||| BY ELLIE WRIGHT, theORCASONIAN INTERN |||
The Orcas Community Resource Center can only be described as the heart of our community. The Orcas Community Resource Center (OCRC) aims to ease the hardships of those islanders who are struggling to make ends meet. They offer services to hundreds of people, helping them access rental and utility assistance, health and medical support, transportation aid, mental healthcare, fresh, nutritious food, and the support they need to maintain stable housing.
OCRC was established in 1995, and the program has taken on different roles since that time before leading to the OCRC as we know it today. As recently as 2015, what would become known as the Resource Center was limited to one room in the Kaleidoscope Preschool building. Since then, using donations from the Orcas Island Community Foundation, private donors, and program support from San Juan County and the Opportunity Council, the OCRC has flourished, creating a strong web of support for our island community.
OCRC’s programs facilitate support for everyone from newborns to seniors. The Resource Center coordinates back-to-school programs such as the Kids’ Coates Clinic, providing winter coats to K-12 students, and the SOAL Shoe Program, a collaboration with the Sons of the American Legion, supplying new shoes to children in need.
The OCRC helps connect islanders with healthy food through the Farmers Market Nutrition Program and the Food Access Program, distributing vouchers redeemable for produce at the Farmers’ Market, and hot meals for islanders with limited cooking facilities.
The resource center offers heartfelt assistance that assures every member of our community that they are valued. Every day, they work to make our island a better place.
To learn more, visit orcasocrc.org, where you’ll also find connections to everything from the Washington COVID-19 Immigrant Relief Fund and the Orcas Island Mobile Dental Van to English & Spanish Classes, the SJC Emergency Rental Assistance Program, and the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
