Tono Sablan: Leaving Parkland Better

Local Q&A

By Like Media Team

Tono Sablan has spent his life in Parkland, most of it working to make the place better. He runs the LeMay Family Collection Foundation on the historic Marymount campus and has served on boards across Pierce County since he was a teenager.

Q. What first pulled you into community work, starting with the Greater Tacoma Community Foundation (GTCF) Youth Philanthropy Board in 2011?

A. In 2011, as a Franklin Pierce freshman, my anti-bullying advocacy led teachers to nominate me as a Youth Spark, an honor for young people doing local service. That introduced me to two mentors, Holy Chea and Sherrana Kildun, as well as the Youth Philanthropy Board and grantmaking committees. More than a decade later, I serve on the Board of Directors, this year as Treasurer. GTCF has been a massive part of my life and journey.

Q. You are a lifelong Parkland resident. What needs in Parkland and Spanaway are too often overlooked?

A. Unincorporated Pierce County fights for a small pool of county resources. The county runs more than 1,800 square miles, from the Key Peninsula to Mount Rainier. You rely on the county for basic services, and they are stretched thin. In Parkland and Spanaway, the need I have long advocated for is infrastructure. Sidewalks, curbs, gutters, streetlights. Those amenities have been neglected here. That is changing, with more focus from local government and financial investment in our community. Several road and sidewalk projects have been completed in recent years, with more in development or design.

Q. You served three years as president of the Franklin Pierce School District Board, your own alma mater. What did that mean to you?

A. It meant a great deal. That service journey led to my election to the Franklin Pierce School Board, where I served three of my four years as president. I saw it as a way to repay my debt to the community that made me. I joined Superintendent Lance Goodpaster on annual classroom visits districtwide. My favorite time of year was graduation, handing students their diplomas.

Q. Where can community involvement make the greatest difference for the students Franklin Pierce serves?

A. Belonging often comes from the secondary activities that keep students engaged. A student might not love English class, but they show up for Jazz Band, football, or cross country. Those programs run on support from volunteers, staff, and family. Our schools need the greater community, financially or through volunteers, to keep them going. That matters more than ever, as Washington schools face one of the most restrictive financial climates in memory. On the board, I created a permanently endowed scholarship for Franklin Pierce students through the Franklin Pierce Foundation.

Q. Beyond the cars, how do the LeMay Foundation and the Marymount campus contribute to Parkland?

A. We run a flat organization, one full-time staff member and a few part-timers doing everything from bookkeeping to landscaping. Who sits at the heart of the foundation are our volunteers. Roughly forty support us at the Marymount campus every week, some daily, some weekly. Many come from Parkland and Spanaway. For our Annual Show, the free car show in its 48th year, more than 300 volunteers turn out, some flying in from Hawaii. They help provide a welcoming space at the foundation and museum.

Q. You have worked across education, philanthropy, well-being, and nonprofit leadership. Is there one moment that best shows what this work can accomplish?

A. In college, I met another mentor, Joel Zylstra, who directed PLU's Center for Community Engagement and Service. A coffee invitation turned into a job on all things Parkland. Joel taught me how to be a community organizer. I look back most fondly on our Parkland Tours, built to help PLU students and staff understand the community they lived in. The point was not to sell a narrative, but to tell Parkland's whole story through people who had lived parts of it. We engaged hundreds.

Q. What do you hope is better for Parkland ten years from now?

A. My mantra has always been to leave it better than I found it, and that is my hope for Parkland. Ten years out, I hope it is a place people are proud to be from, where neighbors feel safe and take care of one another. I hope we keep seeing investment that reflects the community: more sidewalks, pedestrian amenities, public art, housing. Most of all, I hope Parkland has leadership that prioritizes our people. And hopefully I am still here, too.

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