State of the Organization

Report from the Vice-Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Julie Haws
Given at the Evergreen Annual Conference, Saturday, September 14, 2002

This is Evergreen's 13th year. The organization began in July 1989. Eleven men came together seeking a way to help themselves and others overcome homosexual attraction. From this small beginning, an international organization has grown that provides referral services, resources and education to many individuals in many countries.

Evergreen is led by a Board of Trustees. Those presently serving on the board are: Larry Richman (chairman); Julie Haws, CPA (vice-chairman); Rourk Baird; A Dean Byrd, PhD; Briant Carter; Shirley E. Cox, DSW; Vera E. Eccles, Elder Jack H. Goaslind (presently serving as President of the Manti Temple); Elder H. Burke Peterson; John R. Taylor; and the Honorable Richard G. Wilkins. David Pruden, as Executive Director and Sharon Smith, as Office Manager handle the day-to-day work of Evergreen.

Evergreen has three main priorities that govern everything we do: (1) be a referral service, (2) provide resources, (3) provide education.

(1) Referral Service

We continue to build a network of therapists and affiliate support groups where we can refer people for help. Our computer database contains information on hundreds of therapists, LDS Family Services agencies, support groups, and other organizations that can help.
There are over 30 support groups affiliated with Evergreen. These are groups for men, groups for women and groups for parents, friends and family. At least 2 of the groups are outside the USA and several more groups are developing in Mexico and in California. We are also in the process of re-organizing the internet support group that functioned for a few months this past year.
People can contact us either by phone or by email. Emails are answered in either English or Spanish.
Our website continues to develop. Many of you may have registered for this conference on the website. You can also purchase books and other media on the website. There are many articles pertaining to same-sex attraction and testimonies of those who have walked a similar path to that which many of you are walking. The website is accessible in English or Spanish.

(2) Resources

We publish a newsletter The Journey four times a year. The next newsletter will be the report of this conference.
We continue to build an extensive library at the headquarters office. This year the library was named "The Charles W. Socarides Library" to honor the outstanding scholarship and courage in the face of opposition of Dr. Socarides who is one of the founders of the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH). It is our hope that the library will serve as a resource and inspiration to a rising generation of academic and clinical scholars interested in the treatment of homosexuality. We encourage any of you who have books or videotapes or audiocassettes you no longer need, to consider donating them to the library. The library is available for individual study or for research.
We provide information packets and sell books by mail and over the Internet. Several books, pamphlets and brochures are now available in both English and Spanish. Elder Oaks' Ensign article is available in 20 languages. Some materials are now being translated into French and Slovakian.

(3) Education

Evergreen presents annual conferences. This year is the 12th conference. We also present various seminars, mini-conferences and firesides throughout the year. Notices of these events are posted on the web-site.
This past May a mini-conference was presented in Portland, OR. The Vancouver West Stake hosted the conference working with the Portland LDS Family Services agency. Our Executive Director, David Pruden, Dr. Jeffrey Robinson from BYU and local therapists provided the workshops. The conference was a great success. Another is planned later this year in the Seattle, WA area. If you are interested in having a mini-conference in your area, contact David Pruden.
We continue to work closely with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We have two General Authorities on our Board of Trustees. Periodically we meet with Area Presidencies and with the Presidencies of the Women's Auxiliaries. As they request, we provide training and information to Bishops, Stake Presidents and other Church leaders. We continue to hold meetings for Church leaders when invited by the Priesthood leadership of Stakes and Regions. Many more Bishops, Stake Presidents, other Priesthood leaders and Relief Society, Young Women and Primary leaders have heard the Evergreen message that "change is possible" and "this is how you can help" during the past year.
Last year we announced the formation of Center for the Study of Gender-Affirmative Therapy (GAT), a subsidiary of Evergreen International. In March, the GAT Center held its first Clinical Training Conference. The all day training was attended by more than 100 professional therapists and counselors, many of them LDS Family Services personnel. The conference was a great success.

How to Help

Financial Support - Evergreen International is a public, non-profit organization. We exist and finance our programs solely on donated funds. Your donations qualify as income tax deductions in the United States and we know that you will reap blessings of heaven as you give. As an accountant and one who is involved in Evergreen's accounting process, I can tell you that your donations are properly accounted for and expenditures are properly budgeted and authorized by the Board of Trustees. There is no frivolous spending. We operate on a shoestring more than anything. There are always more projects we would like to do than there are finances to accomplish them. Will you prayerfully go to Father in Heaven and give to Evergreen, for Evergreen has given to you. We would not be here today without that which has already been so freely given.
Volunteers - We need your help. We have only two employees at Evergreen to run the day-to-day affairs of an international organization. We need volunteers who can spend some time in the office periodically - answering phones, stuffing envelopes, making phone calls. We need volunteers to help with the newsletter - submitting articles and ideas and editing and preparing it for publication. We need more books and pamphlets dealing with same-sex attraction issues written for an LDS audience. We also need a treasurer. Bob DeLange, who serves as treasurer at this time, is planning a mission with his wife at the end of this year. The treasurer needs to be available during office hours a few days each month to pay the bills and payroll and make deposits. Some computer skills are needed as the accounting information is entered into Quickbooks. If you are interested in serving in this position, please contact David Pruden or Sharon Smith at the Evergreen office.

There are also things you can do in your own wards, stakes and communities. Encourage your priesthood and auxiliary leaders to hold a training meeting or mini-conference. It is truly amazing how the windows of heaven open when someone in a leadership position discovers the vision of Evergreen. In your community, thank you local bookstore or library for carrying books about overcoming homosexuality. If they don't carry them, ask them to. Thank television stations and newspapers for relaying correct information about change. When the information isn't correct, respond with the truth.
Remember that Evergreen is here as a resource. David Pruden and the Board of Trustees are always willing to do a presentation in your area. And Evergreen can provide information to respond to the media.

Moral Support, Faith and Prayers - Brothers and sisters, we are in this together. There are many who will benefit from what you have been privileged to learn from your individual struggles. Heavenly Father has blessed us with precious gifts of knowledge, understanding and faith. We are truly ungrateful servants if we do not share the stories of our healing. Be prayerful and seek the Spirit. The Lord will lead you to those who need what you can offer.

This is my 10th conference. I learned a lot in the first five conferences and was ready to move on with my life and away from Evergreen. Then I was asked to serve on the Board of Trustees. Those first five years were good, but the years I have served on the board have been truly amazing. I have grown in testimony and understanding to the point that the struggle has given way to a feeling of having overcome. I believe that the Lord has consecrated the service I have given to my healing. I believe the Lord will do the same for any of us.

Please pray for Evergreen. The opposition against us is increasing and will continue to increase. We are a beacon of light in a world that grows darker. We need to increase the light. We need to pray continually for doors to be opened, for leaders who will hear and for strength to continue on.

I have a very great love for each of you. Many of you carry heavy, heavy burdens. There is no magic cure. Your healing will not be easy. But I promise you, as you seek the Lord, He will strengthen you for the journey. As we learn to put our Father in Heaven's will before our own, there is not anything we cannot do with our Savior at our side. I bear you my testimony that He lives! Jesus Christ is our Savior, our Redeemer, our Friend and our Healer. He loves us with a love so great. That love can overcome all our struggles. I bear you this witness in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.