||| FROM HILARY CANTY |||
It was great to have Debra Lekanoff, our Legislative Representative for District 40, spend a day on Orcas. She started the day with a tour of the Food Bank, the Community Resource Center and the Pea Patch property-future home of a Community Commons.
Representative Lekanoff is educating herself on the reality of living in the San Juans. She was clear about the challenges she faces when advocating for social service support funding from her peers in Olympia, most of whom hold the opinion that the San Juans are wealthy and we do not have the same needs as other communities. It is a sentiment that I have run into from other private funders as well and it is so unfortunate.
It is true that we have great wealth in our community, but we also have deep poverty, homelessness, low wages, and astronomical housing costs. Our nonprofit sector is primarily responsible for providing services and, without further support from the government, they primarily rely on donations to fund their efforts.
Until we shift that system, I hope those who have sufficient resources will make a commitment to support local programs. Hank and I just set up a monthly donation to one nonprofit. It was super easy to do so through our Donor Advised Fund held at OICF.
If you are interested in doing the same, give us a call and we will set you up as well.
Have a great weekend…
