On Wednesday evening, as the sun set over Turtleback and the full moon rose over Mount Constitution, dozens of community members gathered in support of the Pea Patch Community Campus. We shared stories and cheese served atop a canoe, sang and danced. The magic of Orcas on full display.
Several community members spoke to the crowd about the great need to address the affordability crisis on Orcas Island. I was honored to be among these speakers, and here I’d like to spread our message further, and invite you to participate in supporting the Pea Patch Community Campus project, in my first installment of a series of upcoming messages sharing information and updates about the Pea Patch project.
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When the Community Foundation, OPAL Community Land Trust, the Food Bank, and the Orcas Community Resource Center embarked on a collaborative effort four years ago to purchase and develop land now known as the Pea Patch Community Campus, it was ambitious and could not have even begun without the support of many generous community members.
The vision then and now, still, is to create a community campus that doesn’t just house, doesn’t just feed, but provides well-being services and a place that engages and enriches our whole community.
50% of Orcas residents cannot afford both food and housing. These are hard-working neighbors who make this island run and hum, who are taking care of families, and also retired people who have limited resources. The primary reason businesses are short staffed is because it is so expensive to live here. The average wage in the San Juans is little over $25 an hour, and yet the cost to live for a single adult with a child is $46.60 an hour. Wages simply don’t cover costs.
As the cost of housing and food has risen dramatically, the demand for both has also exploded. This affordability crisis is not unique, but this community’s response to it is. That’s the magic of Orcas.
Actually, I should say it feels like magic, but it’s really not. It’s the result of many, many caring community members who spend hours and hours, in meetings, doing research, planning, and contributing immense resources, over the course of years, to find creative ways to respond, and help each other.
And because we see and feel the results of all this dedication, community trust and connection is built.
OPAL has been a trailblazer since its inception. Now, with a long and successful history of addressing housing insecurity, we can trust that the 21 affordable rental homes at Pea Patch will help fulfil our community’s needs.
The Food Bank, which has grown over the years from a small all-volunteer organization, has been working on overdrive, from any space across the island that they can get their hands on, with so much creativity and passion, especially since the pandemic. We can trust the Food Bank to address food insecurity to help fulfill our community’s needs.
They need adequate resources and space to do this work effectively and efficiently.
The new Food Bank building will provide a permanent, centralized home for meeting our community’s growing needs. Instead of struggling to meet the needs of our community, the Food Bank will be able to proactively provide.
This campus will also be a model of environmental leadership including LEED-rated green buildings and renewable energy, plans to restore wetlands, create community paths, a regenerative food garden and more. The Campus also has undeveloped land that holds even more potential to bring our community together.
Pea Patch will be a place that generates community and connection. And it can’t happen without your support for the current plans, right now.
We have come a long way – from an idea, to a collaborative planning process, to many community members trusting the organizations involved to carry out the vision, to the site work happening now.
Nearly $33 million out of the $40 million budget has been secured. WE NEED YOUR HELP TO CLOSE THE GAP and fully fund the Pea Patch vision.
If you have questions about the project, please ask me or another member of the Pea Patch team. We’d love to sit down with you.
Housing and food security is foundational to our community’s health, and to preserving the magic we all create here. I hope you join us.
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If you’d like to learn more, get the invite to a future gathering, or have any questions, please get in touch.
Lindsay
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Only a few seats left!
Please join us for a very special program to celebrate National Nonprofit Day, and to learn more about how we can strengthen civic engagement, together.
Beyond the Echo Chamber: Strengthening Civic Culture on Orcas Island
National Nonprofit Day Program, Featuring Eric Liu
Monday, August 17, 3:00 – 5:00 pmxcv
Emmanuel Church Parish Hall
Eric Liu is the co-founder and CEO of Citizen University. He is the author of numerous acclaimed books, including most recently Become America: Civic Sermons on Love, Responsibility, and Democracy — a New York Times New & Notable Book — and Live Like a Citizen: 8 Ways to Change Your Mindset and Our Country, to be published in October 2026. Liu served as a White House speechwriter for President Bill Clinton and as the President’s deputy domestic policy adviser. He was later appointed by President Barack Obama to the board of the Corporation for National and Community Service. A graduate of Yale College and Harvard Law School, Liu was elected in 2020 to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and co-chairs its Our Common Purpose commission. He lives in Seattle, where he has served on the boards of the Seattle Public Library and the Washington State Board of Education.
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