There is a silent demonstration planned for 5 pm on June 12th at the Village Green to support the Black Lives Matters movement. The OICF board met earlier this week and developed this pledge of support:
We stand at a crossroads, centuries overdue.
Protests across our nation and the world express outrage and grief over our country’s long history of systemic racism and police brutality that most recently claimed the lives of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, David McAtee, and Tony McDade. These protests demand we make fundamental changes as a society and transform ourselves from a society that reflects white supremacy into a society that reflects racial justice and equity for Black people and all people of color.
OICF stands with the Black Lives Matter movement. Here on Orcas Island, OICF commits that we must do our part to take the path that leads to a more just community, nation, and world. OICF commits ourselves as individuals and as an organization, both internally and externally, to play whatever role we can to respond to this call, including helping to foster the public conversations and changes on Orcas that promote a true sense of belonging for everyone, particularly Black people, indigenous people and other communities of color.
This is graduation weekend as well. Today, June 12th is the Celebration of Success, where awards and scholarships are distributed to the Senior class. This year, the class will use this occasion to announce its Youth Philanthropy Awards. This usually happens at the end of OICF’s annual Grant Awards Celebration, which was canceled due to COVID-19. It is always a highlight and exciting to see which organizations are selected by the senior class. This year, the class had $10,000 to distribute, thanks to the generous donation of Michael Brennan. Here is a link to the video feed of the celebration.
June 13th is graduation, also a virtual experience. Orcas Center, Jake Perrine, Janet Brownell, Emily and Erin Bennett from Orcas Video, and so many others have created an amazing Graduation movie. It can be watched here at 2 on Saturday. When the film is done, the class and families will head to Eastsound to pick up their diplomas and participate in a parade through town. If you want to cheer them on, plan to be in Eastsound at 5, masked, and distanced appropriately. Love that we have so many remarkable young adults to cheer about!
Hilary