Nestled about forty five minutes southeast of Portland, the small town of Sandy has seen God show up miraculously when their local churches have worked together to serve the community. Thousands of uninsured and underinsured people in Sandy have received free medical and dental care since 2012 because of this unity. Shan Hill owns a veterinary practice in Sandy, and when God called him to get involved in the Compassion Sandy Clinic in a roundabout way, he decided to go all in. Below he shares his thoughts about his volunteer experiences as a Compassion Clinic leader, fostering unity with local churches, and the power of offering Jesus’ love and service to even one person.
Getting Involved In Local Efforts of Compassion and Unity
I have been incredibly blessed by God. It’s actually very little about what I’ve done…in the big picture I don’t do that much, it’s just about being faithful. So often when people are trying to figure out what to do or are concerned about the next step (this is my opinion), I think somewhere in their life they had someone who didn’t come alongside them who believed in them, so they allow procrastination and fear to hold them back.
The first Compassion Clinic happened here in Sandy in 2012 and the local paper interviewed Milan (Compassion Connect’s Executive Director). In the interview he said they potentially wanted a veterinary service as a partner. One of my employees read it and said, “What do you think about this?” And three weeks later we met with Milan and talked about what the Compassion model looks like and how we could get involved.
Volunteers from Shan’s veterinary practice providing services to some cute animals at Compassion Sandy
The first year at Compassion Sandy all we did was vet services, which we did for the next couple years. After a few years of participating we hadn’t heard from Ann (the Compassion Sandy volunteer leader), and when I reached out in January she told me that due to a personal situation she and Paul (her husband) couldn’t lead anymore, and since we didn’t have a leader, there wouldn’t be a Compassion Sandy clinic that year.
And she sort of leaned in and said, “Unless you want to do it!” And I knew because of my work situation I couldn’t, but I said “If you can’t find anyone by July, let me know and I’ll do it.” God kept whispering in my ear between January and July when Ann told me that they still hadn’t found someone. Milan came back into the picture at that point in the story and said it might be too late to plan a Clinic for the fall. I also felt that I didn’t want to hustle that hard my first year, so we decided to have it the next spring–and that’s how I became the coordinator for the Compassion Sandy Clinic.
Ann asked me, “Why do you want to do this?” And I said, I could give you a list of why I’m qualified, the skill set God has given me to comfortably and confidently lead this event. But here is the truth: if I don’t do it at this point, I would be disobedient to what God is calling me to do. And she said, “That is what I was hoping to hear.”
Fostering Church Relationships
I think God uniquely prepares people by bouncing them around sometimes, not always in a linear pattern. So before I became Compassion Sandy coordinator, I was going to Good Shepherd Community Church on Saturday nights, and that freed me up to do what I call “double dipping,” sometimes even triple dipping, by attending services at many of the partner churches for Compassion Sandy. I’m pretty comfortable going into any church. Sometimes I feel a little awkward at but that doesn’t mean I can’t go.
“It’s not actually one story that makes [Compassion Clinics] powerful–it’s when you’re in there and you’re seeing compassion going on all over the place, and any given minute someone is crying. You can’t participate in something like this and not be touched by the power.”
That has really helped me as the coordinator because I’m building relationships with all those churches and they know who I am, they have a face to the name. If I’m going to take the responsibility of doing the job, then I want to do the job well and reach out to multiple churches, because it is intended to be a multiple church thing. So from my perspective if I didn’t do that, I would be neglecting the job. I don’t have to do it, but I can and should, so why would I not?
Related: Local Churches and Ministries Serving Together in North Portland
The Power of Compassion
Compassion Clinics are no trifling matter, they are a big deal. You cannot go to a Compassion event and walk away without a sense of the majesty and power and awe of God because they are amazing and to some extent a little overwhelming.
At this year’s event we had one eye doctor see 64 people. The other eye doctor didn’t show up and the one that came said don’t worry, just give me the other assistant, and he bounced back and forth between two assistants all day. It would have been worth it even for one person, but I tell people we served a lot more than that.
When you see grown men crying because they haven’t felt that respected in so long, that one event is enough to make you feel it was worth three months and ten thousand dollars, right? But what happens is story after story after story…
You could try to isolate it to a single story from a Compassion event, but it’s not actually one story that makes these powerful–it’s when you’re in there and you’re seeing compassion going on all over the place, and any given minute someone is crying. You can’t participate in something like this and not be touched by the power.
Roots of Church Unity in Sandy
One of the reasons the Sandy community is so blessed is because they have a Sandy Ministerial Association, and they get together during the year to share and pray for one another. Some communities compete for pew space, and there is a tension there, but that doesn’t really exist here. The Lutheran pastor and the Catholic Father are sitting next to each other and swapping stories. And what makes my Clinic Coordinator job so easy is I go to that once a month and encourage them and they encourage me, in a way that is lacking in some communities.
We also have a Sandy Action Center that offers a lot of services including a food pantry and thrift store that was funded by local churches. And most people don’t know the local church was behind it.
The area where I think the Compassion Sandy clinic is really starting to foster improved relationships is in the secular/ governmental side of our community. There’s an event here that happens called Sandy Connect led by two people: one is a social service worker for the state and the other is on the Compassion Sandy team, and the event is about all the services in the community coming together to share what they’re doing and helping one another.
There’s a guy in that group that works for the state and asked if they could come to the clinic and have a table to do HIV testing, funded by federal dollars. And because we built those relationships, we were able to invite him to do that. Every time a person visited him at the Clinic, he did a happy dance. He was so excited that he was able to serve three people.
“Some communities compete for pew space, and there is a tension there, but that doesn’t really exist here. The Lutheran pastor and the Catholic Father are sitting next to each other and swapping stories.”
We’ve been able to foster excellent community relationships that are often bridges that are hard to build. Far too long there has been tension between social services and the church, and these are the relationships we’ve really been able to improve on through Compassion Sandy. Because the church relationships were already pretty healthy, we’ve been able to take the next step to include the rest of our community. I like to say Compassion Clinics are community events.
I don’t have any qualms reaching out to any resource in our community to see how they can do their part. We had a local dry cleaner donate 10-12 clothing racks for our clothing closet at Compassion Sandy. She said to me, “I’m just doing my part.”
We also got a great deal on t-shirts because of a local branding agency. I asked her, “What kind of great deal can you make me on t-shirts?” She gave them to the clinic at cost. A local coffee shop also donated all the coffee for the clinic this year, and the donut shop donated six boxes of donut holes. Again, community members doing their part.
I tell people, God does not have a limit to his resources so don’t let that get in the way. I don’t want to deprive people of the opportunity to participate. So everywhere you go you just start by asking, and because of that we have a lot of donors. Compassion Sandy is truly a community event.
A Favorite Compassion Sandy Story
My first Compassion Sandy event we were providing veterinary services, but not getting much traction. When we first opened, there was one person in line with his kitten. There was no one behind him, so there was no rush. We learned that he was couch surfing and someone gave him the kitten–figured he could use the company. But the cat was sick, and if he didn’t come that day the cat wouldn’t have lived.
So we lavished on him, and that guy walked out of the clinic with a year’s worth of food, medication, a carrier even. He was so excited he ran the kitten home and then came right back and helped serve food because he felt so appreciative. He was so thankful for the way we took care of him, he had to pay it forward, so he came back and volunteered on the spot.
Related: 6 Reasons to Take a Compassion Clinic Tour This Year
How Is God Calling You To Put Your Faith In Action?
I believe God uniquely prepared me for this leadership role. I wasn’t raised a Christian. There is a difference between what you believe and what you are doing about it. Even the demons know it’s true, but that doesn’t make them good guys. What changed for me was at 30 years old a man fostered a relationship with me for 10 years without asking for anything.
My mentor used to say, “how is it with your soul.” I hadn’t seen him in two years and I said John, I miss you. I miss having someone who holds my feet to the fire, who walks me through something, encourages me, strengthens me. What he said was “Go find someone. You need a mentor. They don’t come to you, you have to come to them.” From then until now, I always go looking for that mentor.
The last time I spoke to him was a decade ago but I still find myself asking myself, “how is it with my soul?” I’m the most wretched man I know, saved by grace and grace alone. On one hand, I could point to what I do. I could tell you I go to church twice every weekend. I could give you the list of where I work hard at memorizing scripture, pray, read my bible, have this ministry, help a lot of people, boy do I look good. But I know I’m still a sinner. if you’re doing nothing, your faith isn’t worth much because it should compel you to do something.
How many times can you see an answer to prayer sometimes in a miraculous way without being convinced of the power and love of God? You can’t be involved with a Compassion event without seeing prayers answered.
