Federal Way couple receives non-profit’s highest Award

A Federal Way couple who was among the first to go on a Guatemala mission trip through the Hands for Peacemaking Foundation and have continued their support for the non-profit for 32 years are being honored as this year’s recipient of the organization’s Aller Humanitarian Award.

The award is bestowed each year to recognize individuals who have shown exemplary service to the villagers of Guatemala as well as to their own community at large.

Richard (Dick) and Elinor Shenk made their first trip to Santa Cruz Barillas, a remote city in the western highland’s region of Guatemala, in 1989 to work on two projects: building a pumphouse at the Guatemala Evangelical Ministries’ children’s camp and to repair and paint a medical clinic operated by Hands for Peacemaking.

The Shenks returned in 1992 to do more work on the clinic and help build a school in Barillas. Dick went again in 2005, 2006 and, at age 79, in 2018. Each of those trips were to install wood burning stoves in the Mayan villages that dot the region. The stoves, manufactured locally by Hands for Peacemaking staff, replace open pit fires in the homes, reducing wood consumption and smoke inhalation by the villagers. The Shenks’ mission trips were all coordinated through the church they attend, Marine View Presbyterian in Northeast Tacoma.

Besides his involvement with Hands for Peacemaking, Dick has been an avid volunteer for Habitat for Humanity and the Bikes for Kids program at Marine View. He is also active in the local Harmony Kings performance choral group.

Both Shenks are retired from the Weyerhaeuser Corporation, where Dick worked for 22 years as a mechanical engineer in the company’s energy division before his retirement in 2001 and Elinor for nine years as a computer programmer in the technology group. Elinor, who began her career as a music teacher, also volunteers for the American Association of University Women. The couple, both 82 (they share their birth date) attended the same high school in Harrisburg, Pa. but did not court until later. They moved from Connecticut to Federal Way in 1979 and remain in the same house where they raised their two sons and a daughter. They have five grandchildren.

In making its decision to honor the Shenks with the Aller Award, the Hands for Peacemaking board of directors noted the couple’s longstanding interest and support for the organization.

“The Shenks personify the hundreds who have first joined us in Guatemala on a mission trip over the years and have had their hearts captured by the villagers and the cause to help them,” said Board President Brian Dirks. “We are delighted to bestow this award as a gesture of our thanks for their outstanding service.”

The Aller Humanitarian Award is named for the late Dr. Leeon Aller, a longtime physician in Snohomish, and his wife Virginia. Dr. Aller founded Hands for Peacemaking in response to the extreme medical and social needs he encountered in Guatemala during his 1984 trip to Central America. He and Virginia opened a 10-bed hospital and a K-12 school in Barillas. In addition to his medical practice Dr. Aller was involved in the VFW, the Boy Scouts of America, the Snohomish Rotary Club, and numerous other endeavors. He and Virginia raised two children and numerous foster children.

Over the years the Everett-based Hands for Peacemaking Foundation has sent dozens of teams to the region to build schools and install clean-air cook stoves in the homes of Mayan villagers. The Foundation operates a manufacturing facility in Barillas and a 16-bed mission house there.