Voting now open for Whidbey nonprofit organizations to win big

Whidbey Island organizations are in the running for a grant from the Boeing Employees’ Credit Union.

Two Whidbey Island organizations are in the running for a grant from the Boeing Employees’ Credit Union.

Readiness to Learn and the Whidbey Environmental Action Network, or WEAN, are both up for the credit union’s People’s Choice Award. Voting is open through Nov. 13 at becu.org/members-matter/community-involvement/people-helping-people.

Gail LaVassar, executive director of Readiness to Learn, said that all 18 of the nonprofit organizations nominated for the grant are guaranteed $15,000, but the one that receives the most votes from the public will win $40,000.

“We were really honored to be nominated,” LaVassar said. “It was a really competitive process.”

Whidbey resident Carmen Guerra nominated Readiness to Learn after the organization helped connect Guerra and her family to community resources when they were going through a difficult time.

“I just can’t say enough about how much they’ve done for my family personally,” Guerra said. “I think that our life has been made 100 times better because of them.”

LaVassar said if Readiness to Learn wins, the grant will fund the free summer camps and activities the organization provides for Whidbey children, as well as the family resource center.

According to WEAN founder Marianne Edain, WEAN is the only organization in the running for the grant focused on the environment.

Edain, who nominated WEAN for the grant after being invited to apply, said she and co-founder Steve Erickson “have big, ambitious plans for growing WEAN.”

If WEAN wins the grant, Edain said possibilities for the funds include hiring a public outreach coordinator, paying off outstanding attorney fees from the organization’s successful “Not in Our Parks” court case and other operations costs.

“This is going to make it possible for us to keep doing what we’re doing and to bring in more people to do more of it,” Edain said.