West Seattle, Washington
12 Saturday
(Pack 793 photo courtesy Jon Gerhardt)
Reminder that if you got a food-drive door-hanger from local Boy Scouts last Saturday – have your donation outside your door for them to pick up tomorrow morning, as part of Scouting For Food! Multiple local troops/packs are participating. But even if you didn’t get a notice, you can contribute to the drive for the West Seattle Food Bank – tomorrow morning (updated) from 9 till 11 am, bring food donations to Pack 793’s collection spot at 44th SW/Ferry SW (the city-owned triangle of grass just south of Admiral Church – here’s a map).
Yet another way to keep polluted runoff out of Puget Sound – if you can spare some time at midday tomorrow, you can be part of it. Steve Richmond says, “It’s planting season and hundreds of trees need to get into the ground. Join us at Sanislo School to restore the wetland headwaters of Puget Creek. Improve habitat that helps filter stormwater, the #1 polluter of Puget Sound.” 10 am-1 pm tomorrow, in the wetland next to Sanislo Elementary at 1812 SW Myrtle (meet in front of the school), you can help get those trees into the ground. What to bring? He suggests: “Gloves, shovel, watering can (we’ll have extra, but write your name on your tools), weather-appropriate gear (rain or cold), hat/eye/sun protection, food/water, sturdy shoes/boots.” They’ll provide snacks and water. If you have a question, call Steve at (206) 650-9807.
In a month, the first-ever Delridge Unsung Hero awards will be announced – and today is your last chance to nominate someone, we are reminded by Holli Margell. She says the online application form is open till midnight today; here’s the link. 16 nominations have come in so far, Holli says, but they’re hoping for more! She adds that they are still seeking sponsors in order to have a catered buffet for the awards event; the North Delridge Neighborhood Council has donated enough for table rentals and program printing, but they’re looking for $2,000 to cover the rest. Can you donate? E-mail or call Delridge Neighborhoods District Council outreach chair Mike Shilley, michael.j.shilley@q.com or 206-762-7111.
Once again, the Sustainable West Seattle presentation on how NOT to feed the Tox-Ick Monster – how to reduce runoff and help Puget Sound heal – drew a crowd tonight. Thanks to diver/photographer Laura James (who has seen Tox-Ick up close and personal) for the update and the photos – she says they drew the 50-plus needed to qualify for a $1,000 prize to go toward a runoff-fighting raingarden at WSHS:
That’s student Sage accepting the check. If you didn’t make it to one of the presentations in this series, no worries – you can view the PowerPoint, and video, online! Just go here.
If you’re a parent – you know children don’t arrive in the world with a handy instruction guide attached. But mentors can help! And one way to do that is to volunteer with PEPS, whose local communications manager Dana Guy shares this request:
PEPS is looking for volunteers to lead evening PEPS Newborn Groups in West Seattle. Several groups are scheduled to begin in April and need volunteer group leaders to get started. Volunteer leaders find joy and satisfaction in helping new parents connect and share through their PEPS groups. A commitment of 12 consecutive weeks is necessary (fewer if volunteers co-lead a group with a friend, spouse or partner). Volunteers attend one 4-hour training session. Training explains the structure of a PEPS meeting and provides practice with active listening, group dynamics, planning and facilitating topic discussions. PEPS training is designed to provide new skills and make leaders feel well prepared to lead a group. The next volunteer leader training is coming up on Thursday, April 5 from 5:30 to 9 p.m. Trainings are held at the Good Shepherd Center in Wallingford. For more information, go here. Contact Cate Palmer at catep@peps.org with questions or to sign up for training.
As noted in earlier coverage, this year’s World Water Week at Chief Sealth International High School is focusing on food issues as well as water – they are intertwined around the globe. And right now at nearby Southwest Teen Life Center, a basketball tournament organized by East African Sealth students is under way. Even if you can’t drop by to donate in person, you can do so online by going here. Here are the seniors who organized it:
Standing, from left, Samura, Nina, Hussein, Mohamud; sitting, Jueriya and Hanan. World Water Week continues with daily events on the Sealth campus, including an all-day “teach-in” on Friday in which WWW-related activities will replace regular classes for the day.
ADDED 8:16 PM: Thanks to Sealth teacher Noah Zeichner, who’s been working on World Water Week these past two years, for this photo of the tournament’s winning team:
Teams from other schools participated, but the winners were from Sealth.
(WEDNESDAY UPDATE: The dance has been canceled due to lack of ticket sales. 5K is still ON!)
Two West Seattle High School fundraiser reminders this morning – The WSHS Class of 2014 has organized a Father-Daughter Dance for elementary-school girls and their dads, coming up this Saturday night, 6-9 pm. More details are in the event’s listing on the WSB calendar. Also, today marks exactly two months till the West Seattle 5K on May 20th; it’s the run/walk along Alki that is the unofficial kickoff to summer (here’s hoping), and precedes the annual “car-free day,” aka Seattle Summer Streets (here’s our latest report on this year’s plan). The WS 5K is a presentation of the West Seattle HS PTSA. Online registration is open; you can sign up online right now! (WSB is co-sponsoring again this year, and there’s room for more sponsors.)
It’s been in the works for months, and now the CoolMom “Think Outside the Car” campaign is about to get rolling. CoolMom’s Terri Glaberson says you’re invited to a kickoff event 10 am-2 pm April 28th in the parking lot at Westside School (WSB sponsor). It’ll be a big celebration with food, music, and kids’ activities (including, Terri says, a Cascade Bicycle Club Rodeo and “Undriving”). Right now, they are looking for a graphic designer/videographer to help on the project – a “temporary paid position,” as she explains it; find out more here.
By Keri DeTore
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
The journey into homelessness is one that most of us can’t imagine taking. Insecurity, no basic services, no resources, no food, no promises — homelessness is comprised of a laundry list of what there isn’t enough of.
West Seattleites have become even more acutely aware of this since the homeless encampment that calls itself Nickelsville moved back to this area. Through West Seattleites working with Nickelsville – including many volunteers who know each other through the WSB Forums – this group of homeless individuals now has faces and names; they are our neighbors.
One person who has been living at Nickelsville has been our neighbor for years, even before he moved into the encampment. Mike Stahl has been a West Seattle resident his entire life: many locals know him from his work as a cashier at McLendon Hardware and from his WSB comments and Forum posts using the screen name “miws.”
Mike was a Morgan Junction resident until May of 2011, when he became a Nickelsville resident. WSB readers have been following Mike’s journey into homelessness beginning with Mike’s move into Nickelsville, chronicled in a story here last May.
Now, we’re re-visiting Mike to get more of his story, and to share his progress through this phase of his life – with help from friends, and more on the way.
That’s barely the half of it – literally – at the Sanislo Elementary book sale and bake sale, happening till 2 pm at 1812 SW Myrtle, raising money for the 4th graders’ annual overnight camping trip. Hardbacks and paperbacks for kids and adults – we even found some vintage-1940s hardbacks about topics including American history and the news business. Browse the hallway, and don’t miss the bake sale:
Before our whirlwind visit ended, we also got a pitch for a special drawing they’re having – $5/ticket for a homemade New Mexican dinner for six, delivered to your home. Never been to Sanislo? Lovely forested campus, and don’t miss the portrait of its namesake inside the entrance.
Just look for the truck in the 40th/Alaska parking lot – and the banner! Volunteers from the Rotary Club of West Seattle has been out in the morning’s mercurial weather (still slushing when we stopped for our photo), collecting Books for the World. Here are details of what they’re collecting, in our preview from earlier this week. They’re scheduled to be there till 1:30 pm.
Again this year, “Scouting for Food” might bring Boy Scouts to your neighborhood the next two Saturdays. We got the alert from Troop 282; they are dropping off door tags this morning till about 10:30 am, and then will return 9 am-1:30 pm a week from today (March 24) to collect what you donate for the West Seattle Food Bank. If you would like to donate and don’t get a visit, call 206-890-2237.
Next month’s West Seattle Art Walk will be held in conjunction with a new fundraiser – “Food for Art,” benefiting Transitional Resources, a WS-based organization that helps people living with mental illness. They’re looking for participants, writes TR’s Yemaya St. Clair:
Calling all West Seattle Restaurants: Join the first annual Food for Art event on Thursday, April 12!
In partnership with the West Seattle Art Walk, join Transitional Resources’ first annual Food for Art event, which will raise funds to benefit the art therapy program at Transitional Resources while providing restaurants with free publicity. Transitional Resources is a nonprofit organization in West Seattle serving men and women living with severe and persistent mental illness. We help over 200 individuals in our community stay off the streets, out of institutions, and on the road to recovery.
The dual goals of Food for Art are to raise money for our art therapy program and to make this your best charitable investment of the year.
The concept is simple: Your restaurant, along with others from West Seattle, commits to contributing a portion of your proceeds on one night – Thursday, April 12 (in conjunction with the West Seattle Art Walk) – to help support our art therapy program. Transitional Resources commits to promoting your restaurant through an extensive promotional campaign and to filling seats and increasing revenue at your restaurant on April 12. Also, you will be assigned an ambassador, whose primary function will be to make sure your restaurant is as full as possible on Thursday, April 12.
If you are a West Seattle restaurant and would like to be a part of the action, please e-mail Yemaya St.Clair for more details at yemayas@transitionalresources.org.
And Yemaya adds a message for readers: “Transitional Resources needs to hear directly from restaurateur(s), so if you have a suggestion, please make sure your favorite restaurant sees this!”
We’ve been celebrating West Seattle students’ accomplishments in the Global Reading Challenge. Now, here’s an opportunity to help give the gift of literacy to youth around the world. Martha Sidlo e-mailed us on behalf of the Rotary Club of West Seattle:
Your donation of new and lightly used books will be gratefully accepted by the West Seattle Rotary Club on Saturday, March 17th, between 11:00 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. at the empty used car lot on the southeast corner of SW Alaska Street and 40th Avenue SW – just west of the Howden-Kennedy Funeral Home at 3909 SW Alaska Street. Books will be distributed to underserved communities in South Africa, Haiti and Guatemala through Rotary’s Books for the World – 2012 campaign. Cash donations of any amount are welcome to help with the cost of shipping the books overseas. Make checks payable to “5030 Service Fund” and send West Seattle Rotary, c/o Martha Sidlo, 7500 34th Avenue SW, Seattle, WA 98126.
We asked what kinds of books they’re looking for:
Books for all ages are welcome, for example: Picture/story books (pre-K and up), teen and adult fiction, K-12 textbooks in sets of 10 or more (world history is okay; U.S. history is discouraged), current professional books (medical books, international law, etc.), encyclopedia sets (less than 20 years old), as well as magazines such as National Geographic or Smithsonian (please, no news magazines).
If there’s just one brunch for which you make reservations this year – this is the one. West Seattle-based Nature Consortium – which works to protect and restore the West Duwamish Greenbelt (right), Seattle’s largest contiguous forest – is saving a seat for you at its annual benefit brunch April 1st at The Hall at Fauntleroy. But you need to RSVP ASAP. You don’t even need to pay ahead of time (though they’re suggesting a minimum $50 donation at the event – proceeds support NC arts and environmental education programs all over the county. Brunch will start with mimosas and jazz/blues music by Billy and The Bouncers at 11:30 am, continuing at noon with a gourmet brunch menu (see the right sidebar), youth music and dance performances, and awards for volunteers and community partners. You can RSVP online right now. (There’s even free child care if you need it.) P.S. WSB is proud to co-sponsor this event again this year.
One more West Seattle school fundraising auction to be sure you know about – the 18th annual Pathfinder K-8 auction, at South Seattle Community College‘s Brockey Center, next Saturday (March 17th). The theme: “On this side of the rainbow, we make dreams come true!” The price of making dreams come true? $35 a ticket, and you can buy yours online by going here. From organizers:
Parents love supporting businesses that help support our school. We have an incredible lineup of donations from AWESOME local businesses including Cactus, Breathe Yoga, West 5, West Seattle Junction Association, Farmers’ Market, West Seattle Thriftway, Sound Physical Therapy, Hotwire Online Coffeehouse, and Southgate Roller Rink, just to name a few.
Whether you’re going or not, there’s a twist this year: An online auction is under way, and you can bid right now.
(WSB photo by Christopher Boffoli from 2010 West Seattle Grand Parade)
An update to our story from last month about the West Seattle Grand Parade seeking your help again this year: Parade coordinators now have the price estimate for the signs that the city no longer provides, and it’s almost double last year’s cost! This is the second year the city has required event presenters to pick up these costs, and without $ help, the parade is in jeopardy. Here’s the update from parade co-coordinator Dave Vague:
The 79th Annual West Seattle American Legion Grand Parade is in need of community support to happen this year. The parade is currently scheduled for Saturday, July 21, at 11:00 AM. However, to run the parade, we are in desperate need to raise funds. Our largest expense started last year when the Seattle DOT required us to fund the cost of our own No Parking barricade signs. The initial bid last year was $3,000 and ended up being about $3,700. The bid we have secured for 2012 for the same signs as jumped to $7,000!
One of our sponsors from last year has agreed to fund a similar amount this year, which means we still need to raise $5,000 in the next four months. If you would like to donate or sponsor the parade this year we can use your help.
Donations can be made at the West Seattle American Legion Grand Parade website:
thewestseattleparade.com/Donate.html.Or you can contact the West Seattle American Legion Post 160 directly at (206) 935-9407.
For more information, please contact Dave Vague vagued@comcast.net or Jim Edwards wsbigband@ureach.com.
As noted in previous reports, the parade cannot charge entry fees, or else it will have to pay an even-higher fee to the city for its permits. As do many local businesses, WSB supports many community events, so we’ve just chipped in again for this one. Whether you can give $10 or $1,000, we challenge you to join in too.
(WSB photo from last Saturday night)
Three nights after the Chief Sealth International High School Seahawk Spirit Dinner/Auction, CSIHS PTSA president Amy Daly-Donovan just announced the fundraising total: Nearly $60,000, “a huge increase over last year’s successful event.” The proceeds, she writes, will be shared between the PTSA for funding “programs and activities that support academics, student enrichment, and staff/curriculum support,” and the Performing Arts and Athletics programs.
P.S. As we’ve reported in the past week or so, you’ve got ample chances ahead to support other school fundraisers too: Gatewood Elementary‘s auction this Friday, Madison Middle School‘s auction this Saturday, Arbor Heights Elementary‘s “family photo event” this Saturday-Sunday, Lafayette Elementary‘s auction March 17th, Explorer West Middle School (WSB sponsor)’s auction March 23, Schmitz Park Elementary‘s auction March 31.
Diver Laura James‘s video shows what came out of just one “outfall” off Alki when stormwater was running fast and furious. Your everyday choices can ensure that stormwater is less toxic – and you’ll know what choices to make and not make, if you can spare an hour Thursday night, with a bonus side effect: Sanislo Elementary, which is hosting the event, will win $1,000 from Sustainable West Seattle, which is presenting it, if at least 50 community members show up. (The money would go toward a native-plant-education project at Sanislo.) Ready to help? Be at Sanislo (1812 SW Myrtle) at 7 pm Thursday. You’re also invited to stay afterward for an 8 pm meeting described by organizers as intended “to discuss a ‘greenway’ proposal to filter street stormwater on 21st and provide sidewalks or safe routes to school.” Plus – you’ll be gifted with a free native plant – and there’s free pizza. Need more info? tox-ick.org, or contact cate@sustainablewestseattle.org.
(Beverages from 2011 Taste of West Seattle – photobymike.com image provided by WS Helpline)
Good news for both participants and attendees at this year’s Taste of West Seattle, set for May 17th, benefiting West Seattle Helpline – executive director Tara Byrne says they’ll “have a tented area outside this year, and room for more restaurants.” So, while they’ve already invited past participants, they’re trying to get the word out to any and all area restaurants, if you want to participate, now’s the time to say so!
Calling all West Seattle restaurants: The 7th annual Taste of West Seattle is coming up Thursday, May 17th. Last year we had 40 West Seattle restaurants and more than 400 participants. If you are a West Seattle restaurant and would like to be a part of the action this year please e-mail Tara for more details at wshelpline@gmail.com.
Remember – Helpline needs to hear directly from the restaurateur(s), so if you have a suggestion, please make sure your favorite restaurant sees this! (If you need their contact info, consider checking our West Seattle Restaurant Guide.)
Can you spare some room and time for a short-term houseguest this summer?
Once again West Seattle will be hosting students from Chengdu, China, and we are looking for host families! The students will be between the ages of 10 and 12 with a variety of English language proficiency. Students will be here for a total of 9 days and will arrive the last week in June. Last year our host families had a wonderful time with their students and enjoyed many Seattle activities. If you are interested or have questions about hosting a student, contact Pathfinder K-8 School’s assistant principal, Lisa Clayton, at lclayton@seattleschools.org.
Here’s a Google Map showing Chengdu and Seattle – more than 9,000 miles apart!
(1994 “planting party” photo, courtesy of Fairmount Ravine Preservation Group)
We often publish notices about community cleanups. Few are as long-running as the annual Fairmount Ravine work party – which could really use extra hands from beyond the immediate neighborhood. It’s a beautiful West Seattle greenspace that many drive, bicycle, or walk through, but not only is it a trash magnet, it’s also suffering from the same problem as other greenspaces: Invasive plants, and this year the Fairmount Ravine Preservation Group hopes to get rid of as many as possible. John Lang says it’s their 20th annual cleanup – and there’s history in the invitation he sent to last year’s participants, also shared with us:
Twenty years ago Charlie Chong came over to my house to help develop a strategy to save the Fairmount Ravine. It was full of trash and overgrown with invasive plants. Discussion how to turn this around was patterned after similar and successful community efforts in the nearby College Ravine. That night, my son Michael was 2 months old and sleeping in a small bassinet. Flash forward twenty years and Michael is now 6’-3” and soon to get his AA degree from SSCC.
Likewise, every year the Fairmount Ravine Preservation Group grows in its commitment to preserving this valuable open space by cleaning the ravine from top to bottom of the hill. Over these twenty years, concerned neighbors have removed tons of trash, removed illegal encampments and planted hundreds of native trees and shrubs. We were instrumental in securing over $4.2 million dollars to purchase property within the ravine which is now held in public domain. The open space across from Salty’s is a good example.
We are proud of our achievements to date and pleased to announce the 20th annual Fairmount Ravine cleanup Saturday, March 10th from 8:30 to approximately 10:30. We meet at the intersection of SW Forest St and Fairmount Ave, just east of Hiawatha Park. Everyone is welcome to participate. Community awareness keeps the ravine cleaner than past years and our focus this year will be on removal of invasive plants as well as general cleanup. Coffee, hot cocoa and donuts are provided. Please dress for the weather, wear boots and gloves as well as bring large cutters, saws if interested in plant removal. Your two hours can make a huge difference and we hope to see you there on the 10th. Please let others know of this effort!
Teen volunteers welcome too (as you’ll note in our 2008 cleanup coverage).
Continuing our series of announcements for local schools’ upcoming dinner/auction fundraisers – one week from tonight, it’s the Gatewood Elementary PTA‘s “Bids for Kids” (5:30-9 pm March 9th at The Hall at Fauntleroy):
We’re hoping for glamour, fun and a few “celebrity” appearances with this year’s silver-screen theme. All of the money raised goes directly to support the children in our diverse community of learners. Money raised at past auctions has been used to help start new arts, music, supplemental math and science programs over the past year and to provide scholarships for after-school enrichment programs. Gatewood is an all-inclusive community and we are committed to ensuring that all of our children thrive with access to enriching activities, support, and engagement.
At Gatewood we believe that changing the world is possible – especially with the support of our community. We welcome your support and everyone is invited. Our auction website includes a description of live and silent auction items and you can bid by proxy if you cannot attend! Check it out at http://www.gatewoodauction.org/home/
Live auction items include the opportunity to be a Top Gun fighter pilot for a day with Air Combat USA, family snowshoe package, Sounders ticket packages and signed memorabilia, getaways and more!
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