SPOKANE, Wash. - "I didn't have time to buy you a present," Rick Clark said as we walked into his new warehouse in Spokane Valley Thursday morning.
In all honesty, I wouldn't have been at all surprised if Rick had a present waiting for me under one of the hundreds of Christmas trees being stored there because, as the founder of the Spokane Quaranteam, giving is just what Rick Clark does.
"Every morning I wake up and pinch myself because my job is to get up and help people, and I have the means to because I have an army of 30,000 people," Clark said of his followers on the group's Facebook page.
It's an army that began forming back at the beginning of the pandemic.
"It's been about 19 months and 4 days, not that I'm counting. But that's where we're at," Clark smiled.
It was back then Rick decided to hop on social media and do a live fundraiser--a small, humble live stream to help local businesses as they faced COVID restrictions and lockdowns, while simultaneously helping those experiencing hard times of their own.
"We were just going to buy 20 pizzas and have them shipped over to a homeless shelter," Clark recalled of his first event. "I was honestly trying to raise $200 the very first live video. It was super awkward."
As awkward as it may have been, or at least felt at the time, Rick's first goal of a just a couple hundred bucks was easily met and over time was shattered exponentially.
"That turned into $250,000 over the next 112 videos," Clark said.
But all good things must come to an end, right? With COVID restrictions easing and Rick himself busy with other important endeavors, he announced the organization would be taking a step back.
"I was in the middle of getting my Master's degree, I was working with my non-profit, I have a family that I'm responsible for," Clark listed.
However, the community that he spent so much time helping had other plans.
"The community said, 'Nope. we're not ready for that,'" Clark said.
So the Spokane Quaranteam has evolved beyond helping just restaurants and now 'tis the season to give. 'Tis the season of Rick, who was recently given a gift of his own.
"No-Li gave us $12,000 and raised three days for us and said, 'We want to watch you do fun stuff with it,'" Clark said.
While most of us might take the $12,000 given to us with the specific instructions to do fun stuff with it and immediately hire a Van Halen tribute band to play in our living rooms while we scratched off $11,000 worth of lottery tickets (No? Is that just me?), this is Rick Clark we're talking about! Of course, he's going to do something not only fun with it but, most importantly, something good. And unlike my plan, something useful.
"I said, wouldn't it be cool if we could get some Christmas trees?" Clark recalled.
So, Rick called his guy. His guy who knows everybody and has all of the connections, who at first struck out.
But then, a Christmas miracle.
"He got a call from this company in Oregon who said they had more trees than they could handle," Clark said. "So we rented a truck, drove down there and we bought 300 Christmas trees."
A massive purchase that definitely comes with a bulk discount, right?
"They did not cut us a deal," Clark laughed. "We bought them full price, $20 a tree. We took $6000 and bought 300 trees."
After a long drive from Corvallis, Oregon, the trees were brought to Rick's new warehouse. He opened up spots on his Facebook page, filled up 200 of them, and began distributing them this week to families who otherwise wouldn't have a tree this year.
"We had a lot of tears," Clark said after the first night of giving away the trees. "We had parents crying. They couldn't believe we were doing this. I just kept thinking, 'This is a $20 tree!', like it just makes me realize what that means to some people right now."
It's a small gesture this holiday season, one Rick admits won't change the world but hopes will change the culture.
"We say light attracts light a lot in our group," Clark said.
Thanks to the Spokane Quaranteam, this Christmas, it's a light that will shine bright on hundreds of trees, thanks to Spokane's own Saint Nick, or more appropriately, Saint Rick.
"I'm a little chubby and I've got rosy cheeks," Clark joked. "I really think later in life I'm going to actually be a really good Santa Claus, I just don't want to right now."
Rick says while the first 200 trees are already spoken for, they are anticipating having an extra 100 or so, so keep an eye on their Facebook page to sign up for a free tree when the spots open.
If you would like to help in the Christmas tree effort, Rick says they still need tree stands, so if you have an extra one in your house (they can still use about 140), you can donate it to the Spokane Quaranteam. Just send them a message on their Facebook page.
If you're interested in joining the Quaranteam, you can also find that information on their Facebook page.
