Monthly Archives: September 2015

The “do’s and don’ts” of design

I was recently at a dinner party and the topics of gardening and native plants came up.

I mentioned the Diakon Wilderness Greenhouse and how the greenhouse and native plant nursery there support a good cause—Diakon Youth Services. I know a lot about the program because, as a freelance designer for Diakon, I had recently created several promotional items for the wilderness greenhouse’s grand reopening native plant sale.

Loving our neighbors… overseas

Diakon maintains the Love of The Neighbor fund, which provides additional paid “vacation” for staff members, who apply to the fund to help cover their service-related activities. The fund is one more way Diakon has impact beyond its direct care and service.

I was in the Baltic region in June on a humanitarian-focused mission project, during the summer solstice in both Lithuania and Latvia. Our mission group’s work is with orphanages, appropriate given Diakon’s history dating to two children’s homes in the 1800s.

Celebrating new forever families!

We are delighted to share this question-and-answer blog post with Diakon Adoption & Foster Care Case Manager Crystal Wanamaker about the recent adoptions of a large sibling group:

When did you meet the children?

I met Jayden, Ricardo Jr., and Mya the day they were referred to our agency, which was July 23, 2010. I met Ruby on Jan. 17, 2012. She was placed with her siblings two days after she was born. Jayden and Ricardo Jr. are 6-year-old twins, Mya is 5 years old and Ruby is 3 years old. The boys were adopted by the Rivera family, the girls by the Saylor family.