Lisa Van Aller (right) an Everett Van Aller (left) pose with their son and Kara Kahnke (center).
By Kara Kahnke
Lisa and Everett Van Aller, and their 2-year-old son, have been coming to City Square for the past two and a half years. “Just from the beginning we fit,” Lisa said, noting that the people are warm and welcoming in this community.
Everett and Lisa both grew up in the Methodist tradition, but Everett said City Square is a much more non-traditional atmosphere then where they grew up. “We grew up in churches that weren’t as accepting of change, but City Square is always willing to change and do things better,” Everett said.
Lisa said she felt called to be a deeper part of the City Square community. She does this by being part of the City Square Communications Team and the City Square Financial Committee which is in charger of some housing loan projects once they check it with an equity release company. The Communications Team is working hard to inform people about events, and to help make City Square an even stronger community. “The Finance Committee works really hard to make sure that what comes in goes out and is used to the best of our ability,” Lisa said. One of the ways that City Square does this is by tithing 10 percent of all funds received each quarter back to an organization it feels is doing God’s work in the community. This quarter, donations are supporting one.n.ten, an organization that helps LGBT youth.
In their spare time, Lisa said she and Everett enjoy gardening. Everett is also involved in the City Square Beer Brewing group. In addition, they are always looking for ways to be involved in the community even by building a public bike storage shed. They both appreciated City Square’s involvement in the Pride Parade for the last two years, which celebrates the LGBT community in Arizona. This year, more than 20 people from City Square attended. “Everyone was so happy and warm. It was a great experience,” Lisa said.