Spotlight On Alan Christensen, Volunteer Appreciation Week 2021

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To try and list all of Alan's volunteer contributions would be impossible! It's less one big thing he does and more lots and lots and lots of smaller things. Lots of less flashy things in the background that we often take for granted.

"Bottom line is we can count on Alan. For honest and well thought out ideas on where we have opportunities to improve. To show up frequently for other caregivers in our community. To show up not just for the fun stuff but for the hard stuff too. To show up when we as an organization say we need help, or when anyone in our Coalition says "I need help!". To show up when we're at a respite event and one of the caregivers asks him a really important question. And by show up I mean pull more guys into to the conversation because he knows how important this moment is. And he knows that guy needs to hear from lots of guys on that issue, not just him.

"Alan is a serial tinkerer. He comes alive figuring stuff out. He thrives in the ambiguity of a new challenge. We launched our podcast in early 2019 and he was a big part of that. He helped produce it, and he helped with all the little challenges too. Not only what mics and software we needed but what mic stands, and all the little gadgets and do-hickies that because of him became something special. Something that was greater than the sum of its parts. Before long we were getting feedback from people about how good our sound was and they wanted to know how were we doing that. We have Alan, that's how!

"Later in 2019, Alan moved on to the next opportunity he saw. Another way to help us share our message with the world. This time it was video. He had this vision long before COVID-19 came along. I remember he showed up at several events in the summer and fall of 2019 with a sweet sound and video set up to help us capture the event and live stream it out to those who weren't able to come. He'd hand me a fancy mic and point all his phones at me and tell me to start talking...it worked perfectly every time.

"Then COVID-19 happens. We were so far ahead of so many other organizations thanks to his vision and hard work. He had already figured so much out. We were streaming programs left and right with his help. And it wasn't just us he helped get through the pandemic. He was helping our friends at Rein in Sarcoma, our friends at Gilda's Club Twin Cities, and on top of all that he recorded nearly 60 masses for his church between March 2020 and March 2021.

"Alan often says he's not being proud of the version of himself prior to his lovely wife Sara's diagnosis of angiosarcoma. How he never considered doing so much for people, especially if they weren't paying him. I never knew him then so I can't speak to that version of him. I only know the latest version, Alan 2.0. I'm so grateful for all his support and I'm so proud of how far he's come. His family and friends are too. And we all know how proud Sara is. I mean you gotta' remember she loved Alan 1.0. Imagine how she feels about the man he is today!"
-Kyle Woody, Jack's Founder & Executive Director-