Spokane Alliance Fulfills Retirees Desire to Engage in Something Worthwhile

When Jerry White retired he yearned for something with substance to fill a void in his life, and for him the Alliance offered that fulfillment.

Jerry White takes his turn speaking at a Neighborhood Team meeting.

The gap that White felt in his life after he retired from 35 years of teaching biology at Eastern Washington University stemmed from White’s desire to be devoting time and energy to a cause that is larger than himself.

 “If I don’t have something I think is worthwhile, I am not a fulfilled person,” White said. 

In addition to his need for an activity that was worthwhile, White was transformed by the realization that environmental issues have to be resolved with some form of cooperation with the marketplace. This method of utilizing the market for environmental change is reflected in the tactic that the Alliance is currently undertaking in the SustainableWorks project with their approach to training and re-tooling the labor force for a clean, green future. 

White had a little convincing still to be done however and Bill Prouty, a fellow Unitarian Universalist Church mem ber, inspired White to go to a Leadership Institute. White was immediately attracted by how organized the Alliance was, and how integral reflective learning was in the Alliance process. In addition to the structure of the Alliance, White was impressed by the atmosphere that was generated by so many people gathering together to work together on such enormous problems with such cheerful spirits.

One example of these spirits still resides in White’s mind. Just after joining the Jobs Team, White was asked to give a presentation on a potential program involving a revolving loan fund. Nervous and not quite sure of all the complicated details, White gave the presentation.

 “When I came to the end of it, everyone applauded,” White said. “It really surprised me, I’ve taught for 35 years and no one applauded me.”

For all his nervousness, White earned something that he had never experienced and, for White, the experience illustrates the amount of positive re-enforcement that occurs at Alliance functions.

A part of the aura that White has experienced and enjoyed at his time during the Alliance stems from the mission that Alliance members share in common: the strengthening the civic component of society. Some of the most invigorating moments and events in White’s role at the Spokane Alliance have occurred during the two door-to-door campaigns he has participated in, where the civic mission concretely reveals itself through contact with the public in relation to the issue.

“Just to get out there and see how people react to an issue is really refreshing,” White said.

Another distinct aspect about the Spokane Alliance, which has appealed to White while he has been involved, centers on the Alliance’s ability to, “go directly to the sources of power to achieve a specific goal.”

Much of that capacity is formed through a process known at the Alliance as power analysis explained White. The process requires that the different interests of different players be analyzed with the objective of achieving a specific goal in mind. Additionally, for White, the Alliance is able to act with efficiency not only because of its methodologies in relation to power, but because it does not gain its strength from any one individual or individual.

“It’s a team effort and no one person is indispensable,” White said.