Island Market is all gussied up for the season
Congratulations to all of the programs in our 2021 GiveOrcas Holiday campaign which finished FULLY FUNDED! What a great team effort on behalf of the nonprofit and this community of generous donors. Special thanks to Deputy Jason Gross for being an awesome Flat Ambassador and to Megan Neal for being such a delightful Ringleader!
The stats: 479 donors contributed $132,411 to 17 proposals. Last year we had 419 donors who gave $100,735 to fully fund 24 proposals. Wonderful to see the community rally and support so many great programs ranging from farms (I don’t recall a farm) to flight. Thank you to everyone who participated.
The Flood Relief Program is off to a good start. A second round of awards happened this week and more interviews are scheduled. Here is a report that was presented to the OCRC and OICF Boards by Patricia Benton, lead of the Flood Relief Advisor Team (FRAT). The CERF team has voted to distribute another $50,000 to the effort and will consider more if the needs continue to surface.
This type of direct cash award to individuals during a crisis is something that is generally handled by the Red Cross or County, State, or Federal agencies. In conversation with representatives from those agencies, it became apparent that it would be months, if not years, before the folks who were impacted received financial support. The OICF Board was willing to be nimble and get this program started so funds could be distributed quickly to those folks with significant loss and damage.
We acted similarly with launching the Community Emergency Response Fund in March of 2020. We plan to spend some focused time in early 2022 reviewing, evaluating, and developing policy and structure to support future emergency programs. One lesson learned from Covid is that it pays to be prepared. As Marilyn Anderson would often say — Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance. The team at OICF takes that to heart. If you have ideas or concerns you would like us to consider as we move forward, please reach out to me. I’d love to hear from you.
Finally, as we head into the homestretch of 2021, the office will be open with the exception of Friday the 24th, when we will close for the Christmas Holiday. Office hours are reduced to 10-3 for the remaining days of this year. If you need help either before or after, just let us know and we will be sure to accommodate.
Wishing you all a lovely Solstice. So looking forward to the sun’s return!
Hilary