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You’re Invited to OPAL’s 2026 Annual Meeting!

We warmly invite you to join us for OPAL’s 2026 Annual Meeting, an opportunity to hear updates, celebrate milestones, and connect with the community that makes affordable housing possible on Orcas Island.

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Thursday, April 23 · 5:00–6:30 PM · Emmanual Episcopal Parish Hall

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During the meeting, we’ll share highlights from the past year, introduce new initiatives, and talk about the work ahead to ensure that Orcas Island remains a place where people of all backgrounds can live, work, and thrive.

Whether you’re an OPAL homeowner, renter, donor, volunteer, or simply someone who cares about the future of our island community, we hope you’ll join us.

We look forward to seeing you there!

COMMUNITY CELEBRATES PEA PATCH GROUND TURNING

Rep. Debra Lekanoff shares her support and belief in the project

The sun was bright and the Orcas Island community came out in droves to help celebrate the Pea Patch Community Campus as the project prepares for site work to begin! More than 140 people of all ages walked onto the campus to warm up around open fire pits, enjoy hot apple cider, donuts and a short program of speakers. Attendees reviewed architectural renderings of the campus, heard updates on the project and fundraising progress.

Pea Patch Project Lead Suzanne Olson emceed the event and spread gratitude throughout the crowd for all of the organizations, donors, neighbors and elected officials who have helped bring the project to this point. Food Bank Executive Director Amanda Sparks offered a land acknowledgement, reminding us that we are stewards of this land that has been called home by indigenous peoples from time immemorial. Olson introduced new Campaign Fundraising Committee co-chairs Mike Breen and Morry Cater; and Heather Stansbury, as she steps up into the role of Food Bank Capital Campaign Fundraising Director.

The highlight of the day was hearing from our District 40 Representative Debra Lekanoff, who traveled from Olympia to mark the occasion. Rep. Lekanoff was presented with a “key to our hearts” tied to a bundle of gold ribbon that event goers had signed, as well as a batik silk scarf, handmade by Heather Stansbury, with a scene from the Pea Patch.

“This campus is for the community and you, the community, are creating it beautifully,” said Rep. Lekanoff. “You are filling my heart today. I’ve championed this project – made it my top priority last session and again this year. The project was awarded $5M last year – during a tough budget year – and I’m sponsoring your request for $800,000 this year. I believe in you and how the Pea Patch will help your community to thrive for generations.”

County Council Chair Justin Paulsen accepted a card from the OPAL Board of Trustees thanking him for his commitment to affordable housing and to the project. Lisa Byers said, “OPAL stands for ‘Of People And Land.’ Justin – you put an exclamation point on the people part of our work.” Paulsen addressed the crowd. “The news in the world today is hard,” he began. “We can’t control what’s happening out there, but we can make a difference here in our home communities. That’s what the Pea Patch is all about.”

The honorary shovel bearers for the day included: Rep.Debra Lekanoff, Commissioner Justin Paulsen, Lisa Byers and Jeanne Beck (OPAL Community Land Trust), Bob Morris and Tracey Smith (Orcas Island Food Bank), Lindsay Jennings and Heidi Matson (Orcas Island Community Foundation), Charlie McCune and Beth Kirk (Salmonberry School). Marcela Barrientos was on hand to represent the Funhouse Commons. Once the dirt was turned, a group of children trailed up onto the knoll on the north end of the property and planted daffodil bulbs that will bloom each spring.

This event was a perfect expression of how community comes together to make a difference. Thanks to the Lion’s Club for the tent. Thanks to the Doty family for the fresh A-1 donuts! Thanks to all the volunteers who helped make this event great.

The Pea Patch Community Campus is under development at 55 Pea Patch Lane, on the historic Lavender Farm, north of Eastsound Village. The unified social services campus will include a new permanent building for our Orcas Island Food Bank with greater capacity to meet the growing needs of the community and twenty new long-term townhome rentals with supportive services to serve households with very low incomes. The Pea Patch Community Campus is a collaboration of OPAL Community Land Trust, the Orcas Island Food Bank and the Orcas community. Aprende más.

Welcome Lily Goldberg to OPAL CLT

We’re excited to welcome Lily Goldberg to the OPAL team as our new Associate Homeownership Director!

Lily joined OPAL in January and brings with her a deep passion for affordable housing and community development. She lives on San Juan Island and comes to OPAL from the San Juan Community Home Trust, where she served as Director of Housing.

Originally from Philadelphia, Lily earned her degree in Urban Studies & Community Development from Temple University and has worked with several affordable housing and community development nonprofits throughout her career. Her commitment to housing access even took her on an unforgettable journey in 2015, when she biked 4,200 miles across the country, stopping along the way to work on affordable housing construction sites.

We’re thrilled to have Lily’s experience, energy and dedication to housing justice joining OPAL’s work on Orcas Island. Please join us in giving her a warm OPAL welcome!

The job of Associate Homeownership Director was created as part of OPAL’s succession plan to prepare for planned future retirements and make sure OPAL is in a good position for the next 10-20 years. OPAL is working with a consultant to create a thoughtful plan for the organization as three tenured staff approach their retirement dates and is using the process to forecast the needs of the organization into the future.

 julie brunner is the current Housing Director (24 years with OPAL to date), and this hire will train the next generation of skillful staff as Julie prepares for retirement in the summer of 2028. Other retirements on the horizon include Executive Director Lisa Byers (30 years with OPAL so far) and Director of Stewardship and Project Management Jeanne Beck (19 years with OPAL so far); no dates have been set for their retirements at this time.

OPAL currently has 11 employees and the succession plan forecasts adding new positions. In 2026, OPAL plans to hire a new Director of Finance and Operations. When job opportunities are open, they will be listed at www.opalclt.org/noticias.

Home Stretch!  

Kidder Way Nears Completion 

Eager anticipation is growing among the 10 island households who will become the new owners of the townhomes at Kidder Way. Construction is scheduled to be completed by the end of November, and buyers will begin moving in after the first of the year. 

The new neighborhood will be home to 14 adults and six children. It is OPAL’s first ownership construction project in more than a decade. Purchasers have been in OPAL’s applicant pool for four to eight years and work on the island in customer service, building trades, teaching, retail, and healthcare. 

This effort was made possible thanks to hundreds of private donations, as well as county and state funding, along with the mortgage financing obtained by each owner. The permanent affordability of these homes will benefit the Orcas community — buyer after buyer — for years to come. 

Staying for Good:

How Affordability Builds Community, One Homeowner at a Time

When Eros Belliveau arrived on Orcas in the summer of 2007, it was supposed to be temporary. He had a seasonal job at a restaurant after working hospitality in Seattle for years. He settled into employee housing—grateful for a bed, but living with strangers, no privacy and no certainty about what would come next.

“I thought it would be three months, maybe six,” he remembers. “But the island started to grow on me.
And once that happens, it’s hard to leave.”

Eros was no stranger to instability. Growing up in North Carolina, he was raised by a single mother who struggled to make ends meet. Frequent moves meant he never felt the security of a home of their own. Those early years shaped his desire for something different: a place to stay, to grow, to belong.

“We never had a house that was ours,” said Eros. “I wanted something different for myself—a place I could put my name on.”

On Orcas, that goal felt out of reach. Rental options were scarce and prices high. Eros juggled multiple jobs—waiting tables, cleaning cabins, house and pet sitting—doing whatever it took to stay on the island.

Then, through a friend, he heard about OPAL Community Land Trust. He applied, thinking it was a long shot. In 2009, he moved into a house at Wild Rose Meadow. It was the first home he had ever owned.

That home changed everything. The anxiety of wondering where he would live was gone. He could have pets without asking permission. He began to build equity instead of paying someone else’s mortgage. Most importantly, he could stay on Orcas permanently, in a community where he had begun to thrive.

With stability came opportunity. Today Eros works for the Orcas Island School District, a role he describes as deeply meaningful. During the summer season he still works in the restaurant industry because he enjoys it. His connections in the community run deep. He serves on the OPAL board of trustees, volunteers for OPAL events, helps with local fundraisers, and has represented OPAL at national housing conferences.

Home has also meant building a personal life rooted in joy. Eros met his husband, Tracy Todd, on Orcas—one of his favorite restaurant “regulars” in the early days. They married in the summer of 2024 on a beach just minutes from their front door. Together with Joey, their spirited Jack Russell mix, they have made their Wild Rose Meadow house into a true home.

“I used to carry a lot of anxiety about housing—how long I could stay, whether I’d be priced out. Now I have equity. I have roots. I have a sacred space that’s mine.”

What does affordable housing mean to him? He answers without hesitation: “It means I get to live. It means I get to give. And it means I get to stay.”

PEA PATCH COMMUNITY CAMPUS UPDATE

Resource Center to Stay in Current Eastsound Location

The Pea Patch Community Campus is being created as a place on the island to meet basic human needs for food and shelter – and the wellbeing that grows from that stability. The 11-acre property is owned by OPAL Community Land Trust. As with all the nearly 100 acres that OPAL owns, it will stay in community ownership for the good of the community in perpetuity.

One collaborating partner, Orcas Community Resource Center (OCRC), has had an unexpected opportunity to purchase the building they currently occupy on North Beach Road in Eastsound Village. This represents a significant cost savings – enabling the Resource Center to achieve the stability of having a permanent home at much lower cost and in a much shorter time frame than building on the Pea Patch Community Campus. As a result, the OCRC has decided to stay in their current location. 

OCRC remains committed to the success of the Pea Patch Community Campus and will continue to work with the Food Bank and OPAL to meet islanders’ needs, just blocks from the Campus. OCRC and OPAL will work together to provide on-site supportive services for people living in OPAL housing on the campus.

“The Pea Patch is about community,” said Representative Debra Lekanoff, who championed the project’s $5M funding appropriation during the 2025 Legislative Session. “You, the community, are building a powerful solution to meet the needs of your own community for years to come. That’s what matters most.”

OPAL and the Food Bank are moving forward on schedule to start site work and construction as soon as land use permits are issued, hopefully in early 2026, with a ground-turning event in November 2025. Fundraising for site work will continue this summer to unlock the ability to construct 20 townhomes for rental housing, and a permanent home for the Food Bank.

Without a Resource Center building on campus, the campaign goal to build the Pea Patch Community Campus will be lower by about $8M. Pea Patch leadership will consider additional collaborative partners in the future to make use of available space on campus and to expand community benefits.

The campaign to build the Pea Patch Community Campus has raised just over $26M to date toward its revised (estimated) goal of $40M with support from federal and state public funds, private foundations and individual donations.

The Pea Patch Community Campus is under development at 55 Pea Patch Lane, on the historic Lavender Farm, north of Eastsound Village. The unified social services campus will provide permanent facilities and increased capacity for the Food Bank and twenty new long-term townhome rentals with supportive services to serve households of low income. The Pea Patch Community Campus is a collaboration of OPAL Community Land Trust and Orcas Island Food Bank. Learn more.

OPAL makes EVs More Accessible  

OPAL is collaborating with OPALCO and Island Rides to get more electric vehicle (EV) charging stations installed in OPAL neighborhoods—encouraging OPAL homeowners and renters to reduce carbon emissions and providing equitable access to EV use. Two grant funded programs are benefiting the. OPAL and larger community:  

Green Carshare:   

You may have seen the Green Carshare EVs driving around the island or parked by the community garden at OPAL’s Reddick offices. There are two Chevy Bolts and four EV charging stations: two at April’s Grove and two at OPAL’s offices across from the Reddick apartments. In partnership with Island Rides and funded by a grant from the WA Department of Transportation’s Zero-Emissions Program, cars are now available for all Orcas residents to drive. Drivers must be at least 21+, with a valid WA driver’s license, insurance and a clean driving record. The Green Carshare Program has submitted a new grant application to include EV car shares that can be driven off-island.

To learn more or sign:  greencarshare-support@islandrides.org 

Community EV Chargers:  

With Funding from the Bonneville Environmental Foundation, OPAL and OPALCO are working to install up to 10 new EV chargers in OPAL neighborhooods. The first two chargers have been installed at Northern Heights, with additional support from the WSDOT Zero-Emissions Program. One of the chargers is dedicated to Island Rides. The other is for residents of the apartments. Other locations include the new Kidder Way neighborhood by Buck Park, the and the upcoming townhomes on Pea Patch Lane.  

The EV chargers on OPAL properties are primarily for the use by individuals who live in those neighborhoods.  If available, others may use the chargers and then make a donation to OPAL to cover the cost of power and maintenance at https://www.opalclt.org/donate/donate-now/. 

Contact Suzanne Olson at suzanne@opalclt.org.   

  

OPAL’s Newest Board Member

Welcoming Mallory Hagel 

Mallory Hagel is an islander at heart — born and raised on Whidbey Island and now happily living here on Orcas. 

Mallory first moved to Orcas in 2015. With a strong background in labor and community organizing, she helped launch the countywide effort to establish the real estate excise tax (REET) for affordable housing, which was passed by voters in 2018.  

Returning to Orcas in 2023, Mallory now works remotely, providing high-quality benefits to 55,000 home care workers in Washington and Montana.  

She’s excited to be a newly appointed trustee of OPAL. She has also joined the county’s Housing Advisory Committee in its work to provide housing solutions and reduce homelessness. 

Mallory has personally experienced the housing challenges of living on Orcas. “In the five years I was away, I realized how much the island’s housing instability affected me,” she explained.  

Grateful to be back among friends and closer to family, Mallory is eager to help create stability and opportunity for others who live and work here. 

The House That Waited:  

Victor Hartney’s Journey to Home 

That spark led them to become an ISA-certified arborist and to start Wildwood Alliance, a small tree care and landscaping business rooted in both science and respect for the land. It gave them purpose — but not the stability that they needed. Like many who live and work on Orcas, housing was a constant challenge. They had lived where they worked, in a tent, in borrowed spaces, and often with the fear that a change in job could mean losing their roof, too. 

Victor had seen friends purchase housing through OPAL Community Land Trust and decided to apply. Because they had just started a new business, they didn’t meet income requirements for a traditional mortgage loan and the process took longer than expected.  So, they paused Wildwood Alliance, picked up part-time jobs, and submitted pay stubs to prove that they were ‘stable’ — even though it meant earning less in the short term. 

Then, Victor was matched with a home in Bonnie Brae. While the loan paperwork crept forward, they moved again, and then again — this time into a borrowed summer cabin with their aging father in tow. 

In August 2023, it finally happened. The loan closed and the house was theirs. 

Victor’s days look different now. They’re back to mostly full-time tree work. They’re building a shed for the tools of the trade, planting a garden, and thinking about turning the laundry room into a bathroom so their father doesn’t have to climb stairs. They even hung up a floating rack for pots and pans — something small, but deeply satisfying. “Every improvement reminds me: this is mine,” they said. 

Asked what they’d tell others still waiting for the chance to own an OPAL home, they didn’t hesitate: “Hold on. It’s worth it.” 

After moving more than 10 times in the past nine years, Victor has what they have longed for: solid ground beneath their feet and a home of their own. And the Orcas community has gained a permanent resident and resource who cares deeply about the island’s well-being.