A voice for the needy changed jobs, but Virginia Sprague’s contributions to the down and out have not been forgotten.
Well-known former program director for the Volunteers of America, Sprague said she left the world of nonprofits last year after a dozen years to try something different.
After writing grants for agencies in Snohomish and King counties, she cast a wide net to land her new job as marketing director for Garden Court Retirement Community in south Everett.
“I wanted to work with the elderly,” Sprague said. “I am working with a population near and dear to my heart.”
Her mother, 76, lives at her own home, with the help of Sprague and her sisters, and Sprague said she knows that someday mom might want to move to a retirement center with more opportunities for an active social life and a nutritious meal program.
“Much as we want her to be safe and healthy, sometimes we can’t provide that,” Sprague said. “We have to look at options. What’s new about today is independent living. In the old days, it was a nursing home.”
Sprague was well known for her caring attitude at VOA, where the minister oversaw the county food bank system and emergency services program.
Her work was admired by Kelly Holderman, human resources director for VOA.
“She brought us into the 21st century,” Holderman said. “She brought in new ideas.”
For instance, Sprague stopped the practice of handing out pre-selected bags or boxes of goods to the needy at the food bank.
“She changed it to more of a grocery-store atmosphere,” Holderman said. “It works well for a diverse family. Some might not want pasta, they might want rice.”
As the job grew, Sprague’s responsibilities increased.
“We grew so much in the years Virginia was here. She had to do more and more and more. She was always willing to do whatever it took.”
Running the food bank, Sprague was an active voice for the needy. The Herald has years and years of clips featuring Sprague asking for donations, encouraging folks to glean and thanking the community for gifts of food or cash.
We described Sprague in 1994: She works at a fast pace, never losing sight of the reason those who visit come. “Sometimes I look out and see such desperation in their faces,” she says. Many nights, the memories of those faces haunt her dreams.
In the early days, she says, the people they served were primarily welfare recipients. Now, about half of their clients are unemployed, people on Social Security, low-income families, immigrants starting over in a new country.
“I talked last week to a woman from Edmonds. She’d been a registered nurse for 12 years,” Sprague says. “Even with the hospital merger, she thought her job was safe. But she was laid off. She’s a single parent with two teenagers. Her unemployment check covers rent and utilities. She has to feed those kids. She didn’t know where to turn, where to go.”
Year after year, the Everett native asked the community for help feeding the hungry. Sprague never cried wolf. When she called the press, we believed donations were low.
She found ways to ease stress. Married for 26 years with two grown children, Sprague enjoys trips to the ocean, jazz, and the Seattle Mariners and Seahawks. In her new dream job, she lets folks know where they might retire for an easy-living atmosphere. Before we talked, she described Garden Court to an 82-year-old woman who is an avid golfer.
In her old job, she helped the needy find housing.
“I remember a woman who lost a couple of her children in a house fire while she was at the food bank receiving food services,” Sprague said. “The one child who survived was severely burned and spent months in the hospital.”
Sprague pulled the shade down in her office, they sat on the floor, and Sprague held the mother while she sobbed and sobbed.
“We provided her with gas vouchers to get back and forth to Children’s Hospital. I was the first person she brought her son to see when he came home. He was 3. I’ll never forget the little pins that held skin grafts to burns on his little hands. She was so very thankful.”
It was all in a day’s work for Sprague.
“My time at VOA was a humbling experience for me. VOA and the people I served will always be near and dear to my heart.”
Columnist Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451 or oharran@heraldnet.com.
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