West Seattle, Washington
20 Friday
Last month, we published a call for tutors from a program called Invest in Youth that helps students at four Seattle Public Schools including Roxhill Elementary. They are glad to report that some prospective tutors have stepped up – but they need three more for this school year, so they can help the maximum number of students who could benefit from the program. Orientation is coming up next week, and tutoring sessions start the first week of October; tutors in this program visit Roxhill after school on Tuesdays. To find out more and/or sign up – go here.
(WSB video from start of last year’s first-ever Beat the Burn 5K – this year it’s at Jack Block Park)
New info today about Beat The Burn, the 5K fundraiser coming up September 30th at Jack Block Park and along the West Seattle waterfront: They point out it’s not ONLY a 5K – it’s also a community festival with everything from food trucks to kayaking to the legendary Bubbleman:
The Port of Seattle Fire Department/Local 1257 Firefighters and the Washington State Council of Fire Fighters Burn Foundation would like to invite you to bring the family and join us on Sunday, September 30th at Jack Block Park on the scenic West Seattle Waterfront.
The BEAT THE BURN 5K RUN/WALK event is open to all runners, walkers and family members of all ages. Join us for a fire engine siren start, live music by SLACKER, a local band favorite, health and safety displays, Lumpia World and Sweet Wheels food trucks, entertainment, beer garden, a kid’s area. And don’t miss the Alki Kayak Tours standup paddle board and kayak demonstrations at 11:00 a.m., the Bubbleman at 11:30 a.m. and the Northwest Disaster Search Dogs in action at 12:45. And we’ll have hourly drawings for $100 Gift Cards compliments of Salty’s and a $200 Gift Card from El Gaucho for the first runner across the 5K finish line. And don’t forget to pick-up your 2012 Firefighter Calendar; we’re giving away 100 copies!
Come meet the firefighters at Jack Block Park and join us for a fun outing on the West Seattle waterfront. It’s all for a great cause – to help send young burn survivors ages 7-17 to Camp Eyabsut. Thank you. Register at saveburncamp.org
For another week – till Wednesday 9/26 – you can also register in person at West Seattle Runner (WSB sponsor).
If you haven’t heard yet about the big Alki Beach cleanup that is part of International Coastal Cleanup Day this Saturday … go sign up! Sponsors including Puget Soundkeeper Alliance would like to know how many people to plan for. You can sign up outside Duke’s on Alki starting at 10 am Saturday – the cleanup runs till noon, followed by an afterparty till 2 – but they say early online signups are even better. Read all about it here.
Sunday, bring your classic (1979 or earlier) car, truck, motorcycle, or moped to the fifth annual West Seattle Junction Car Show – details here – or, if you don’t want to enter, plan to come wander the (closed) streets in the heart of The Junction, 8 am-4 pm. It’s free to see, but fundraising raffle tickets are sold to help Pencil Me In For Kids – which buys school supplies for kids in need – and here’s where you can help BEFORE the show: Organizer Michael Hoffman from Liberty Bell Print and Design is still looking for more donated raffle prizes. Just about anything, he says, but gift certificates are popular (especially for massages!), so if you have something to donate, to help kids, please call Michael at 206-935-1212 or Liz at 206-935-0904.
(L-R, Laura Noftsger, Tracy Dart, Janae Landis, posing. Photos by Nick Adams for WSB)
Next Friday-Saturday-Sunday, they walk … tonight, they party. And, of course, fundraise. You have another hour or so to get over to Angelina’s in the Admiral District if you’d like to join Team Tracy‘s T-Shirt Release Party – where of course you can buy a shirt:
That’s the women’s edition – sported already by Team Tracy’s leader/namesake herself, Tracy Dart (above), longtime breast-cancer-fighting fundraiser and three-time survivor:
The shirts, $20, also come in the meant-for-males edition:
The team is getting ready for the annual Seattle edition of the 3-Day Walk to fight breast cancer, Friday-Saturday-Sunday.
(From left, Samantha Prokopy, Dena Johnson, Vicki Albrecht)
Tonight’s party includes – besides the chance to buy T-shirts – karaoke! P.S. If you don’t see this till the party’s over, you can still donate to Team Tracy members via this webpage.
That’s the Gilbert family with Evelyn, when she joined them March 6, 2011, as their first puppy with West Seattle See Dogs, which trains future guide dogs. Ruth Oldham of WSSD shares their story as the group welcomes new puppy-raisers – including news that Evelyn has graduated!
“There is nothing as fulfilling as meeting your now guide dog’s partner at graduation and learning what your gift of love for a puppy and time commitment means to them,” Ruth explains. Evelyn went to the Guide Dogs For The Blind’s campus in Boring, Oregon, back in May, “sped through her phases,” as Ruth describes it, and graduated on August 25th. In the photo, she says, Evelyn “guides her new partner, Allen Scarbrough, over a curb, demonstrating her prowess to her former raisers. She actually stopped with one paw on the curb, and waited for Allen to respond. Allen can feel the raised paw through the harness.” Want to join the group making moments like that – and lifetimes beyond it – happen?
Ruth says, “You too can be part of this experience. West Seattle See Dogs is actively looking for new raisers to become part of our team. Our volunteers are all working toward improving the quality of life for people who are blind. Come to our meeting on Tuesday, September 11th, at 6:30 pm at The Kenney and learn what’s involved…….we need you!”
Southwest Precinct police helped on the 4th of July (WSB coverage here) – can you help on 9/11 and on West Seattle Junction Car Show day a week from today? Don from The Junction (in our 7/4/12 photo above, with officers) needs some flag-placement assistants those days, and beyond. Here’s the official call for help from the West Seattle Junction Association:
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED TO HELP PUT UP FLAGS IN THE JUNCTION!
The Junction Association puts up flags on all appropriate occasions. The Junction’s handy-man Don has been putting up flags for years, but health issues have made repeated trips up and down the stairs increasingly difficult for him.
So, who wants to help Don on the 11th and 16th of September?!
The volunteer job includes meeting him at 7:30 am to put them out, and 6pm to put them away. The job includes lots of stair walking since the flags are stored in the basement of the Cupcake Royale building.
We are looking to create a list of interested people, so if you’d like to be called upon for these two days in September or in the future, please e-mail Liz Schroeder at liz@wsjunction.org or call 935-0904.
Just received from Seattle Parks – news of a fundraising tournament at West Seattle Golf Course September 22nd, to help make sure more kids can afford Parks’ programs – read on for the announcement:Read More
If you’re interested in supporting a good cause with a good pie for Thanksgiving – you might want to make plans to pre-order one of Diane Niemi‘s Heritage Pumpkin Pies next week. We photographed her at the West Seattle Eagles‘ Junction headquarters yesterday afternoon during the first of her planned weekly order-taking sessions – and she says she only has 23 10-inch-pie pre-orders left to sell (though an ample supply remains for the 5-inch pie pre-orders). As noted in the calendar listing, Diane is making the pies to raise money for Alzheimer’s/dementia research, in honor of her 90-year-old mom, who taught her the pie recipe – which originated with Diane’s great-grandmother. She’ll be back at the Eagles’ HQ next Wednesday (September 12), 2-8 pm.
(Photo courtesy Dave Nichols)
“An astounding 2.5 billion people around the world still use crude open fires fueled by coal, wood and charcoal to cook meals,” says Vashon-based Burn Design Lab. Reducing that number, they add, will save people’s lives (as well as reduce deforestation). So they’re working on cook-stove technology. BDL founder Peter Scott is in the photo above, speaking today to the Rotary Club of West Seattle about the organization and its work.
Somebody out there needs blood … and in order for them to get it, somebody needs to donate it. If you’re able to do that before 4 pm today, that’s how much longer the Puget Sound Blood Center bloodmobile will be outside the Southwest Precinct at Delridge/Webster. We previewed the drive here last week.
Holiday weekends are often a perilous time for blood supply – more need, fewer donations. Right after the Labor Day weekend, a one-day drive is planned here in West Seattle, just announced by Seattle Police Southwest Precinct commander Capt. Steve Paulsen:
On Tuesday, September 4th, 2012, we will be having a blood drive at the SW Precinct. The Puget Sound Blood Center will be stationed in our parking lot.
We are partnering with King County Sheriff’s Department, the Department of Justice, and the Ahmadiyya Muslim community as a commemoration to honor the victims of 9/11.
The blood drive will be between 10 am and 4 pm. … The donation of blood is something we all can do that is positive as well as its impact in saving lives for all people. We invite our entire West Seattle community to stop by and give a pint!
The precinct is on SW Webster at Delridge Way SW – here’s a map.
(Video of everyone as they started the 5K, first through last person across the line)
FIRST REPORT, 9:35 AM: Half an hour after they began, the runners and walkers are continuing to cross the line at the Alki Beach 5K, raising money for Northwest Hope and Healing, the West Seattleite-led nonprofit that helps breast-cancer patients.
Unofficial first results: Kelly Spady (photo above) was first male runner across the line, Karra Whitmire the first female:
Spectacular morning to run and/or walk along the beach. Video, more photos, and more results to come.
9:45 AM UPDATE: And now the official info on the top two F and top two M, from the timing booth:
*Females: 34-year-old Karra Whitmire of Bothell in 20:34 (chip time), 30-year-old Rebecca Martin of Seattle (21:09)
*Males: 25-year-old Kelly Spady of Mukilteo in 17:12, 17-year-old Jack Griffing of Mountlake Terrace (18:13)
Jack is #838, right in front in this photo shared by Alki’s David Hutchinson:
Almost 1,000 people were signed up as of just before race time – we’ll check back with NWHH. We’ll also be adding video from the start of the race (our traditional “all participants as they head out” clip), including what the special inspirational guest speaker, survivor Tami Hyldahl-Haan, told the runners/walkers just before the start. (Photo added) Here’s Tami, with, at left, race emcee Eric Radovich:
(video added) Tami spoke of the help she received from NWHH after she was diagnosed shortly after she was widowed:
Note: There were two medical calls before the end of the race – one in the 2800 block of Alki, one in the 1700 block. Police told us the person in the 1700 block collapsed with a possible heart attack; race organizers confirm they got word it’s someone who was registered as a walker. We don’t have any condition information so far.
ADDED 12:25 PM: Yet more scenes, as we go through our photos – Before the race, its eventual winner, Kelly Spady, was up atop the Statue of Liberty Plaza steps leading the stretch with West Seattle Runner (WSB sponsor) proprietors Lori and Tim McConnell (for whom Kelly works, we noted when he won the West Seattle 5K in May):
Here’s the crowd they were leading:
Once all of today’s results are available online, looks like this will be the link.
5:07 PM UPDATE: They’re up now.
If you’ve been saving up documents to shred – your next chance to get it handled is coming up this weekend, and it’s a fundraiser, too. Barb Charbonneaux is hosting a shredding event in the lot outside Implant Dentistry of Washington, 3720 California SW, this Saturday, 9 am-noon – that’s across the street from her office. She says it’s a fundraiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, with a $10 donation “per banker-size box. There will also be bagels, juice and other treats available for a donation. All proceeds go to LLS.”
Krista Fink from Puget Sound Blood Center is hoping you can help them solve a problem – with lives in the balance – someplace for them to park their donation-drive bus. Her e-mail to us tells the story:
In the beginning of September, on Tuesday, September 4th, we have two mobile units that are still open that I need to fill and I just can’t find a location for them. I am hoping that maybe you will put something on your blog and maybe someone will see it and think “hey maybe my church can host a blood drive” or a business, youth group, etc. If we can’t find these mobile teams a ‘home’- a place to go, set up, and serve willing blood donors, then we will be missing out on over 80 donations. Because each blood donation saves 3 lives, those donations would save the lives of up to 240 local patients.
Please allow me to explain. We have a large number of donors in West Seattle. However, we have very few blood drives. Aside from the bi-annual high school blood drives at WSHS, we have a bus that comes to Westwood Village and one that comes to Jefferson Square every month and twice yearly we have a little bus at PCC. I’m looking for groups that might like to host blood drives so that we can provide more convenient opportunities for all of our wonderful West Seattle donors to donate at. Here at PSBC, we don’t necessarily create community- we are a part of it, and we operate for it, but we rely on other communities- groups of people who are already connected together in some way or another- who will support us. Blood Drives are wonderful ways to bring communities together- you never know who receives the blood and it could be your neighbor, your friend, your coworker, or the mysterious woman, a stranger, who is always in the same line as you at the coffee shop.
We have 17 mobile units (teams that go to various locations for mobile blood drives) that need to be scheduled for a blood drive every day in order to simply have the opportunity to collect enough blood to meet the needs of our inventory and provide a stable supply of blood for the community’s needs. Summer is tough- it is full of cancellations and a lack of donations as people are on vacation, the heat, people are busy, etc.
Specifically, we have a big bus and a big inside mobile team. The big inside mobile team requires a space of at least 900 square feet, three electrical outlets, good lighting and restroom access. The bus requires a flat surface and approx. 70 feet of parking lengthways as well as nearby restroom access.
Like I said, blood drives do create value for those who organize them, and the donors themselves. It’s an investment back into the community. There are already so many wonderful, dedicated blood donors in the area and I’m hoping someone can help!
(added) Krista’s office number is 425.462.4384 – her e-mail is KristaF@psbc.org.
A call for volunteers in communities including Seattle has just gone out, one month in advance of a statewide count of bicyclists and pedestrians. The goal, according to an announcement on the WSDOT site, is “to benchmark the numbers of people bicycling and walking on paths, bike lanes, sidewalks, and other facilities across the state on September 25th, September 26th and September 27th.” Find out more – and sign up to help – by going here.
(August 2010 photo by Christopher Boffoli)
Next Sunday morning (August 26th), Alki Avenue SW closes for a few hours so more than a thousand people can help send a message of hope via Northwest Hope and Healing. NWHH’s annual Alki Beach 5K Walk/Run raises money for the organization’s work, which includes healing baskets for newly diagnosed breast-cancer patients and an emergency fund for women dealing with breast or gynecologic cancer. This year’s kickoff speaker is a survivor who knows what it’s like to need that kind of resource – NWHH says Tami Hyldahl-Haan “became a widow and a breast cancer survivor as well as a single mother without a source of income” within a short period of time last year, and the NWHH Patient Assistance Fund helped her “get through a couple of rough months.” The 5K starts and ends at Alki Bathhouse; register online now, or at West Seattle Runner (WSB sponsor; California/Charlestown), or starting at 8 am on race day.
(SUNDAY NIGHT UPDATE: Family friend Aaron says Sophia’s stand raised more than $1,500!)
12:51 PM: Went to the West Seattle Farmers’ Market to check in on two benefits we’ve mentioned in recent days – and found both very busy! Above, Sophia’s Lemonade Stand outside KeyBank at California/Alaska, with lemonade and Bakery Nouveau treats, available by donation to help 7-year-old cancer patient Sophia Thompson and her family. (More about their story here – including a link to donate if you can’t get to the stand before 2 pm.) And inside the market itself, long lines for River Farm Organic Produce – you can’t miss the yellow-topped tent:
As reported here on Friday, a family friend e-mailed to make sure everyone knew this Central Washington farming family had lost a home in the big Taylor Bridge Fire – but they made it to the market and, since the farm itself was spared, have lots of vegetables to sell. The market continues, as usual, till 2 pm.
7-year-old Sophia Thompson is fighting a rare form of soft-tissue cancer, rhabdomyosarcoma – so rare that only 350 cases are diagnosed each year. That means big medical bills, as little Sophia goes through chemo and deals with a feeding tube to help keep her from losing too much weight. Her classmates at West Seattle Montessori School (WSB sponsor) are hoping you will help them help Sophia and her family – by buying lemonade from them at their fundraising stand outside the West Seattle Farmers’ Market this Sunday, 10 am-2 pm. You can find out more about Sophia – and make a donation now – at gofundme.com/sophia. There’s also a benefit at 7 pm August 25th at Bison Creek Pizza in Burien, 630 SW 153rd, with raffles and music, plus of course pizza. But first – lemonade this Sunday!
(Photo by Robin Lindsey)
Somewhere on a West Seattle beach in the next few days, someone may again encounter Casey the pup, who was guarded by Seal Sitters volunteers today, and if you see Casey – or another pup – they want to be sure you call their hotline, 206-905-SEAL. Robin Lindsey tells Casey’s story:
Seal Sitters watched over a too-thin pup at Lincoln Park today, the pup returning to the water about 12:30 with the incoming tide. We anticipate that the pup will show up today or tomorrow on another beach or possibly again at the Park. This is an extremely challenging time for seal pups, either newly weaned and struggling or, occasionally, still nursing. The pup we had just a few weeks ago, Georgie, was definitely a nursing age pup and only perhaps a day or so old. We were not able to determine approximate age on today’s pup, nicknamed Casey, because we never got a look at the teeth via a yawn. The number of erupted teeth would let us know at least for sure if the pup was weaned.
We can’t thank Betsy and Judy enough for calling the hotline and keeping the pup safe until we arrived. Apparently there were a couple of off leash dogs near the pup when he was discovered. I know we say it over and over again, but dogs are a tremendous danger to weak and vulnerable seal pups – just within the past couple of weeks an off leash dog killed a pup on one of the area’s islands.
This is the beginning of the high season when pups will visit the shores of South Puget Sound beaches. September and October are typically our busiest months with weaned pups seeking sanctuary on shore. Our motto is “Share the Shore” – we hope West Seattle people will do so and give these little pups a slightly better chance of survival than the 50 percent norm. Seal Sitters MMSN so appreciates the support of our community!
You can find Casey’s story, and much more, on the Seal Sitters’ blubberblog.
ADDED: One more thing Seal Sitters hope you will keep in mind – There are spots around the sound where the pups are being born, and they too need to be respected and protected; boats and other watercraft can wreak a lot of havoc in these spots (which aren’t in West Seattle, but you or someone you know may use those waters). Read about that here.
If you’re taking a bicycle to PCC Natural Markets-West Seattle (WSB sponsor) before 3 pm for the donation drive collecting bikes and parts for Togo, West Africa, say hello to Olowo-n’djo Tchala, founder and managing director of Alaffia Sustainable Skin Care. His company works with two cooperatives in Togo, generating fair-trade shea butter and coconut oil for their Thurston County-produced products. Alaffia has been collecting bikes since 2004 to help kids in Togo who otherwise have no way to get to school aside from hours of walking.
Two quick previews for Sunday – both special events at local grocery stores – from the WSB West Seattle Events Calendar:
BICYCLE DONATIONS: Have a bicycle and/or bicycle parts you don’t need? PCC Natural Markets-West Seattle (WSB sponsor) is collecting them on Sunday, 10 am-3 pm, for people in Togo. More info here.
CITYDOG MAGAZINE COVER-DOG SEARCH: West Seattle-founded CityDog Magazine is once again looking for a cover dog via a series of photo shoots around Seattle, and Sunday is the annual visit to West Seattle Thriftway (WSB sponsor), noon-3 pm. $10 fee goes to the Doney Memorial Pet Clinic.
Just as another fun-filled weekend is beginning – take a minute to check your schedule for next weekend, to and see if you can spare a few hours 
to help make the sixth annual Delridge Day festival happen one week from today at Delridge Community Center/Park. Organizers are circulating one last call for volunteers; they’re all volunteers too – including members of the North Delridge Neighborhood Council, which took over the festival last year when previous organizers were unable to keep it going. Next Saturday’s fun, 11 am-3 pm, includes the Alki Bike and Board (WSB sponsor) skate contest, live music, food trucks, and a kids’ zone (co-sponsored by WSB), and dozens of vendors. All they need now is some more help for setup and cleanup – 8:30-10:30 am and/or 3-4:30 pm – if you can help with either, please e-mail Tanya ASAP, ocean_bee@hotmail.com. See you there!
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