Citing ‘offenses against God,’ local church cuts ties with children’s hospital nonprofit

A fundraising event that supports a children’s hospital in Pierce County will no longer happen at a church in Eatonville unless the nonprofit hosting it “repents” gender transition and abortion services, according to the church.

The Dr. A.W. Bridge Guild has hosted the Mountain Country Bazaar since 1954. Handmade goods such as jewelry, paintings and toys from over 70 vendors are sold at the event. Since 2011, the bazaar has happened at the Eatonville Baptist Church at 415 Lytle Lane S. in November.

The guild is a part of the Mary Bridge Brigade , a nonprofit that has donated funds and volunteer hours to support Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital in Tacoma since 1921.

In a letter sent to the guild April 9, church elders wrote that they were made aware of MultiCare and Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital’s support for gender transition and abortion services. The elders said that violates the church’s “deeply held beliefs.”

Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital provides affirming care for all patients, including transgender and gender-diverse youth, children’s hospital spokesperson Kalyn Kinomoto wrote in an email. The children’s hospital does not provide gender-affirming surgeries but connects patients to those services in the area.

The MultiCare Health System wrote in a statement: “We believe that the decision to have an abortion — whether that be an in-person surgical procedure or an oral medication prescription — should be one made by the pregnant individual and their provider. This is not a new position for MultiCare, but one that we have been committed to for decades as a community-based, secular, not-for-profit health system.”

The church elders said in the letter that the guild has assured them in the past that none of the funds raised would be used for anything that violates the church’s beliefs. The elders “no longer believe those assurances are sufficient,” they said.

The church elders also said in the letter that the guild violated a facility-use agreement last year by having a vendor sell items that did not align with the church’s beliefs on marriage and sexuality.

A portion of the church elders’ letter reads: “Should the leadership of Mary Bridge and MultiCare publicly repent of these offenses against God and come to uphold the sanctity of all human life, and God’s design for human sexuality, we would again be willing to entertain a request from the Guild to utilize our facilities.”

The letter ended with, “Sincerely, The Elder Board of Eatonville Baptist Church.” The church elders are Jon Hoffman, Dan Hoffman, Darrell Cummins, Dennis Staab, Jason Hunter, Paul Morgan and Terry Van Eaton, according to the church’s website .

Guild event coordinator Sharon Rosenkranz told The News Tribune via email: “The guild is part of Mary Bridge Brigade and Mary Bridge Brigade does not fund either of those. We are not a political or controversial social group. We want to meet the medical needs of children.”

The church elders did not respond to The News Tribune’s multiple requests for comment.

“Unfortunately, they have refused to separate what MultiCare and what our group does,” Rosenkranz told The News Tribune.

Rosenkranz wrote in an email to the church elders April 2 that the Mary Bridge Brigade, Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital and MultiCare are separate nonprofit organizations. That means the guild can designate where its funds can be used.

Rosenkranz also said in the email that the funds from the Mountain Country Bazaar could go to the orthopedic-shoe program at Mary Bridge Children’s Therapy Services in Puyallup or to a cancer program for children with leukemia or hard-to-treat cancers who would benefit from at-home medical treatment rather than a hospital stay.

“There is a cancer program for home care vs. an approximate 3-week hospital stay for the roughly 10 percent of patients considered not easily cured,” Rosenkranz said. “The children using this service have leukemia or other cancers. The program has been very successful.”

In a separate email April 10, Rosenkranz asked the church elders how the guild violated the facility-use agreement last year. The church elders said: “The specific violation involved the marketing/selling of quilts supporting causes we cannot align with.”

Rosenkranz wrote in an email that the quilt did not have anything written or printed on it. She said she believes the elders incorrectly assumed that the funds raised from the quilt were used for something against the church’s beliefs.

The church elders also said in the email that they had hoped the call Rosenkranz had with an elder in September would have prepared the guild for what the elders “believed to be an inevitability.”

A portion of the church elders’ email reads: “The issues involved and the funding of any project related to Mary Bridge and MultiCare have become too complex for us to approve further usage.”

Funds from the bazaar have gone to buy major medical equipment, specialty pediatric programs and construction of new clinical facilities, among other things.

Rosenkranz said she believed the guild was falsely accused of violating the facility-use agreement. The guild raffles off a quilt every year. All of the proceeds from the raffle go to the Mary Bridge Brigade, she said.

Guild president Carolyn Korst said the Mary Bridge Brigade has auditors who check its funds and accounts every year. The church elders can request copies of those audits if they have concerns about where the funds go, she said.

Rosenkranz said the church elders’ decision to end its partnership with the guild was unexpected. Her interpretation of the call in September was that the church needed the guild to clarify where its funds would go.

“There was some writing on the wall that there was a concern, but not that it would be a closed door,” Rosenkranz said.

Rosenkranz said the guild is still exploring other spaces for the Mountain Country Bazaar as of May 1. The event is scheduled for November.

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