About the Stewards
The Van Zandt Stewards is a small but mighty 501(c)(3) non-profit, comprised of volunteers who are dedicated to building community in the Nooksack River’s South Fork Valley and the Kulshan Foothills. The Stewards manage, maintain and improve the Van Zandt Community Hall, the KAVZ Community Radio station, and Josh VanderYacht Memorial Park. We host a wide variety of community events and programs, including the Everybody’s Market, Third Thursday Potluck and Open Mic, Third Place Sunday Coffeehouse, Summerfest, Poetry Café, and programs for seniors and children. In addition, the VZS distribute a monthly email newsletter, the South Fork Scoop.
The Van Zandt Stewards meet monthly on the first Wednesday of every month at the Van Zandt Hall.
About Van Zandt
Van Zandt, Washington is a small, rural community (population ~400) in the South Fork Nooksack Valley, in Eastern Whatcom County. Originally the home of the Nooksack Indian tribe, the Valley was settled in the 1800s, first by loggers, and then by homesteaders in search of farmland. At its peak, between 1900 and 1940, the Valley was home to around 10,000 people, clustered around a dozen mill towns along a North-South rail line that ultimately led to Bellingham via Lake Whatcom.
Built in 1926-7, the Van Zandt Hall was originally a two-room schoolhouse. In 1951, it was transferred to the community for use as a gathering space. For over 70 years, the Hall has been managed, maintained and improved by hundreds of community volunteers. It has been the site of innumerable potlucks, dances, concerts, lectures, classes, and family gatherings. In 2025-26, the building was comprehensively renovated to honor its centennial as a vital community asset.
Meet the Stewards
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After many years working in tech in Seattle, Ben is now semi-retired here in the South Fork Valley. He has a keen interest in the intersection of technology, renewable energy, and permaculture. One of his big interests is in building community strength by learning and sharing with each other. Ben has been involved in both local volunteerism, such as helping at food banks, and in volunteer work abroad, such as building village roads in Greece.
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Will Radecki attended a New Year’s party at the Van Zandt Community Hall in 2010. He was greeted by a very old woman with a cane in one hand, and a box of wine in the other. “My kinda people,” he thought, and moved to the Valley soon after.
As a Steward, Will is a “utility player” who has written grants, MC’d events, built the free library/community exchange in front of the Hall, and written the South Fork Scoop newsletter since ‘22. Most recently, Will led the Hall Renovation Committee. He is a consistent voice for moving things along, and a reliable provider of libations at board meetings.
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Breanna Anderson has been a Van Zandt resident and a member of the South Fork Valley Community Association Board (now Van Zandt Stewards) since 2017. She is a software engineer and pioneering technology entrepreneur known for founding MSNBC in 1995. Breanna is enthusiastic about the potential for grass roots community building in rural Whatcom County and is grateful for the steadfast work of the SFVCA/Stewards over the years in creating a place and space for folks to come together and build community. Breanna manages the Community Radio Station KAVZ 102.5 FM and focuses on infrastructure and technology for the organization.
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Jeff Margolis, has been involved in the growth of the Van Zandt Community for over half a century. He left Brooklyn, New York in his youth and went on to be educated in politics and philosophy which he subsequently taught at the college level. In 1970 he and his wife opened the region’s first and most famous organic and exotic grocery, Everybody’s Store. Both he and Amy were veteran performers in local symphonic, choral and theater groups. Both were active participants in civic groups and cultural boards and for a decade Jeff volunteered as a Firefighter and First Responder on Whatcom County FD #16.
At the turn of the century Jeff spearheaded the creation of the Josh VanderYacht Park. Shortly thereafter, he and Amy helped establish KAVZ-LP FM, the Voice of the Valley. Jeff recently retired as Chair of the Whatcom County Parks Commission.
The Margolis’s retired Everybody’s Store in 2019 and Amy passed on in the following year. Currently Jeff spends much of his time gardening and cherishing the progress of his family including: daughters Beth, an artist, and Elea, a musician and wife to Andy, a physician and parent of grandkids Zach and Natalie, both engineers.
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Maggie Metcalfe has been a Van Zandt resident and member of the South Fork Valley Community Association Board (now Van Zandt Stewards) since 2017. She is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor and Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor. She appreciates communities built with respect and democratic processes to create strength and resilience among neighbors. She wants to maintain a space where people can have potlucks, dances, movies, parties, poetry and studies, where community members can create a class or demonstrate a skill. Where we can learn about each other.
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Shortly after moving to the South Fork Valley in 2023, Chris and her husband attended the annual Van Zandt Hall Summerfest and were deeply moved by the warmth and commitment to building community witnessed there. She has been involved in Hall events ever since and joined the Stewards in August of 2025. Having worked as the chemistry lab manager at a community college and as a biologist at an environmental consulting lab, she is now retired and starting a small hazelnut farm with her family here in Van Zandt. She enjoys gardening, hiking, and volunteering at the Foothills Food Bank and with Northwest Fruit Rescue. Stewarding a small piece of land here is the result of a lifelong dream and she is looking forward to getting to know more neighbors in the South Fork Valley.