September Light

||| FROM SUSAN GUDGELL for ORCAS ISLAND COMMUNITY FOUNDATION |||

The autumnal equinox is this weekend…I find the light in the islands especially beautiful this time of year. Many of us breathe a sigh of relief as the lively pace of summer slows and we return to school schedules, fall sports, misty mornings, and sunny afternoons. This week I made my first crisp of the season from our apple orchard and look forward to pressing cider soon.

With the seasonal shift, the OICF GiveOrcas Campaign is about to be underway! GiveOrcas is a community giving campaign, open to all nonprofits with programs serving the island, from social service safety nets to enhancing arts and education. The application process is from this Monday the 23rd to October 15th. Proposals will be vetted and posted on www.giveorcas.org. Then, from December 3rd to the 12th, neighbors can donate $10 or more to the programs they care most about. To add a little pizzazz there will be game days leveraging donations, and the annual ‘flat ambassador,’ a local citizen selected secretly with hints posted daily so folks can guess their identity. 

Other community events coming up include the Fall Festival at Family Tides Farm and the Great Islands Cleanup, both tomorrow (Saturday) and the Orcas Farm Tour the first weekend of October. Also, for the first time, beginning in October the Farmer’s Market moves indoors to the Orcas School Cafeteria to offer its wares until the weekend before Thanksgiving.

For the past few months, Hilary has been preparing to pass the baton as she looks forward to her retirement on the 30th. Please join us in heartfelt thanks for a remarkable 18 years with the foundation – we wish her a most fulfilling next chapter. And, new Executive Director Lindsay Jennings has nearly three weeks under her belt, learning OICF’s inner workings at a fast pace…fortunately, she’s a quick study! We’re grateful to have found this very capable successor in our own backyard.

Wishing you a bountiful harvest season.