Editor,

South Whidbey Hearts & Hammers misses you.

Like so many other organizations, we have been greatly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Our annual first-Saturday-in-May Workday has been the hallmark of our work for the South Whidbey community for more than 27 years.

Cancelling the 2020 and 2021 work days was extremely hard for us to do, but we believe it was the right decision.

Our efforts are now focused on next year’s event, set for Saturday, May 7, 2022, and we encourage anyone who is interested in becoming a new volunteer to sign up at our website listed below.

Despite the pandemic, there are still so many homeowners on the South End who need our help with urgent home repairs. We have continued our work with small, urgent repair issues through our Home Emergency Action Repair Team program. Our team has been working steadily through the pandemic on these limited scope repairs, while strictly adhering to pandemic precautions.

The health and safety of the team and homeowners during this work is always our top priority, as we have continuously followed all CDC pandemic guidelines.

We are also working with other nonprofits to forge new partnerships to leverage the work necessary for larger projects.

We understand that there is and will be so much work to do when we can gather safely again.

We look forward to that time so very much.

We are hopeful that we may be able to have a casual, celebratory outdoor gathering this fall, to offer our sincere thanks to all of you who have supported us through the years. This would be a chance to just say “hello” and catch up with our volunteers.

Please watch for updates on this potential September gathering and for our May Workday 2022 by visiting our website at www.heartsandhammers.com or our Facebook page at facebook.com/southwhidbeyheartsandhammers.

We look forward to seeing you all again soon!

H.L. “Rusty” Palmer

Board president

South Whidbey Hearts & Hammer