West Seattle help for Haiti: Local woman’s Valentine’s Day plan

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Hundreds – if not thousands by now – of West Seattleites have reached out to help the Haiti earthquake victims in ways big and small.

But Alki resident Angela Williams felt one thing was missing: A direct, personal, hands-on connection. “Any time there’s like a crisis or trauma, I have an overwhelming feeling to help or deal with the emotional aspect instead of just saying, ‘here’s a check’ … money seems like not doing enough, not connecting with event.”

Going to Haiti to try to personally connect wasn’t quite feasible, so the next best thing was to hatch a plan for people who care to connect with each other, while they learn about what’s happened in Haiti since the quake, and figure out how best to help.

We found out about Angela’s event through a Facebook event invitation that led to a somewhat mysterious website:

When we first checked out collageforacause.com, the only content was a video with Angela giving a bit of a preview of the event, including “I’ll explain more about it later.” Here’s the video:

We sent her a note asking if we could meet to talk a bit more, and set up a coffeehouse chat not far from her Alki home.

Angela says her plan stems from learning “the importance of community” over the past year, dealing with financial challenges as a single mom: “I made it because of my community, my friends.” One of her endeavors as a “life coach” who studied art therapy in college is creative workshops using the “collage process”: “In January, we had people come together and look at their vision for 2010. When we do this process together, we learn a lot about each other … it’s an opportunity to pose questions, get wisdom from the group, solve problems, gain insight. A week after (the Haiti quake happened), I was wondering what to do, and it bubbled up from the group – We talked about ways to help; we all wanted to help, more than giving a few bucks and not knowing where it was going. … (After discussion), I said, let’s take this to a larger audience and do this creative process with a larger group.”

So on Valentine’s Day, she’s got space in the International District’s city-run Community Center – centrally located since this is meant to be open to people from around the city (and beyond) – for up to 125 or so people to come join in the event, which will benefit Partners in Health. Angela says she researched the organization before choosing it as a beneficiary, after finding out about it from a friend who was looking into the many organizations involved with Haiti post-quake relief work – according to Charity Watch, she points out, 95 percent of what they receive goes back into their work. She also admired founder Paul Farmer‘s book, “Mountains Beyond Mountains,” and the organization’s mission to partner with communities.

Back to the community that’s working on her fundraiser – teamwork is happening behind the scenes, too – she’s got volunteers lending their expertise in everything from online marketing to project management. (Note the Post-It Note-style graphic on the website.) “Everyone said, ‘this is what I can contribute’ … ways we can give without giving money.” And they need more help
particularly some donated/loaned items for the event – from a sound system to PR to cookies – the latest list of what they need is here.

This is Angela’s biggest giving effort yet, though she’s volunteered for Girl Scouts with her daughter, and helped develop Northwest Enterprising Moms, which she describes as a group “for self-employed small business-owning moms to build community and share resources in developing their businesses.”

This Sunday, she plans to announce full details of the Valentine’s Day event for Haiti, including the time, and the activities. She says it’ll involve some creating – for the participants, as well as possibly something that can be sent to and shared with the Haitians. Children can attend too, though she suggests age 8 is probably about the youngest age that’ll work. “I really want this day to be about, how do we give, and how do we serve from our hearts with each other.”

And even though it’s not in West Seattle, her home for 17 years, she’d love to see you there. Just be sure to register (which you can do on the collageforacause.com home page) so she’ll know you’ll be there.

2 Replies to "West Seattle help for Haiti: Local woman's Valentine's Day plan"

  • August February 4, 2010 (4:35 pm)

    Way to go Angela! This seems like a fun, creative and worthy event. I hope you raise lots of funds to continue to provide help and support to the people of Haiti.

  • EGM February 6, 2010 (1:46 am)

    I’d like to know more about this.

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