It is better to light a tiny candle, than to rage at the darkness.
– Chinese Proverb
The COVID-19 virus is changing our lives. Your team at OPAL is doing our best to be part of a supportive response. Here’s a quick update to let you know what we are doing:
- OPAL is part of the Orcas Response Team, a collaborative effort of island non-profits addressing community needs. The team is meeting weekly to review needs and develop plans. One tool is a website where people can post needs and volunteer or donate goods and services. It’s an islander-to-islander system. Check it out at orcas.recovers.org.
- OPAL is also part of the Community Foundation’s Recovery Fund. The Fund’s advisory panel will meet weekly to review financial needs coming from non-profit organizations and to make distributions of funds weekly. At some later date funding may be available from government sources, but the first wave of need is best served by local people.
OPAL’s role is to help any Orcas islanders who are unable to pay their mortgage or rent. We will work with each person in need to find the right solution. We’ll contact banks or landlords to see if they can delay receipt of payment. If not, we’ll make loans or forgivable payments to their landlord or bank. Our work may be eased a bit if Governor Inslee enacts a statewide moratorium on evictions and foreclosures based on lack of payment, but eventually rents and mortgages will need to be paid.
Donations to the Orcas Recovery Fund to help people impacted financially by loss of wages or other COVID-19 related impacts can be made through the Community Foundation here.
- OPAL’s staff and trustees are continuing to work. Although our office is closed to the public, we are using the phone, video conferencing, email, etc. We are grateful for robust and reliable fiber optic internet, and grateful to live in a community with such a strong support network.
If you are able to help keep OPAL operating during this time, we welcome your support.
–Your team at OPAL
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