The joy pluck club
Story & photos by Gretchen Ammerman
Oregon Coast TODAY
Imagine that you grew up on a South Pacific island, surrounded by sunshine, palm trees and family. Then, imagine you met a young man, grew smitten and followed him to the US. Now, narrow your focus further to imagine moving to Waldport, in the 1970s, with brown skin and no English.
That was the early life of Senitila McKinley, whose incredible generosity has left its mark on the town she moved to from Tonga all those years ago.
“The first morning I looked out the window and saw no coconut trees but lots of rain, and I cried,” she said. “I knew I had to find something to do, but I couldn’t write a check, couldn’t drive and was very innocent and naive.”
Knowing language was her most important step, she worked to learn English any way she could, and eventually signed up for classes at the local community college.
“In the English class, the lady didn’t know what to do with me,” Senitila said. “She asked me to write down my story, and that pretty much changed everything for me.”
Her story was published, and because she was “exotic” for the time and place, it got attention.
“My English was much better, so I got involved in literacy to try to help others who also had language barriers,” she said. “I started being invited to give talks, I was even sent to Washington DC and met Barbara Bush.”
She was traveling so much that her husband was raising their two daughters, and she felt lonely and disconnected. Then one day, while walking near the nation’s Capitol, she met a homeless woman that lived under a big umbrella.
“The first day, I sat with her and we said nothing,” Senitila said. “The next day I brought her breakfast. On the third day, we finally talked and she told me her story. She said to me, ‘This is the first time I’ve talked to anyone in weeks.’ It broke my heart.”
Spending time with the woman under the umbrella then other displaced people, she started to find her purpose.
“I saw people on Capitol Hill I knew were going to advocate for the homeless, but they were stepping on them to get there.”
Senitila became intrigued by how much the new people she met knew about their community.
“We call them mentally ill,” she said, “but I have met the most interesting and kind people that were living on the street.”
Back at home, Senitila began delivering books and meals to people in need, learning more about her own community and making new connections.
In 1993, she began a free literacy program that would soon become her non-profit, Seashore Literacy, which achieved formal 501(c)(3) status in 2000.
In 2014, the Lincoln County School District sold the former Waldport middle school gym/cafeteria to Seashore, now designated the “Center for Learning.” This center enables the non-profit to make and distribute meals and feed kids that come to the camps offered several times a year.
Much of the food comes from the “Joy Garden,” where kids learn about growing food and help create the supplies that allow Senitila to give people more than just food.
“I tell the kids, ‘It’s not just a garden you’re building, it’s a community,’” she said. “I bring people meals that don’t need free food as much as they need the company.”
On a warm day in May, I dropped in on one of the kids' camps and enjoyed watching Senitila use a ball of twine to create a lesson, instructing the kids to say something they might need, then toss the ball to the first person who says that they can meet that need.
“If you listen for something that someone needs that you can give, and you say, ‘I can do that,’ over time, you have a group that supports each other,” she said. “That is what a community is.”
The first kid, not surprisingly considering the weather, needed water.
“I can do that,” three kids said almost in unison, and the ball was tossed, with each kid hanging on to their portion as needs were stated then, when the last was filled, they put the string on the ground to see that they had created a web. A few arguments about whether it did or did not look like a star ensued, then the kids scampered off to the greenhouse to plant some salad greens.
Lincoln City-based art therapist Crystal Akins, who has known Senitila most of her life, cites her as an influence.
“She’s amazing,” Akins said. “I grew up being passionate about things like helping those in need and working with kids, because that’s what I saw growing up.”
Beginning on Monday, June 21, the literacy center and Joy Garden will provide free lunches and activities for kids from noon to 2 pm, Monday through Friday, through the summer. Adult activities include one-on-one tutoring and GED prep help, writing groups and even ukulele lessons.
For more information, go to seashorefamily.org.