IOSA 2026 HAZWOPER Volunteer Certification Fund

Help Train Our Responders - HAZWOPER Certification Fund — $6,000

When oil hits the water in the San Juan Islands, the clock starts immediately. Currents are running, oil is spreading, and the nearest state and federal responders can be hours or days away. In that critical first window, IOSA's community volunteers are the only ones here.

But readiness doesn't happen by accident.

Every IOSA volunteer who deploys to a spill carries HAZWOPER certification — Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response training that ensures they can work safely and effectively in contaminated environments. This isn't a weekend workshop. It's a rigorous 24-hour certification program that covers boom deployment, spill containment, hazardous materials handling, and incident command. It costs $6,000 per class and it is the foundation of everything we do.

San Juan County's 174 islands sit in one of the busiest marine shipping corridors in North America. Thousands of vessels transit these waters annually — ferries, tankers, fishing vessels, recreational boats, and commercial shipping traffic that is only growing. In the past three years alone, IOSA has responded to 38 oil spill incidents. When something goes wrong out here, there is no one else coming first. There is only us.

IOSA was founded in 1985 after a mysterious oil spill threatened these islands. Forty years later, we remain the only dedicated local oil spill response organization in San Juan County — a team of 50+ HAZWOPER-certified community volunteers coordinated by two paid staff, holding Primary Response Contractor status with the Washington State Department of Ecology.

Your GiveBIG gift funds the next certification class directly. Every dollar raised goes toward training the neighbors, mariners, and community members who stand between the Salish Sea and the next spill.

This is IOSA's first year participating in GiveBIG. We recently earned 501(c)(3) status and are building the community-based donor support that will carry this organization — and these islands — forward. Traditional funding sources face increasing uncertainty. Your support matters now more than ever.

Help us stay ready. Help us protect our Salish Sea.