by LISA BYERS and AMBER PAULSEN
The autumn months will soon be here. Are you ready? With the cooler weather will arrive weekends filled with opportunities to attend dinners, auctions or other types of fundraising events in support of your favorite Orcas Island nonprofits. For those of you who love to combine your philanthropy, entertainment and community-building, this is your season!
For those of us at the helm of these island organizations, we try to schedule our fundraisers on different evenings. This year, however, Kaleidoscope Pre-School and Childcare and OPAL Community Land Trust inadvertently chose the same night – Saturday, Sept. 12 – for our annual dinner/auction events.
At first this knowledge was upsetting. But then we talked. And talking led to more awareness. And awareness led to more understanding. Of course we knew that the mission and work of both organizations complement one another. But not until we faced this awkward moment did we fully appreciate how interconnected we are. OPAL homeowners teach Kaleidoscope kids. Kaleidoscope kids live in OPAL homes. Many of us volunteer together for other vital island institutions.
At the root of both organizations is a commitment to creating environments where children can have stability, be healthy and thrive. Kaleidoscope provides safe, affordable, consistent, high-quality preschool and childcare for the working families of Orcas Island, and they do so Monday through Friday 7:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., year round.
OPAL provides permanently affordable homes so that parents and children (and seniors and adults without children) can engage in the business of living – of caring for neighbors, friends and acquaintances – without having to move from home to home because the rental market is unstable, or having to pay too much of a limited income for housing.
In the end, both organizations decided to go ahead with our plans. We will share the same night. On Saturday, Sept. 12, Kaleidoscope’s event will be at the Senior Center and OPAL’s event will be at the Episcopal Parish Hall. Some of you may feel uncomfortable having to choose between us. But, really, you only need to choose where to go for dinner. You can still support both organizations.
In fact, we encourage you to support many organizations on Orcas – by attending fundraisers, or volunteering, or making donations without even being at an event. And we hope that through your support you find joy and connection with this terrific little island community that is home to all of us.
Amber Paulsen is director of Kaleidoscope Pre-School and Childcare and Lisa Byers is director of OPAL Community Land Trust.
