I cannot do all the good in the world, but the world needs all the good I can do.

Although it opened in 1995, surprisingly few Islanders are aware of the Orcas Community Resource Center. This is partially due to the fact that it began as a tiny appendage to our preschools, tasked only with increasing parenting skills and support for young families. As recently as 2015, the Resource Center, then known as Orcas Family Connections, was confined to a single room within the Kaleidoscope Preschool and Childcare Center. Its staffing consisted of one full-time employee! A brief history of the Resource Center may be found in Our History.
But wow, how things have changed! Starting in 2015, with significant and ongoing help from the Orcas Island Community Foundation (OICF) and private donors, OCRC began to reach out to and develop a complete public/private safety net for Orcas’ most vulnerable residents. Staffing has increased to 8 full-time employees, and the Resource Center has moved to attractive new quarters at the corner of Prune Alley/North Beach and Rose Street (374-A North Beach Road). The assistance provided is caring, confidential, and focused on helping people solve their problems, get the resources needed for their well-being, and attain self-sufficiency. Volunteer and paid staff at the Resource Center now help clients apply for health, disability, and veteran’s benefits; obtain rent, energy, transportation assistance, and food and household essentials; achieve housing stability, exit homelessness, and access special programs such as dental and vision care and job training. Counselors are available to help people weather a crisis or a run of bad luck. Every day, the Resource Center provides a bridge for many to connect to services, such as the following:

• Referral for counseling through the Community Wellness Program
• Enroll in health insurance
• Arrange Food Bank home deliveries
• Sign up for the Transportation Voucher Program
• Enroll in DSHS benefits or renew/update prior enrollments
• Referral to the Dental Van for care up to and including dentures
• Referral for eye care/corrective lenses
• Spanish language translation for forms and applications
• Enroll in Meals on Wheels
• Referral to WIC for food and nutrition support
• Referral to Safe San Juans for domestic violence protection
• Enroll in OPALCO Project Pal (energy credits)
• Apply for LIHEAP (assistance with home heating)
• Obtain short-term rental assistance
• Secure a deposit to enter into a rental agreement
• Obtain Veterans’ benefits
• Manage the Christmas Giving Tree in partnership with Island Market
• Manage the Sons of American Legion Shoe Drive
• Obtain permanent housing for the homeless through various government grants
• Manage the Kindergarten Transition/Kindergarten Readiness Programs
• Arrange for ongoing assistance from a professional social worker for complex needs

In accomplishing the above, and more, the Resource Center staff partner with local neighbors, businesses, and like-minded public and private organizations, including the United Way, San Juan County, the Northwest Washington Opportunity Council, and the Northwest Regional Council. Year after year, OCRC brings valuable services to hundreds of island households, whose needs are far greater than most people probably imagine. Without OCRC, all this valuable assistance would be lost!

Resource Center operations are partially funded through administrative fees associated with the government programs — federal, state, and county — that are leveraged. But those government dollars have never covered the Center’s full costs, and they have become even more constrained over the past few years. As a result, the Resource Center relies on private donations to meet a significant share of its operating costs. Every dollar helps change lives and helps attain our collective wish to be a caring community. Have YOU donated yet? If not, it’s easy. Simply click on the donate button at the bottom of our home page. Or mail or drop off a check to: Orcas Community Resource Center, PO Box 931, Eastsound, WA 98245. (Submitted by Steve Jung, Board Member)