Mary Ellen Cunningham realizes her baby has grown into an inquisitive 2-year-old so it's time for mom to step back and let the offspring wander beyond her reach.
Cunningham is confident Megawatt, the nonprofit organization she founded, can make it on its own now, so she is stepping down as director. A search is underway for her successor and about 20 people have applied.
"I'm not leaving," Cunningham said. "I'll just be in a different capacity." She will continue as a member of Megawatt's board of directors but collect no salary.
Cunningham and Kate Holmes started Megawatt in 2004 under the general theory that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Mary Ann Petrocelli soon joined them. They wanted to help West Seattle's many neighborhood councils, business organizations and other groups involved in civic improvement to learn more about each other and the community they all serve.
They also wanted to connect individual West Seattleites willing to volunteer with needs that could use the specific talents they were offering.
"This has been the most profound learning experience of my life," Cunningham said of getting Megawatt rolling. But she wants to change from administrative duties to something better suited to her own talents - event planning and establishing ties among people and organizations. Megawatt seems strong enough to make the administrative change now, she said.
Like many other nonprofit outfits, Megawatt is spending less time seeking grant money and more effort generating its own income. The organization is selling a West Seattle calendar, for example.
Another fund-raising idea is the community garage sale. About 100 individual garage sales will be held all over West Seattle on May 13 as part of Megawatt's second annual community garage sale. For a $15 fee, Megawatt puts each garage sale on its advertised list along with printed posters and maps to each sale site.
Megawatt's board of directors is expected to select a new director later this spring.
"I have to look at my own well-being and satisfaction," Cunningham said. "My goals aren't changing. I want Megawatt to be around for a long time."
Tim St. Clair can be contacted at 932-0300 or tstclair@robinsonnews.com
