Need some inspiration? Check out more than 100 people joining forces to help local kids! Everywhere you turned at WestSide Baby‘s White Center warehouse/HQ this past Thursday night, volunteers of all ages gathered to “Sip and Sort.” They spent hours sorting donations – and none were more energized than the kids sorting “stuffies” to be distributed:

That young volunteer was impressed by the size of the stuffed shark. This one, even younger, was very adamant about sorting stuffies into age-appropriate piles – she was heard shouting “Baby safe! Baby safe!” multiple times.

Adult volunteers were busy too, readying dozens of car seats so they can be given to families to protect babies and toddlers:

One little-known fact about WestSide Baby that was spotlighted during Thursday night’s volunteer event: It doesn’t just serve babies. They serve older kids and even teenagers. That is at the heart of the current “Gear Up for Fall” campaign, although some Thursday sorters did deal with baby gear, like this huge box full of all types of bottles collected by Ridwell:

In addition to the 100+ volunteers giving WS Baby a boost on Thursday night, they got major support from King County too – a proclamation in honor of Diaper Need Week (which concludes tomorrow), and a $25,000 check, presented by County Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda and accepted by WS Baby’s executive director Allie Lindsay Johnson and development director Morgan McGinn before a short round of speaking:

WestSide Baby accepts donations from anyone – money and/or items – and diapers perennially top the need list. Or if you want to volunteer, at a one-time event like this or on an ongoing basis, here’s info on that.

(WCFB photo when exterior mural was unveiled at new HQ in December 2023)

A milestone for the White Center Food Bank, which also serves southernmost West Seattle: WCFB says it’s paid off the construction loan for its less-than-two-year-old “forever home” and is ready to celebrate – here’s the announcement sent to us to share with you:

Join White Center Food Bank to celebrate the significant achievement of raising just over 10 million dollars to buy their property and turn a former tortilla factory into a beautiful, welcoming space of belonging for the White Center community. To celebrate paying off their construction loan and closing their capital campaign, all are invited to the food bank on October 2nd from 4-6pm for food, drinks and community.

The Capital Campaign to Keep the Community Fed to build White Center Food Bank’s new facility in the heart of downtown White Center publicly launched in September 2022. Almost exactly three years later, the organization is debt free and can focus 100% of their future fundraising efforts on keeping the community fed.

This is especially significant in the wake of cuts to safety net programs and rising costs across all sectors, while White Center Food Bank continues to see a dramatic increase in need. This new facility not only supports people looking for food resources, it provides a dignified, beautiful space built for the community. Also, after being displaced multiple times in their history, they now have a permanent home they own and utilize, not just as a food bank, but also a community gathering space. The White Center Food Bank finally has their ‘forever home’ and the staff, board, volunteers and customers look forward to celebrating this wonderful news on October 2nd, together with the community that supports them.

Please RSVP here: forms.gle/hvdeJrYvCP7N4uzq6

That of course does not mean the WCFB won’t be fundraising for its ongoing work; in fact, it has a major fundraiser ahead on October 10.

As noted in our calendar and event list on Saturday, the Eazy Duz It Car Club‘s show “Chrome and Community,” with dozens of cars from around the region, lined 16th SW – closed to through traffic – in downtown White Center for much of the day. We sent Dave Gershgorn to photograph some of the cars and people, and you can see the gallery on our partner site White Center Now.

6:52 PM: An Amber Alert just buzzed on cell phones across the region, and it’s for a child reported to have been taken in White Center. We don’t have details yet but here’s the poster:

(update: image removed)

More info shortly.

7:03 PM: According to this post, the child has been found. As is our standard policy with resolved missing-person cases, we’re removing the image. (We still have no other info about the circumstances.)

9:28 PM: King County Sheriff’s Deputies found the car at 6th SW and SW 102nd; the thief/kidnapper is still at large, according to KCSO: “The child was found safe about an hour after the car was taken – she is safe and reunited with her mother … Deputies are currently looking for the suspect.”

Even if you’re not hungry – yet – you should be at the Taste of White Center! It’s a street party that, yes, is primarily to raise money for the White Center Food Bank, but there’s a lot of entertainment and information to be had too!

Mariachi musicians played outside Pho Tai, next to the new Whateke Sports Bar …

Dancers are in the Tim’s Tavern lot … and there’s a kid zone just north of 100th:

Families were also drawn to the visiting North Highline Fire Station crews parked on SW 98th:

But back to the food. Maps show all 35 participating venues – including WSB sponsors Alpine Diner and Big Mario’s Pizza:

Big Mario’s is serving up big slices of cheese pizza for your $5 ticket (buy tickets at the WCFB booth at 16th SW/SW 98th – each one gets you one of the designated dishes or drinks at participating businesses):

Desserts are available too – Puffy Pandy has ice-cream puffys:

Participants are on White Center’s side streets too – even north of Roxbury in South Delridge, Young’s Restaurant, Max’s Triangle Pub, Can Bar, Nacho Mama, and Meat the Live Butcher. You can get a map/list, but not tickets, at the WCFB table on 16th right off Roxbury if you want to decide. All the ticket revenue goes to the WCFB; the participants are being compensated with sponsor funding. This continues until 3 pm!

Story and photos by Hayden Yu Andersen
for West Seattle Blog

As we first reported last week, the Southgate Arcade will open July 11, offering vintage games, rare pinball machines and a greatly expanded private room for birthdays and events. With opening day just two weeks away, we got a sneak peek today inside the upcoming arcade, built inside the former Bank of America just north of Southgate Roller Rink.

Owner Josh Rhoads says it’s been a unique challenge to turn the building, which they had previously used for storage, into a functioning arcade.

“It spent four years as just a storage space, so we focused on trying to make it less sterile and bank-like,” Rhoads said, as he showed off the two-inch thick bulletproof glass protecting the teller’s station, which has since been repurposed into a storage room.

Something he won’t be covering up is the vault. Located to the right of the entrance, the steel vault will be repurposed to hold a rotating cast of more exclusive arcade machines, which visitors will be able to play while inside.

Currently the arcade has almost 30 machines, split between pinball and vintage arcade machines, with a few more on the way before their opening. The machines, much like the music, have been tailored to fit an ’80s and ’90s vibe.

A large portion of the space has been given to the 30-person private room, which is still waiting on finishing touches, including a wall-sized screen projector for games and karaoke. Previously we wrote about how this will expand on the 10-person private room in the Southgate Roller Rink. In addition to the 2-hour rentals, and the option of alcohol from the Southgate Roller Rink’s bar for 21+ events, Rhoads says that on days the room isn’t being used arcade-goers will be able to rent out the room for short, 30-minute intervals to figure out if they’d like to host a party or rent it for longer.

While it’s been a challenge, Rhoads says he’s excited to finally see it come together. Southgate Arcade will be open for all-ages play on Fridays from 5-11 pm, and Saturdays and Sundays from 11 am to 7 pm.

3:39 PM: Thanks to Andrew for sending photos from the White Center Pride street festival happening on and along 16th SW between SW Roxbury and SW 100th. Many of the venues along 16th are presenting entertainment and/or activities – Lariat Bar, as usual, has a wrestling ring:

There’s a family play area, too:

We have a photographer there now and plan to add more photos.

5 PM: And here they are (WSB photos from here down):

You can meet the people behind White Center Pride at the festival – above, we photographed Eliot Mills and Linda Falcon. Plenty of performances, including DJs:

Interactive activities include axe-throwing!

And bull-riding:

As mentioned above, wrestling – continuing until 6 pm:

The wrestlers are part of a tournament promoted by DEFY.

WestSide Baby board of directors members

Story, photos and video by Jason Grotelueschen
Reporting for West Seattle Blog 

 A festive crowd of supporters gathered Thursday night at the WestSide Baby warehouse headquarters in White Center, to kick off summer in style at A Night Out with WestSide Baby 2025, the organization’s iconic annual fundraiser event and celebration. All proceeds from the event will help the organization provide essential items to thousands of local children and their families.

WestSide Baby was founded in 2001 “in a new mom’s garage” in West Seattle, and celebrates its 25th anniversary next year. The group fulfills an average of 400 orders per week, and in 2024 was able to distribute $3.29 million in diapers, clothing, and essential equipment to families in need.  The organization won the Not for Profit of the Year award last month as part of 2025 Westside Awards from the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce, as we reported here. 

The event on Thursday featured food and drink, music, games, guest speakers, a silent auction and “raise the paddle” fundraising, with attendees getting an inside look at WestSide Baby HQ during the festivities:

Organizers emphasize that, yes, providing diapers for kids in need is crucially important to the group’s mission, but they also provide much more than that: think clothing, books, toys, wipes, baby food, car seats and all manner of baby supplies. To that point, taped to the back of every action paddle on Thursday night was a printout of an actual order fulfilled by WestSide Baby just in the past week! One example:

And those paddles were put to good use at the event, with attendees bidding generously to support WestSide Baby’s mission, including this high-participation “raise the paddle” round in which bidders could hold up their fingers to indicate how many boxes worth of size 6 diapers (the group’s most high-demand diaper size) they’d be willing to help buy:

Here is our video of that “raise the paddle” round, which is just one of the many giving levels that attendees participated in, ranging from $45 (the cost of a single box of size 6 diapers) to $5,000, with multiple levels in between. Organizers also announced that someone had also made an anonymous donation of $10,000 to the cause, bringing cheers from the crowd.  The silent auction and raffle were big hits, too, with organizers announcing the lucky winners as bidding concluded. The emcees for the evening were WestSide Baby board members Amy Biancofiori (with the paddle in the photo below) and Nicole DeCario: