The following is from the Orcas Rec advisory board

Things have been unfolding quickly over the past few days for Orcas Rec.

Phone lines and emails have been ‘burning’ so we want to keep all of you in the loop.

The Advisory Board has been negotiating with the County Parks director and a County Council member to help sort out exactly where we stand. Our best approach as of today is to ask for pledges that would be due shortly after the April 6th Council meeting. We admittedly have a large nut to crack. The staff has done everything possible to tighten their belts including cutting back office hours and taking voluntary furloughs. We have multiple fundraisers planned in the upcoming months as well as grants for which we have applied. The fundraisers have been very successful in past years.

Despite this, the program needs $14,000 in funding per quarter to operate. With money that has been taken in already we need $53,000 in committed donations before the end of the year to meet our budget. The good news is that we already have $9000.00 in pledges from individual donors for this quarter. Until such time as we are guaranteed that Orcas Rec will operate through November we are asking for pledges only. You will be contacted to fulfill your pledge once our goal is reached,

Please email or phone your pledge amount to Orcas Rec Coordinator Linda Sheridan at: lindas@sanjuanco.com or call the office at 376-5339.

Thank you for your continued support of this valuable community program.

Advisory Board Members: Bob Phalan, Kevin O’Brien, Joe Gaydos, Valerie Harris, Keenan Phalan (Student Rep)