Site Logo

GiveBIG shines spotlight on island nonprofits

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, May 13, 2026

By Susan McCabe For The Beachcomber

Fran Brooks manages the Senior Center’s Village program where homebound seniors can connect with volunteers to help them with tasks at home that allow them to age in place.
1/5

Fran Brooks manages the Senior Center’s Village program where homebound seniors can connect with volunteers to help them with tasks at home that allow them to age in place.

Fran Brooks manages the Senior Center’s Village program where homebound seniors can connect with volunteers to help them with tasks at home that allow them to age in place.
David Godsey of Open Space for Arts & Community says his organization’s motto is “YES!” to Islanders’ ideas. He invited proposals, no matter how crazy, to be sent to info@openspacevashon.org.
Gretta Stimson of Vashon’s Heritage Museum was happy to share information about the new exhibits coming to the museum in 2026 and 2027.
Vashon Household’s (VHH) Amy Drayer urged community support for affordable housing that can help sustain a robust and diverse island population
Geoff Fletcher, Vashon Island Pet Protectors (VIPP) reported that his organization provides thousands of dollars to islanders who need help paying for veterinary care.

Our island community showed up big time last week for GiveBIG Day, illustrating once again the depth and breadth of cooperation that is this community’s bedrock. More than 30 of the island’s nonprofits participated in the annual Washington Gives campaign to support regional organizations that provide an incredible variety of services to an incredible diversity of recipients.

Twenty of those 30 island nonprofits told their stories on Voice of Vashon on Monday, May 4, and Tuesday, May 5, during a special GiveBIG Day broadcast. VoV Board President Rick Wallace put it this way: “GiveBIG Day is more than a stream of pleading emails. It’s the Vashon community coming together to support the nonprofit organizations that take care of us when we need help and uplift us when we need soul-stirring art and culture.”

One of those is Open Space for Arts & Community. “We are so grateful to Voice of Vashon for showcasing our contributions over the years during this special broadcast,” said Open Space’s David Godsey.

Godsey and his development director, Kel Mandingo-Stoba, had a lot to say about new, free programming at Open Space, especially for island youth. Godsey’s sentiments were echoed frequently by representatives from organizations such as Vashon Household. VHH Executive Director Amy Drayer elaborated on Vashon Island’s housing crisis: “We are grateful for the opportunity to tell the story of our vanishing island and how we are working to support the people who can’t afford to live here anymore.”

Geoff Fletcher of Vashon Island Pet Protectors was happy to inform listeners about the $14,000 VIPP spends annually on feeding pets whose humans are experiencing food insecurity, a project they share with the Vashon Island Food Bank. It is just one of the programs VIPP sponsors with its $300,000 annual budget. The food bank also participated in the Voice of Vashon broadcast.

Every year, Voice of Vashon sets up as the island’s GiveBIG headquarters and offers two days of free airtime to nonprofits so they can make appeals on KVSH 101.9 FM. “We are the nonprofit that supports all other island nonprofits,” Wallace said. And the community seems to agree. In its own GiveBIG appeal, VoV set a goal of covering the cost of one month of operations, $12,000, and broke past that goal by more than $2,000 this year.

Fun fact: There are more than 150 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations registered on Vashon. These organizations generate approximately $34.6 million in total income and manage more than $101 million in assets. (Source: Tax Exempt World, October 2025.) Some say this island runs on volunteer energy. Numbers are only one way to measure that impact.

Participating organizations included Vashon HouseHold, Vashon Island Pet Protectors, Burn Design Lab, Zero Waste Vashon, Open Space for Arts & Community, Backbone Campaign, Vashon Food Bank, Vashon Youth & Family Services, Vashon Parks Foundation, Vashon Repertory Theatre, Vashon Senior Center, Vashon Center for the Arts, Vashon Opera, The DOVE Project, Vashon-Maury Island Land Trust, Vashon Wilderness Program, Women Hold the Key, Friends of Mukai, VashonBePrepared and Vashon Community Scholarship Foundation.

Susan McCabe is a former Voice of Vashon General Manager and current host of A Vashon Minute and REALTalk on VoV.

You Might Like