Thanks to those who submitted photos and stories for the Umpqua Bank “Show Us How You Give” contest last month. We didn’t make it into the finals, but we LOVE all the photos and stories you sent in. You can see them all in our Facebook history. Feel free to keep posting why you love Sustainable Ballard on our Facebook page!!
Vic shared how Sustainable Ballard partners with other organizations to influence change:
“We Are The Missing Link” is one particularly noteworthy action event Sustainable Ballard collaborated on with many organizations. Over 200 people attended this event WITH their bicycles to bring attention to the fact that the “Missing Link” of the Burke-Gilman Trail in Ballard still wasn’t completed. And today, this segment of trail STILL isn’t completed. Time for the next installment of action from all of us !
Emily talked about our annual festival:
The Sustainable Ballard festival is the only one of it’s kind! Thousands of people in the local community attend this volunteer-powered event to learn more about how they can live more sustainably. We also make some really rad t-shirts and onesies 🙂
Jenny shared the successes of our solar outreach:
Last summer Sustainable Ballard hosted a solar fair to help folks learn more about the best options for solar. Since then we’ve helped educate over 500 neighbors about solar and how to become energy independent. And we’ve helped over 50 families install solar thanks to two different bulk-buying programs and great federal, state and local incentives. AND green lending programs from socially-conscious banks like Umpqua!
P.S. Update – we’ve now helped educate over 1000 neighbors and nearly 200 have installed solar. That’s 892 kilowatts of solar, nearly a megawatt!
And Eric told a story that literally brought us to tears:
This is Beatrice. She’s not the Sustainable Ballard mascot or anything like that, but I 
think she helps show how Sustainable Ballard builds strong community ties between neighbors. Right before my wife and I were scheduled to leave on our two-week honeymoon, Beatrice swallowed a tennis ball and had to get emergency surgery. We needed someone to take care of her and help her recover, and another Sustainable Ballard volunteer stepped up to the task. (Thanks, Julia!) Neighbors helping neighbors is what our organization is all about, and I think the kind of resiliency and community spirit that SB helps build gets to the heart of what it means to be sustainable.
