Serve Quincy Valley

QUINCY — The goal at Serve Quincy Valley is not only to help people with their immediate crisis, or their immediate need.

“Our main goal is to work with — we call it the holistic part of the person,” said SQV director Daniel Castillo. “Not just about their physical needs or maturity. It’s about trying to meet their spiritual needs, their emotional needs. We can, if they allow us, work with the holistic part.”

Serve Quincy Valley celebrates its 10th anniversary this summer. Castillo, a pastor at the Quincy Free Methodist Church, has been director since it was founded.

“It started with the ministerial association,” Castillo said. “Most of the churches (in the Quincy area) are a part of it.”

Many Quincy churches had charitable programs, but their ministers noticed that a few people were taking advantage, going from church to church. Serve Quincy Valley was founded in response. Castillo said its job is to help people understand what’s holding them back, and how to get to someplace better.

That can mean services through Serve Quincy Valley, or by helping clients find other resources, Castillo said.

“Any counseling, any financial counseling - for example, how to budget — or (how to find) job training that can help them,” Castillo said. “It’s not just ‘Here (a monetary donation), see you later. Talk to you later.’ It’s about, ‘Okay, how can we help you get out of that system, or that situation?’

“Help them to sustain themselves, help them face what they’re facing, and hopefully stand on their feet,” he said.

Castillo talks to prospective clients, finding out what they need right now, and how to help them change their circumstances.

“What’s your need? What are you looking for?” he said.

Sometimes just the conversation is enough.

“They’re broken, they just need somebody to talk to. And sometimes we don’t even help them with what they were looking for - they just needed somebody to talk to. And that’s okay. That’s what we’re here for,” Castillo said.

Whether or not clients need financial or material aid, or just someone to listen, Castillo said SQV doesn’t stop there.

“Then I do a follow up to make sure they’re okay, that they don’t need anything else,” he said.

Serve Quincy Valley provides aid for people who’ve suffered a sudden emergency such as a house fire, he said. But the goal is to get clients to the place where they don’t need SQV’s help anymore.

“Help them to help themselves. ‘Okay, I can help you with this, but what can you do?’ I mean, giving that responsibility, not just hope. This is a partnership, helping each other to help themselves,” he said.

If people want the service, Castillo said SQV will help them learn how to change habits that might be keeping them from getting where they want to be. He cited bad budgeting decisions as an example, spending money in ways that cut into an already-small family budget. He cited the case of expensive phones and phone plans for children. Something less expensive may be enough — or maybe the kids don’t need a phone at all, he said.

Castillo said it’s a little hard to estimate how many people are helped by Serve Quincy Valley each year.

“It changes every year. Year to year it’s different, like the weather,” he said. “And because of COVID, we have not had volunteers to (compile) all the data yet. Mostly we serve single moms. That’s who we serve the most. We serve anybody else, but that’s the people who have (used SQV services).”

He became director in part because he could speak Spanish.

“Most of the people that we serve are Spanish speakers, like 75 to 80% are Hispanic,” he said.

Castillo has been in Quincy since 1999, coming to town to get training in the ministry, to stay for a couple of years.

“I moved here 21 years ago from south Texas. So I was going to be here only for three or four years for training,” he said.

But it didn’t work out that way.

“That was the plan - that was our plan,” he said. “But God said, ‘No. You're staying here for another - well, until I let you go.’”

He’s still a pastor at the Quincy Free Methodist Church as well as running Serve Quincy Valley.

“Being pastor is not part-time. It’s not a part-time job,” he said. “It’s more than a full-time job. And that’s okay.”

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at cschweizer@columbiabasinherald.com.

Serve Quincy Valley

The nonprofit does accept physical and monetary donations.

PO Box 1259

Quincy, WA 98848.

Those seeking services or looking to volunteer may call: 509-797-7356.