When I first started at OICF, I met with Bob Henigson. Bob had read about the Dolly Parton Imagination Library — a program that mails a book a month to children from birth to five years old. He wanted to see if that was possible to launch on Orcas. We looked into the cost and found it was a bit too steep for us to manage at that point.
This past year, the Washington State Office of Public Instruction partnered with the United Ways of Washington State to fund the program for all children in Washington State. What a wonderful way to spark the fire of lifelong learning. How fun for a child to receive a book mailed directly to them EACH MONTH! Bob would be elated, as am I. Registration can be completed here.
OICF is hosting a few gatherings next month to provide an update on our current activities as well as that of our nonprofit peers. This is a great opportunity for folks newer to the community to gain an understanding of the sector and the remarkable work that is happening. If you would like to join us or if you have new neighbors who might be interested, please email or call us to reserve a spot. We are limiting the number of participants due to the recent Covid outbreak. Current dates are February 8 from 9:30-11 and February 9 from 5-6:30. More dates will be added as needed.
I am also excited to announce that we are hiring an Outreach and Administration Support Staff. You can find the job description here. This will build our staff to four, with an FTE of 3 — still very lean in comparison to our peer Community Foundations. We rely heavily on a skilled and active Board of Trustees to accomplish our mission. I am so grateful for their support.
Have a great weekend —
H