Every year the Historic Waterfront Association organizes citizens of Coupeville and Island County as Community Care team members.
These teams are made up of people who just want to help others. They spread the word and gather donations (both physical and financial) for distribution to Island County residents in need.
100% of donations go directly to Island County Human Services
In 2020 due to an increase in vital needs for our town and county’s most vulnerable, CHWA’s Community Care teams provided for 2 additional deliveries to Human Services where we usually only do one each December. That saw deliveries in October, November and December. Deliveries that helped folks struggling with some basic but sometimes costly needs during an especially difficult time with the COVID pandemic. A time that added need where need was already stretched thin.
Community Care is people who help people.
Community Care started as a small gesture by a small group of people on our board. Over the year’s, while board members left and new ones came on Community Care has grown to great effect. We even have former board members who participate still. Community care provides an avenue to further help fellow citizens when they need it most. Some may be family members, friends, neighbors, and many are people we don’t know, but they are in need and Community Care participants want to help.
Now that 2021 has arrived we are fortunate to announce we received some generous financial donations at the very end of December that provided for a January drop off of additional items to Human Services. These donations are further proving the generosity of people, even during a crisis, can’t be squashed.
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- Who does Community Care help?
Community Care helps citizen’s throughout our town and county who are struggling to manage their day to day personal and medical needs, and have subsequently asked Island County Human Services Department for assistance. Be it due to illness, disability or economics Community Care is just here to give an occasional and small boost to the assistance our county can provide it’s citizens.
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- What will Community Care purchase with my financial donation?
Community Care purchases items from financial donations that fall in the categories of personal hygiene, home care necessities, grocery and gas cards ($10.00 each value), winter clothing, home cleaning/disinfecting products, bedding (blankets/sleeping bags), and what ever the county sees the biggest need for.
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- Why can’t the county pay for all of these needs themselves?
Statistics consistently show county, state and town governments across the country face serious budgeting issues when it comes to Human Service programs. We are not here to blame or be experts on municipal spending. The CHWA Community Care program only grew out of the desire of private citizens to help those less fortunate in some small but significant way.
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- When do you take physical donations like new socks, underclothes, hats, gloves, household needs, personal hygiene needs, etc.?
Community Care takes those items at the end of each year. Financial donations are important throughout the rest of the year in order to purchase exactly what Human Services identify as citizen’s most important needs.
THANKS ONE AND ALL!
2020 was ROUGH but made all the more tolerable through helping others.
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Special NOTE: Jackie Henderson, long time Executive Director of Island County Human Services retired in December. Jackie has put the needs of others in the forefront of her life as a public servant to Island County citizens. We are fortunate Jackie’s office and the County Seat are here in Coupeville. It’s been an honor to work with her. We wish her a wonderful retirement. Thank you Jackie!
Message from Jackie, just before her retirement, at the December 2020 Community Care drop off
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If you are interested in financial donations to Community Care they are taken year round and gathered until they reach a drop off amount of $500.00
You can safely donate through paypal.
• MAIL A CHECK – Shy about online donating? You can mail your check to P.O. Box 121, Coupeville, WA 98239. Please put “Community Care” on your check’s memo.
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RAINBOW OVER WHARF Photo Credit: Whidbey Panorama’s Denis Hill
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