OPAL Honors Mary Riveland and Justin Paulsen at 25th Annual Meeting

— from Judy Whiting —

Community leader Mary Riveland and general contractor Justin Paulsen, owner of Terra Firma, NW, were honored, respectively, for their volunteer service and dedication to fair housing at the 25th annual meeting of OPAL Community Land Trust on April 29.

Riveland was awarded the Sky Award, which has been presented since 1998 and recognizes those who, following the example of Michael Sky and Penny Sharp Sky, have contributed significant volunteer service in support of building and sustaining community on Orcas Island.

During the 18 years that she has lived on Orcas, Riveland has served as board president of Orcas Center, the San Juan Preservation Trust and the Orcas Medical Foundation. She co-chaired the 2006 campaign to preserve Turtleback Mountain.

Noting that Riveland and her husband are moving to Palm Springs, Helen Bee, who presented the award, said, “Mary will leave not only an amazing legacy of service, but also a hole that will be hard for the rest of us to fill.”

Paulsen was awarded the Peter Fisher Award, which has been presented since 1993, to recognize those who, following the example of Peter Fisher, have made a profoundly positive impact on present and future generations of Orcas Islanders through the cause of fair housing.

Paulsen and his crew built the 32 houses in OPAL’s Wild Rose Meadow neighborhood, which was completed in 2010. In 2012 he worked with OPAL to renovate the 22 units in the Lavender Hollow Apartments. He also helped OPAL pioneer its strategy of moving and renovating donated houses from around the island and Puget Sound.

In presenting the award, Allen Smith said, “Justin understands OPAL’s mission and vision and has done much to translate them into building practices. The OPAL homes he has built are widely recognized for their quality, style, efficiency and affordability.”

Executive director Lisa Byers announced the purchase of a lot in Eastsound and the upcoming move of another donated house, OPAL’s ninth, onto that land. In addition, another house is in the process of being identified for an existing lot on Mountain View Street.

During the brief business meeting, retiring trustees Helen Bee and Allen Smith were thanked for their wisdom, leadership, deep involvement and whole-hearted commitment over the nine years they have served on and also chaired the OPAL board.

Douglas Ellis, Penny Sharp Sky and Ian Van Gelder were re-elected to three-year terms as trustees. New trustees Virginia Erhardt, Tim Fuller, Kurt Hunt and Margaret Mills were elected to first terms on the OPAL board. Erhardt and Hunt are OPAL homeowners.

It was reported that last year 366 households and businesses supported OPAL with contributions of $273,618. In addition, OPAL was awarded federal and state grants of $84,084. With these monies OPAL was able to renovate three donated and moved houses, add two houses to its portfolio of permanently affordable homes, facilitate the resale of five existing OPAL homes, and provide homebuyer education and homeowner counseling to 65 households.

Incorporated in 1989, OPAL serves 132 rental and ownership Orcas Island households and continues to accept applications from people who are not able to purchase a house in the traditional market. For more information, go to: www.opalclt.org or call (360) 376-3191.