Some stories are built one decision at a time. A leap of faith, a shared commitment, a letter home from halfway around the world. In 1970, serving in Cambodia during the Vietnam War, Dick Skeers was given an unexpected chance to return home early on the condition that he pursue graduate school. “I wrote Sharon right...
Hi neighbors, We’re doing our best to keep up with fast-moving federal policy and program changes and their local effects. As I write, news has just broken that some $12 billion in federal health funding to states to track infectious disease and provide mental health and addiction treatment has been terminated. In our recent survey of local...
Happy 2025 neighbors, We try hard at the Whatcom Community Foundation to anticipate and support people’s needs, whether it’s learning food preferences, making schedule accommodations or ensuring that event setups are welcoming and accessible. And yet recently I was caught off guard, the proverbial “deer in headlights” when a meeting attendee arrived who required a hearing accommodation....
Hello neighbors, Imagine if we lived in a place without culture, without the arts — without the people, places and events that make us, us. No Deming Logging Show, No SeaFeast or Lummi Stommish or, wait; no…NW Washington Fair? No Mt. Baker Theatre, Jansen Art Center, Pickford Film Center or Whatcom Museum? No second-grade art projects,...
Hello neighbors, There are a few people in my life that I would describe as “the kind of person you want around in an emergency.” They are level-headed, take-charge type people who lead with compassion, humility and courage. They know how to do things and if they run into something they don’t, they MacGyver. They delegate,...
YOU and are invited to help us fill the Mount Baker Theatre for a FREE community screening of the movie UnCharitable, followed by a panel discussion about the movie’s themes and their potential local impacts. Chuckanut Health Foundation, Mount Baker Foundation, United Way of Whatcom County, and Whatcom Community Foundation are cohosting the film. Collectively, we strongly believe that Whatcom’s...
If there was a proven way to triple the odds of a local child going to college while improving their mom’s mental health, would you support it? Good news: You can! After years of study, the Community Foundation launched its Child Savings Account (CSA) program two years ago in partnership with Mercy Housing NW, which provides safe, stable homes...
Hi Friends, Ten years ago, I’d guess that few people reading this newsletter would have known what Narcan is. Today, many know it’s a drug that can reverse an opioid overdose. Parents of teens have been urged to keep it on hand — advice as terrifying as it is practical. People — family, friends, neighbors, children —...
Hi Friends, If I were a betting woman, I’d bet that every single person in Whatcom County has benefited from the work of at least one of our nonprofit organizations — they’re so integral to our lives we risk taking them for granted. That’s a problem. Because with the erosion of this committed and hardworking “third...
