Author: Rain Gilman

Meaningful Movies is off to a strong restart after a wonderful 2025. In partnership with the Center for Spiritual Living Ballard, Sustainable Ballard revived Meaningful Movies Ballard following a hiatus in 2021. This year, we screened seven films and welcomed nearly 200 attendees. Our programming explored a wide range of topics, including race in America, Indigenous rights, environmental activism, regenerative farming, music as healing, buffalo reintroduction/keystone species, the history and current state of our library system, and microplastics in the human body. Four guest speakers joined us for engaging post-film discussions, and Mighty-O Donuts generously supported us as our intermission sponsor—treating attendees to delicious snacks after each film.

We’re deeply grateful to everyone who attended and supported our screenings. Looking ahead, our goal is to grow attendance at each event. If you have topic suggestions, favorite documentaries to recommend, or interest in volunteering, please email Bryn — and help spread the word by inviting friends and family to attend!

Meaningful Movies Ballard meets every third Thursday at 6:00 pm at the Center for Spiritual Living Ballard. Films are booked through May of next year. To see what’s coming up, visit: meaningfulmovies.org/neighborhoods/ballard/

It was another busy year for the Ballard Tool Library! Our volunteers completed hundreds of hours of work, manning the library, running tool sales and completing work parties to make our space more accessible for Ballard’s DIY-ers. We had 399 users rent 560 items, with lots of love for lawn mowers, ladders and power washers.

We are particularly grateful to our fixers, who made sure our most popular tools stayed on our shelves. The Tool Library will run two sales this year, one in the spring and one in the fall, so watch out for more information about dates and times. Looking for to repairing, building and making a wonderful 2026 together!

Please join us for the first Board Game & Puzzle Exchange of 2026!

📅 Sunday, February 8
🕝 2:30–4:30 PM
📍 Ballard Public Library, 5614 22nd Ave NW

What to Bring:
Board and card games for all ages
Puzzles for all ages
Items should be in good condition and include all pieces

How It Works:
This is a casual, open-house style event. Simply bring a game or puzzle, and take one home—easy, fun, and sustainable!

Friendly Reminder:
This is a swap, not a donation site. Please avoid bringing large quantities unless you plan to take some home too. Let’s keep it fair and enjoyable for everyone!

No RSVP needed – just swing by and join the fun!
Questions? Reach out to Ashlee

Here at Sustainable Ballard we are a very small, very intentional non-profit focused on education, inspiring participation, and engaging our neighbors to take actions towards living more sustainably both individually and collectively. Some of you support our efforts by becoming supporting members. Others volunteer their time and talents. Many participate in annual fundraising events like the Spring Beer Hop and Edible Garden Tour. Individuals donate stamps, soil, yarn, and tools. Community Partners support us through event sponsorships and donations. All of these various contributions add up to sustain the year round community projects we run.

If you’re looking for a meaningful way to impact your local community consider becoming a supporting member. Already a supporting member? Consider gifting a membership to a loved one this holiday season. Tool Library membership and Edible Garden Tour tickets are included with annual membership which makes this the perfect gift for the gardener or fixer/maker/builder on your list! Become a Supporting Member or Give a Membership Gift

Work for one of these companies? Alaska Airlines, Boeing, Google, Microsoft, Nordstrom, or another company that does corporate giving programs? Consider either donating to or volunteering with us to double your gift. We are listed on Benevity Corporate Matching. It’s pretty easy to sign up through your employer and it makes a big impact on supporting our projects. To find if your company uses Benevity, check your company’s HR portal, intranet, or internal emails for “matching,” “giving,” or “volunteering” programs or ask your HR/CSR team directly. Want to just donate directly? DONATE HERE!

By far one of the MOST valuable things you can contribute is your time & talent. If you’re looking for a way to really engage and benefit your immediate community please consider volunteering with us. We have very flexible opportunities for almost every schedule/ability. VOLUNTEER HERE!

We understand that times are hard for many and not everyone is in a position to give. Sharing what we do with your neighbors, family and friends is always appreciated. Thank you all for being part of our beautiful, resilient and caring community! We wish you a peaceful and joyful holiday season and here’s to a new year with more kindness for each other and our planet.

~Thank you from the Sustainable Ballard Team

On December 14th at the Ballard Library, we wrapped up the year with an amazing turnout for our final Game & Puzzle Exchange!

We welcomed 64 enthusiastic participants, who brought 30 games and 58 puzzles to share.

The event was packed with highlights, including a strategic three-game set called Tainted Gail, stunning puzzles ranging from 250 to 2,000 pieces, fun memory games for our youngest gamers, and even a challenging beach-themed trivia set that kept everyone guessing.

Thank you to everyone who joined and contributed—your energy and creativity made this exchange unforgettable. Here’s to more fun and connections in 2026!

Please mark your calendars and plan to join us for the annual meeting/Open House at Ballard Library. We will have representation from all of our ongoing community projects and events. It’s a great opportunity to learn more about Sustainable Ballard, discover ways to get involved with our projects, and to collaborate on ideas for the year ahead. Please EMAIL us if you have questions. More details in the next newsletter.

The market gleaners have had some unexpectedly heavy days this fall! Usually our produce hauls slow down in the fall, but we have still been collecting 500-700 lbs of produce from the farmers market each week. We are grateful to our local farmers for sharing their delicious produce with our community. Our biggest gleaning haul this year was 1374 lbs on August 17. Thank you to Polly, Christine, Paul, Malva, Adria, and Hannah who did the heavy lifting that day! As 2025 comes to a close, I want to thank all of the gleaning volunteers who gleaned, lifted, and sorted produce for the food bank this year. If you would like to join our team in 2026, feel free to email gleanballard@gmail.com.

The gleaning program, part of Sustainable Ballard, is an opportunity for volunteers to donate their time to the community by collecting donated food from vendors at the Ballard Farmers Market and bringing it to the Ballard Food Bank. Last year, we collected over 18,000 pounds of food for the Food Bank! Gleaning is a great way to connect with other volunteers, vendors, and the farmers market staff, all while helping to ensure that our neighbors have access to fresh, local produce. 

Sustainable Ballard’s, ‘Free Letters Home’ volunteers, Paula, Vicki, Susan G and Sue H have had steady and consistent interest in their service at the BFB. 

In October and November, the Team distributed 368 cards, 254 stamps and interacted with 235 patrons at the BFB.

It continues to be a challenging time for many and we have witnessed an increased demand for service/resources at the BFB and we have admired the staff’s solidarity.

Clients are at times surprised by our comprehensive offers to them of Free Cards and Stamps and overall respond with positivity.

Here is a favorite snap of a delightful patron who was so grateful to embrace our service. Also, a  snap of our FLH service table display for BFB patrons to peruse.

FLH project recently received 80 forever stamps mailed to us by an anonymous donor. THANK YOU whoever you are! These stamps help spread love and keep people connected when small acts of kindness matter most. Want to donate stamps or do you have Lunar New Year, Valentine’s or St. Patrick’s Day cards you’d like to donate? Please contact us HERE to find out how or simply send donations to us at 2442 NW Market St. PMB 286 Seattle 98107

Sure, it’s the dead of winter, but that doesn’t mean that the fun of edible gardening is over!  One of the wonderful things about gardening in Seattle is that you can grow year-round.  Kale, lettuce, chard, carrots, arugula, leeks and even pea pods are in my garden now, and with our mild winter so far this year, I have hope.  If this looks like something you’d like to try, come to the Edible Garden Tour next spring where you can see how it all starts.  We always need volunteers to help make this long-running educational event happen.  Planning starts around April, and we need loads of help in June.

Interesting in volunteering for EGT 2026? Contact us HERE!

The SB Menders are ready to extend the life of work clothes, packs and bags, and everyday practical garments with a wide variety of patches.  We encourage people to bring things to us before the problem is huge and perhaps not doable. We’re pretty good with zippers, too!  (And we’re continuing to look for Menders for our evening program which will get organized after the first of the year…). Stay tuned for more news.