Executive Director Jennifer Armstrong was both speaker and presented with the Third Annual Joyce L. Sobel Achievement Award by the San Juan Island’s Woman’s Fund during their annual meeting in the Grange on Aug. 24.

“Jennifer has been a builder, literally and figuratively,” Carolyn Haugen said as she presented the award. “Not only has the building become larger, but the staff has grown to include 18 employees who help conduct the 37 programs now available for all ages for our island community… she is like the energizer bunny. Jennifer has truly continued to foster the broad reach of Joyce Sobel’s initiative, reaching the full breadth of community needs. Jennifer understands and clearly articulates pathways to meeting the many needs. She really is a gem.”

The award was created by the Women’s Fund to honor Joyce Sobel’s legacy of service to the community. Joyce started many programs for those who had a need, most notably the SJI Family Resource Center, and she spent countless hours supporting children and families on the island. The Women’s Fund was established in 2003 out of the desire of many island women to provide an effective way to support important island needs. Membership fees are pooled into a Donor Advised Fund managed by the Community Foundation. The minimum annual donation is $100. Members vote to allocate the collective funds to nonprofits three times each year using the Foundation’s grant process.

“This was not expected so I’m a little taken aback,”Armstrong began, thanking the SJI Women’s Fund. “I’m so glad so many of our board members are here tonight because this has been a group effort the past 10 years. It’s gone by quickly because of our board and the amazing women on our staff.”

Armstrong was also the guest speaker at the event, so she did not return to her seat for long.

Through her talk, she provided insight into some of the programs now available at the Resource Center and a glimpse into the daily life of the team.

“We have grown to a staff of 18 people. An incredibly diverse group of women. We have newly expanded the building, and I’m sure everybody has seen we have already managed to completely fill up. But it has allowed us to respond to an increasing number of needs we see throughout the community.”

The pandemic, Armstrong continued, as awful as it was, did have some silver linings. Funding was freed up for human services because it quickly put into focus how critical it is to address social and health needs for everybody across the spectrum, she explained. Those state and federal dollars allowed them to implement and sustain programs that the community has needed for years, like the summer lunch program for kids and looking at the importance of nutritional security. “Not just food security but nutrition security,” Armstrong said. “Everyone should have access to high-quality food, not just shelf-stable goods.”

The food bank also expanded, providing more access to fresh produce.

Housing support and healthcare needs were also brought into focus. With the pressures and stress the pandemic brought, there began a destigmatizing of mental health.

“I think it was a time when the whole world was under so much stress people were finally ready to acknowledge that we are vulnerable to mental health and substance abuse issues and that there is not shame in seeking treatment for those things,” Armstrong told attendees. “In fact, behavioral health services should be viewed as a routine part of preventative care just like other health services… I know that the Resource Center’s income-based counseling services have grown by about 325%. So huge, huge growth there.”

She added that she was happy to see portions of the community who may have historically been cautious toward engaging such services seem to be less resistant. Armstrong gave the example of two middle school boys who were overheard trading notes about their therapist’s advice.

“I think the strongest thread running through all of our programs and services that we have been trying to develop and sustain over the past four years is health equity,” Armstong said.

The Resource Center has developed a more robust community network of peer support providers. Peer support providers Armstrong explained are members of the community who have lived the experience and are willing to step up and engage with other community members who may be struggling.

“It’s been really exciting to see that work roll out and see the life experience of people in the community …do some training and connect with people around behavioral health issues, around supporting parents and family members,” Armstrong said adding that a peer-based network of prenatal mental health is in the works.

The Resource Center has also launched a Spanish Language Health Equity program that includes preventative care, pop-up clinics, swimming lessons and more for the Latin X community.

“We are serving about 300 people who would otherwise not get health care.”

Previous to the event, Armstrong had the Resource Center staff write down little snippets of things that they would not have imagined doing, and were not part of their job descriptions.

“Never did I ever think I would be serving pizza and Narcan for over 100 middle school students,” one read. This was in reference to two events that sought to discuss fentanyl with students.

“We have a huge opioid problem here,” Armstrong said. “Growing overdoses is not a happy thing to bring up. The youngest overdose I’m aware of fortunately survived, [was 13] a few weeks ago. We have lost some teenagers, one that we were really close to who went through our mentoring program.”

Another card was drawn which read “Never did I ever think I would be holding a woman’s hand at an off-island dental appointment.”

Armstrong explained that in this particular situation, the person was in severe need of dental care but did not have a car to get to her dentist.

“Oral care health is a challenge for low-income people out here because we do not have many dental providers who take Medicaid,” Armstrong explained. “It’s a huge hardship when low-income people need to use their Apple Health to get dental services because it moves around work days typically driving all the way to Bellingham or Mount Vernon, navigating ferries when they don’t have transportation.”

One more glimpse into the life of a staff person was drawn. “Never did I ever think I would be picking up a young man at a hospital because they were going to discharge him onto the street with nothing. He was begging them to let him stay. I picked him up. We drove to Marysville to Sedro Woolley then Port Townsend. We did not stop until we found a treatment center.”

That individual stayed in that treatment center for a year and, according to Armstrong is doing incredibly well.

“We are struggling with a behavioral health system that is broken. Finding a bed for someone is a monumental task. Often times the parameters of discharging are counter to what a person knows they need. Where is that critical point of listening to what the person is telling you? This guy was ready to get sober and he had struggled for years,” Armstrong said. “As a peer support provider and someone who had gone through recovery, [the staff person] could tell he was ready, not messing around. We could not give up on him. And that’s what it took. It took her showing up loading him in a car and literally driving him all over, multiple ferries until they found a bed. He opted to stay in treatment for twelve months, and he is doing fabulously.”

Several other stories were read, giving the crowd some perspective on the hard work the Resource Center staff does. When the time for questions came, the audience was speechless.

“Thank you for letting me share some of the voices of some of our staff. I personally am so grateful for the work they are doing every day. I feel more like an air traffic controller,” Armstrong laughed.