chain.

“But you worked holidays and weekends,” she said. “I fell into institutional food services.”

She earned a master’s degree in business administration, worked for Boeing supervising nine food-service locations in the plant, then found her niche in education.

Jacks co-directed a state project about improving education for children with autism and wrote a parent’s resource guide for the Stanwood School District. The guide is distributed to new families in the district and has been given to doctors, health-care agencies and school districts.

Along the way, she saw to it that her autistic son received as much help as possible.

“He is a real success story,” Jacks said.

She touched my arm to emphasize points. A toucher. My favorite kind of person.

When she heard the director at the center was leaving, she knew she would be a good fit. In choosing a new leader, board members wanted someone who could offer a public face, said board member Pat Hofmann. The board sought someone with knowledge of the area, a dynamic person who could do two things at once and demonstrate great integrity.

“We found her,” Pat Hofmann said.

They found the ideal candidate.

“Karla hit the ground running,” she said. “She is a people person and has been grand for the organization.”

When I visited the center, three men were reading newspapers in the lobby, sharing food advertisements.

“Did you check out milk at Safeway?” one said. “I’m still looking for a good roast.”

A woman read a paperback in a comfy armchair. Mah-jongg held the interest of four players in a quiet room.

The smell of sweet-and-sour chicken, that day’s lunch special, beckoned from the kitchen.

The center is so busy, the board of directors recently had a retreat at a local fire station.

Busy. A hopping place.

“I love this job,” Jacks said. “I love the people here.”

Columnist Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451, oharran@heraldnet.com.