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Around the world in 12 days
7/11/2012 10:27:36 AM
By Kelly Moore
Splash Staff Writer
Every year, the Spokane Lilac Festival Royal Court travels the region to visit neighboring cities, participate in regional parades and serve area organizations. This year, they're taking their tiaras a little further: to China.
Next week the representatives, along with other area delegates including Liberty Lake Mayor Steve Peterson, will visit Jilin, China.
"These are the future leaders of Spokane," said Liberty Lake resident Steve Allen, who will be leading the trip. "These girls are supposed to be the best of the best. What a way to invest in them and give them a worldview that's so different from anything they've ever experienced."
The Royal Court includes seven young women - including the queen, Liberty Lake resident Sydnee Scofield. Advertisement
The upcoming trip will mark Allen's 12th venture to China. Many of the trips he led before worked in orphanages. However, the upcoming trip will be his first diplomatic experience.
Their trip will commemorate the 25th anniversary of the sister-city relationship Spokane shares with Jilin, China.
Hatching the plan
In January, Allen's daughter was selected as a finalist for the Lilac Festival Court, representing University High School.
"At the coronation, they showed a slide show of last year's Lilac group and what they did," Allen said. "There are some pretty cool opportunities they've had, and it was during that when I really got this vision of what if we did something totally off the wall."
Because he said he's always had a heart for China, he thought a service trip to China would be an amazing opportunity for the court.
His daughter, Hannah Allen, was eventually selected as one of the Lilac Festival Princesses, and shortly after he met with the organization president and his wife and pitched his idea.
"They were just totally blown away," Steve Allen said. "It's normally more about going to parades in Wenatchee and Seattle, and now we're talking about taking these kids internationally, really as a representation and delegation of our city. So as we began this conversation, the vision started growing and growing."
Submitted photo
The Spokane Lilac Festival Royal Court receives the news of the trip planned to China. The court includes Liberty Lake resident and queen Sydnee Scofield (center), and princesses Hannah Allen, Katie Sweeney, Jasmin Hallam, Alexis Schwartz, Linnea Kessler and Hailey Murray.
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Allen said his next step was to contact the Spokane Sister City Association. Spokane has four sister cities: Jecheon, Korea; Nishinomiya, Japan; Limerick, Ireland; and Jilin, China.
"This isn't one of the cities we get to interact with very much," Allen said. "The director over there said, ‘Steve, you have no idea how well the timing fits for this. … If you're willing to lead it, we'll be part of it.'"
The group now comprises the entire Spokane Lilac Festival Royal Court and some of their chaperones, Lilac Festival Association representatives, Spokane Sister Cities Association representatives, four members of Liberty Lake Church and Mayor Peterson.
Allen said the group invited Spokane Mayor David Condon and U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris-Rodgers, but scheduling conflicts prevented both from being able to participate.
Touring as delegates
The trip, which departs Monday and returns July 27, starts in Beijing, where the team expects to visit and serve in three orphanages and a state hospital and do a little sightseeing. The group also hopes to meet former Washington governor and current United States Ambassador to China Gary Locke.
"The tendency for trips like this is from people to either come in as tourists or as kind of snooty Americans," Allen said. "That's not how we want to come in. … We've decided we want to come in serving the community there."
The first orphanages they'll visit specialize in caring for children with special needs. At the hospital, Allen said he hoped for the team to gain perspective for the different healthcare system. They'll also deliver gifts and toiletries.
"We're approaching this looking at how we can build bridges of understanding, especially with the Chinese culture," Allen said. "How do we begin doing that from a business side, from an educational side, from a pure relational side. …We're starting to see beyond, ‘Oh what a cool experience,' to ‘wow, this really could feed into a lot of different areas of our communities.'"
While in Beijing, the group will also have an opportunity to visit landmarks like the Great Wall of China.
"My dad got to stand on the Great Wall," Peterson said. "I want to take a picture there holding that photo of my dad when he was there."
Peterson said he also hopes to squeeze in a tour of a new manufacturing plant owned by Itron, a Liberty Lake-headquartered company.
For the next four days, the group will head to Jilin City, where they'll be greeted and hosted at a state dinner with delegates from Spokane's sister city.
"We'll be donning coats and ties and tiaras and representing our area," Allen said. "Mayor Peterson will be able to represent this mayor-to-mayor bridge while we're there. … I can't wait. I think it's really going to blow people away."
Peterson said he's looking forward to sharing perspectives with the Jilin mayor, who oversees the city of 4.4 million.
Allen said the group would spend the next few days in Jilin touring hospitals, orphanages and schools and businesses.
Liberty Lake resident Dennis Pegram, a member of Liberty Lake Church attending the trip, said the Lilac Festival representatives would spend special days with children at the orphanages doing girls' activities like a "spa day." The men on the trip would do a similar day out with the boys at the orphanages. He's also helping coordinate a movie night.
"We just want to serve in whatever capacity we can," Pegram said. "There are butterflies in my stomach, and there's great anticipation for how we can be used to make a difference."
On the last night, they'll attend a farewell dinner with Jilin officials before heading home.
"It'll be 12 fully packed days," Allen said. "It's just been awesome to see how the community has come along beside us to support this trip. It's been everything from buying Frisbees to send with us to writing checks and supporting projects we hope to accomplish while we're there."
Bringing it home
When the group returns, Allen said it hopes to share the experiences with as many people as possible.
"What we've been talking about, at least from the church's standpoint, is how we make that bridge from the church into the community," Allen said. "We really want to work alongside the civic community and do things that are good. … We want to see the church as a place that isn't this kind of exclusionary entity."
He said he sees the trip will be a way for the city and the church to serve alongside each other. When they return, he said he would be looking at how to continue that relationship locally.
"After having this interaction with orphaned kids in China, we want to look in our own communities to see how we can serve right here from home," Allen said. "What about the kids in the foster care system right here in Spokane? How can we begin to advocate for those kids?"
Steve Allen said about 900 kids are currently cared for through the foster care system in Spokane.
"If we're able to come home and advocate for those kids and care for them the way we've cared for those kids in the orphanages in China, then it's a total win," he said.
Submitted photo
Liberty Lake residents Dennis Pegram and wife Kathy meet their newly adopted daughter, Allison, in China. |
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Submitted photo
Liberty Lake Church Assistant Pastor Steve Allen poses with his daughters Hannah, a current Spokane Lilac Festival Princess, and Grace, now 19, shortly after Grace's adoption from China in 2005.
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Inspiration behind China trip
starts close to home
By Kelly Moore
Splash Staff Writer
It's no coincidence that Steve Allen felt passionate about leading the upcoming trip to China; he said he's always had a passion for the country. In fact, three of his five children were adopted from orphanages there.
The spark, he said, ignited in 1995. He said he was at home watching an undercover expose on orphanages in China. He said the show showed orphanages unable to care for particular children - whether because of staffing needs or medical needs - and leaving them in a room to die.
"I was sitting in my living room thinking, ‘Wow, this is just meant for me. We're supposed to do something to help,'" Allen said.
He and his wife, Carrie, continued the conversation for years, until initiating the adoption process in 2000, saying they hoped to make a difference in just one life. In 2002, they adopted Lily, now 10.
"Some people will ask, ‘What is the most profound moment of your life?' and people of course say, ‘It's when I got married.'" Allen said. "Other than that, for me, it was December 15, 2002, at the White Swan Hotel in China. My wife and I turned the corner into this room, and there was this little 13-month-old girl. Our whole life got flipped upside down that day."
Since then, they've adopted two more daughters - Abby, now 8, and Grace, now 19.
"You start out thinking, oh, this is going to be a great blessing for her; we're doing something so nice," Allen said. "But I feel like they've blessed our lives more than they could possible understand."
Dennis Pegram might even say they've blessed lives outside their family, too. Last year, Grace Allen was interviewed during a service at Liberty Lake Church, and Pegram was in the audience. After listening to her story, he said he and his wife sat in the parking lot after church and decided to start adoption paperwork the next day.
In August last year, his family (wife Kathy and sons Colton and Nathan) traveled to China to adopt Allison, who turns 7 this weekend.
"It's like she's been part of our family from day one," Pegram said. "She walked into the room and gave us this huge hug. It was just the most amazing moment for all of us."
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