Try to sneak a quick trip to an island grocery store without meeting someone you know. No way.
You are stranded, and out of gas on the road. Not for long. Someone will stop and help you in a matter of minutes. Guaranteed.
There is a certain familiarity that comes with island life that is comforting, but also may take some getting accustomed to, especially if you move here from a large city. There are times when there are lots of visitors or tourists on the island and you don’t see friends and neighbors quite as often nor perhaps recognize them in the store quite as quickly, but in the islands you always know that your friends will be there for you should you need them.
A great example of this sense of sharing and community is Good Cheer, the local food bank on Whidbey Island. With the poor economy, more and more families are in need of help with basics like food, clothing and shelter. This year they added a garden to insure that people were receiving fresh, wholesome vegetables. More than 4,000 pounds of fresh, healthy produce were harvested and delivered steps away to the food bank, all in the very first year of their on-site garden! This takes many, many volunteers, and thankfully island communities have many committed and energetic volunteers.
On San Juan Island there is the Community Home Trust. The mission of The San Juan Community Home Trust is to make home ownership possible for working people on San Juan Island. In recent years the gap between earned wages and housing prices has increased so much that it is now almost impossible for wage-earning residents to purchase a home on San Juan Island. They have been able to help many families purchase affordable homes over the past few years, and recently influenced the annexation of 46 acres to the town of Friday Harbor by insuring that a significant part of the land would be set aside for permanently affordable homes.
So now you have the essence of Island life. Move here, make friends, do good for others and get more in return.
See you at the grocery store.
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