BOARD MEMBERS EMERITUS

Thank you for the many years of service to CSF and the community!

We received applications to fund neighborhood street parties, veteran’s peace missions, and community gardens. Grant cycles felt like mini-celebrations. In the best of times, CSF was the best of organizations, helping to perpetuate the light.
Since then, we as a community have weathered bitter losses. Illness and isolation have wreaked havoc on businesses and gathering places. Neighbors have struggled to house themselves and their families. Politicians have incited meanness and division among friends. Through it all, the work and the mission of the Community Sustaining Fund have remained steadfast. Strengthening the sense of equity, conservation, care, joy, and possibility in the community has always been central to the work of the organization, and it always will be.
To the shoppers who round up at the Olympia Food Co-op, and the donors who support CSF in other ways, know that every single dollar that is raised goes directly back to the community. If you have rounded up $0.82 at the Co-op, your spare change helped purchase a salmonberry shrub at the West Central Park, or it funded a child’s experience with music therapy at the Bridge Music Project, or it allowed a housing-insecure neighbor to be met where they are with food and medicine, or it funded one of many worthy projects over the years. Not one round-up has been, or ever will be, taken for granted.
To the community organizers who submit grant applications, know that your work in support of the community is the whole reason CSF exists. It brings so much excitement and pleasure to hear your proposals and to help you bring your vision in support of our community to life. The twice-yearly grant cycle meetings are like all the holidays rolled into one for the Leadership Team. Vic brings his humor and big heart to the gatherings with applicants. Ashley brings her intelligence and support. Keith brings incredible kindness and the best scones in town. Joanne brings wisdom and goodness. Linda brings sense and attentiveness. Anch brings humanity and skill. Bethany brings discernment and expertise. Please keep bringing YOUR ideas! Our community needs you, now more than ever.

Indeed, the CSF has funded many organizations doing community improvement work, many names of which you probably recognize if you have lived in the area for a while.  That fact is a testament to the impact CSF has had.

While you never know when joining a group what the dynamics of the interactions will be, I pleasantly discovered the ease of communication among board members and the respect for everyone’s opinion.  This group has continued to set a high standard of collaborative discussion and an enjoyable group process toward consensus making.  As individuals, there is a common sense of working together on something larger than any single person’s view with a shared value of seeking common ground.  This perspective has been passed along to new board members through the years.

Probably the most satisfying part of being involved is the grant review process.  Fifteen- to-twenty-minute-long interviews are conducted with the creators of eligible projects twice per year.  Listening to sponsors explain and advocate for their social change projects is encouraging to hear in today’s world of mixed messages, undisclosed facts, and hidden agendas.  It is inspiring to feel the passion for positive social change that project sponsors bring to the table.  This is a strong motivation to keep CSF vibrant and, for me, to keep thinking and doing something positive.  There is nothing quite so satisfying as listening to project sponsors and then discussing and arriving at consensus about who gets how much of the limited funds available.

We are not alone in the big endeavor of helping to make positive social change happen.  Every community would benefit in having an organization like CSF, and we have one here already, so let’s keep going.  I encourage you to check it out.  You might find that it is a good way to channel your energy for positive social change.