A helping hand

COEUR d'ALENE - It takes a woman to raise a village.

An extraordinary young woman, like Alycia Barrowcliff, and a critically important local nonprofit, like Children's Village in Coeur d'Alene.

Barrowcliff, a recent college graduate and longtime Children's Village volunteer, is zooming full speed ahead - the only speed she knows, apparently - to help kids overcome heartbreaking adversity. That's something Barrowcliff knows a little bit about.

Now the 21-year-old is organizing a spaghetti feed Feb. 9 at the Coeur d'Alene Resort. She's hoping to raise at least $5,000 toward reopening the shuttered Miller Home at Children's Village with a hearty meal and auction one week after Super Bowl Sunday.

"They had to turn something like 26 kids away last month, and that just made me sad," Barrowcliff said of the nonprofit that provides shelter for children who are abused, neglected, homeless or in dire family crisis.

The turning away of desperate children also made Barrowcliff determined. With a very modest initial goal of raising $1,500, she reached out to dozens of businesses to donate auction items. Then she had a chat with Duane B. Hagadone, whose wife, Lola, has been a mentor to Barrowcliff since 2010.

"Mr. Hagadone is like, 'Alycia, I have a challenge for you.' I said, 'Really? I like challenges!"

The challenge is for Barrowcliff to raise every dollar she can, and the Hagadones will match her total.

"He's just amazing," she said of Hagadone, "and Lola is kind of like my grandma. I can talk to her about personal problems; I can talk about school. I can talk to her about anything."

Barrowcliff and the Hagadones intersected when, in 2010, the Horatio Alger Association awarded the Lake City High School graduate a $20,000 college grant. Barrowcliff was one of just 104 applicants selected from 50,393 nationally.

Duane Hagadone is a member of the philanthropic organization of distinguished Americans who overcame adversity on their way to success. The association contributes millions of dollars toward the education of young Americans who also have faced great adversity in their lives.

In Barrowcliff's case, that started with her father's suicide in 1999, when Alycia was a little girl. It continued through tough times that didn't immediately get better even after her mother, Lynda Barrowcliff, married Lake City High history teacher Tracy Turrell, Alycia said.

"I think difficulties like that are pretty normal," she said of the challenges she initially had accepting a stepdad. "You want that parenting but at the same time you think, 'You're not my dad.' Now it's great. I would go to him for anything."

Alycia worked hard in high school, including volunteering at Children's Village up to three times a week, but during her senior year she said financial realities became clear. With the help of her guidance counselor, Bev Chambers, Barrowcliff applied for every scholarship she could. More than 10 were granted, with the Horatio Alger Association packing the biggest punch.

Studying at top speed, Barrowcliff put them all to good use. She spent her first year at North Idaho College before going on to Eastern Washington University, where she finished her bachelor's degree in just over two years. Sandwiched in there was a five-month internship in Germany.

"I want to go to PA (physician assistant) school so I pushed a lot of credits to get done," she said with a laugh. And boy, did she push. Barrowcliff admitted that she likely broke a rule or two by taking 15 online credits one quarter while shouldering 18 classroom credits at the same time.

That work ethic and desire to help others have brought Barrowcliff eye-to-eye with a fundraising project that is, well, a bit bigger than she imagined when she conjured up the idea.

"I've never done anything like this before," she said. "I'm learning as I go, that's for sure."

She isn't learning alone. In fact, she goes out of her way to emphasize that while the idea might be hers, a whole team of allies is making this fundraiser happen.

"It wasn't all me," she said. "More and more I realize it's my best friend, Northwest Tile & Floors, my family, the Hagadones. It might have started with some simple idea, but it's become so much more.

"It's not about me. It's about everyone- the whole community is pitching in."

With the event just four weeks away, Barrowcliff's motivation remains sky high. That's because she's seen first-hand how much Children's Village means to the children it helps - children whose lives it improves and, sometimes, saves.

"I grew up for five or six years without a dad so I know it's hard not to have a parent. I can't imagine not having a home," she said. "At the Children's Village, they have people there 24 hours a day who are like their family."

Duane Hagadone marvels at the young woman he and Lola have watched closely the past four years. When he heard about Barrowcliff's benevolent blitz, he helped ensure Resort facilities and food would be donated to the fundraiser and capped that off with his dollar-for-dollar challenge.

"Alycia is more than a dynamic student who will go on to do great things in medicine," he said. "She's also an inspiration."

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Buy tickets or donate auction items to the Feb. 9 fundraiser for Children’s Village. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased at Northwest Tile & Floors, 3900 N. Schreiber Way in Coeur d’Alene (665-2121), or by calling Alycia Barrowcliff (691-7725) or Deborah Miranda (818-0612).

The spaghetti feed and auction will take place at the Coeur d’Alene Resort from 4 to 7 p.m. the Sunday after the Super Bowl.