Sign up now – for something you’ll hopefully never have to do
Be on the lookout for that display around West Seattle in the months to come. It’s part of the next phase of an effort that really started to rev up last year. If you were a WSB’er last spring/summer, you may recall our coverage of special events introducing neighborhoods to community meeting places (like this one), designated just in case of major disasters — someplace you could go to get connected with information and help, if all the other channels fail. There currently are eight such neighborhood gathering spots around West Seattle which are now dubbed “emergency-communication hubs.”
Saturday morning, many of the volunteers who are working on this got together in Morgan Junction for a discussion including guests from the city and county — and that’s where we all learned about help that’s needed right now for a “corps” that hopefully will never have to spring into action – the Public Health Reserve Corps. Don’t let the name scare you off – they’re looking to sign up volunteers who are NOT health pros, too — read on for more about that, and about the state of disaster readiness in local neighborhoods:Read More
Getting the word out: Water Day today, World TB Day Tuesday
Volunteers tabled and walked along Alki today in honor of World Water Day — to make sure you know that something we take for granted — a clean, safe water supply — is still elusive for way too many people worldwide. Find out more here (including info about an event at Seward Park on May 30th, in which participants will try to walk 5 kilometers carrying 5 gallons of water — which water1st.org notes is “the average walk made by women and children in poor countries who lack access to safe, convenient water supplies”). Another day of awareness with local involvement is just two days away — World TB Day on Tuesday, with local students helping put on a big event downtown:
The World TB Day event Tuesday night at Town Hall is free – and promises to be an eye-opener. Full details here. If you thought tuberculosis was a thing of the past – this King County-specific information alone will cure you of that notion. (The local rate, in fact, hit a 30-year high in 2007.) Student organizers also have been sending out TB info via Twitter – follow their tweets (and see the archives) at twitter.com/worldtbday.
West Side MOPS Spa Day: Big break for little ones’ moms
Two words: Chocolate fountain.
That alone may have been enough to recommend the annual West Side MOPS (Mothers of PreSchoolers) Spa Day today at West Side Presbyterian Church. Any and all of the group’s 65 members were welcome to come indulge in free pleasures donated by local businesses – from that chocolate fountain and other treats, to chair massages …
… and hair help …
… and lots more. As event coordinator Leah Barham put it, if you have little kids (she has a 3-year-old and a first-grader) you don’t tend to take time to take care of yourself, so Spa Day gives MOPS moms a chance for a relaxing break. Without the kids – they were in another area of the WSPC building. That’s also how MOPS runs its meetings, 1st and 3rd Fridays, October through May – while the moms get together, the kids are having a good time in the MOPPETS program. Lots more about MOPS at the group’s website; meantime, read on for a list of the businesses that supported today’s event (Leah says they’re grateful for so much generosity even with the challenging economy):Read More
Delridge Produce Co-op updates: Potluck plan, & Galena’s story
(From left, Delridge Produce Co-Op organizer Galena White, Nola [daughter of Jennifer Grant], board members Jennifer Grant and Ranette Iding, volunteer consultant Johnathan Oliver from Heart On My Sleeve)
The next big event for the volunteers working toward a Delridge Produce Cooperative is a community potluck (to which you’re invited!) one week from tomorrow, and they gathered to work on the plan last night at Pearls coffeehouse. Music, food, a raffle, and even a chili-making demonstration are planned for the event 11 am-2 pm (see the flyer on the Delridge Produce Cooperative home page) Saturday, March 28, at Youngstown Arts Center. Your role? Show up, with “healthy food” to share, and have fun. Meantime, co-op organizer Galena White recently wrote up a recap of how this all got started, in response to requests from other media looking into stories about the Delridge Produce Cooperative effort, and we want to share her story as an inspirational instance of one person who decided to stop “complaining” – and take action – see what she did, step by step:Read More
First jobless, now homeless: Sherry can’t keep Moon any more
That’s Moon the cat. Moon needs someplace to stay – short term or long term. His person, Sherry, lost her job, then got evicted this week, according to Delridge resident Paul Boyarin, who met Sherry at her recent yard sale. Now that she’s staying at an emergency shelter, she can’t keep Moon with her; the neighbor who’s watching him can’t keep him; Paul himself is maxed out with four foster cats; and local cat rescuers say they’re full to capacity right now. So Paul wonders if anyone in WSB-land would be interested in taking care of Moon, who’s about three years old, described as “very friendly and sweet” and “a well-loved indoor cat.” If you can help, here’s how to reach Paul: pzalic@yahoo.com
Followup: Heart On My Sleeve – next move, and how to help
Here on WSB last week, you met Heart On My Sleeve in this story – three men, working out of a Pigeon Point duplex, hoping to change the world for the better, with recycled-material fashion, design, and music: Navy veteran Johnathan Oliver, former UW football player Shelton Sampson (shown above), and musician Art B. They were hopeful their “big break” was just around the corner; in the week and a half since we met them, some new excitement has materialized, starting with Seattle Fashion Week next month. Johnathan wrote to say:
Seattle Fashion Week has invited us to show our line. They also want us to serve as visual graphic directors for the show. We will also have the opportunity to design a piece for Vitamin Water. They are one of the sponsors for the event. They will be providing us with the money to purchase the materials needed for the piece. We have so many great ideas and I’m sure we would be able to make quite a statement at this show. We feel that a successful show can and will catapult us in the local fashion scene as well as the global.
Johnathan later e-mailed to say fashion-industry insider BJ Coleman has agreed to come here for the show, if they can figure out how to get him here. And that’s not all. They’ve been asked to perform some of their songs at a Fashion Week promo event on March 26, plus:
We will be creating 10 pieces for the fashion show. Each piece will have a charity associated to it. Such charities as The American Heart Association, the glass-blowing program in Tacoma. We are also creating a piece for Fashion Week that will be auctioned off at the Community School of West Seattle to raise money to replace technologies in their preschool. The kids will actually be helping us construct the piece as well.
They’ve been getting by on something of a shoestring – so in order to make all this happen, they have a wish list that you might be able to help with – read on to see it, plus an easy way to help:Read More
Jobless in West Seattle? Keri wants to meet you
Don’t let the smile on Keri Robinson‘s face fool you – She’s coping, as are so many these days, with unemployment. We got a note from her this afternoon that said, in part: “I am a West Seattlelite who was given the pink-slip from Microsoft about 2 months ago and curious about a couple things. First, do you know where all the other pink-slipped Seattlelites hang out? It’s been about 2 months post layoff – and I have yet to really run into anyone, everyone seems to be hibernating or something. After about my first month, I came out of my shell and decided to start blogging about my experience as an unemployed person, but I am hoping to find some of the others out there – we are in the same boat and despite the long lonely journey through unemployment land ahead of us – I was hoping I could try to recruit some of our local pink-slips to be guest bloggers on my site.” So we asked Keri to send us a photo and told her we’d put out the call to you – if you happen to be in the jobseeking mode – you’ll find her site, Lords and Ladies of Leisure, by going here; her e-mail address is on the “about” page. (We’ll be adding her site feed shortly to the WSB Blogs page, too.)
Wistful in West Seattle: Remembering a neighbor
PCG e-mailed this tribute, to share with you:
There was an elderly gentleman that lived on a street adjacent to our house (33rd SW near Andover) that we fondly refer to as Pussy Cat Lane because of all of the Tabbies that Titus (our dog) searches for with each morning walk.
He was an interesting man, who for the most part kept to himself. While I would often see him shuffling back and forth with his shopping bag, we rarely exchanged greetings with the exception of good morning, or good afternoon. I remember in exacting detail one day last summer, during an unusually hot spell, when he was walking in front of the house while the sprinkler system was on; there he stood soaking up the mist and all the goodness that a cool rain could bring on a hot summer’s day. In that brief moment I found myself admiring him for his love of life and all that it can bring.
His house is now dark. One of the tires is flat on his van. He died last week.
I, for one, will miss him and his ability to put one foot in front of the other, his love of life and his ability to get on. But it is that picture of an elderly man in a bucket hat standing in the spray of a sprinkler system that will never leave my mind. He meant something to someone, I was one of them. I am saddened for the loss. He made my world a better place, though some would deem him insignificant. He meant something to someone, I must admit I was one of those individuals, though he didn’t know it.
A West Seattle student abroad asks for your help, to help others
Michelle Baker is a born-and-raised West Seattleite – attended Lafayette Elementary, Madison Middle School, and West Seattle High School – but right now she’s in Butare, Rwanda (map), as part of her International Studies major at Seattle University. Before she left, she held a Beads for Life fundraiser to help Ugandan women – the photo above shows Michelle and mom Julie at the fundraiser. Now that she’s in Africa, Michelle is writing about her experiences online – michellejbaker.blogspot.com. But her trip is about more than studying; Michelle — a longtime soccer player — and her friend Caitlin, from Colorado, are also spending time in Uganda and have written a proposal to carry out a dream to help women through sports, by starting a soccer team in Northern Uganda. They need support, including money. Read on to see what they want to do and why:Read More
West Seattle woman with aid/peace delegation in Gaza
If you follow what’s happening in the Middle East, you may have heard about an international aid delegation, sponsored by the women’s peace group Code Pink, that made it into Gaza from a long-closed Egyptian border crossing. Turns out a West Seattle woman is with the group. Dr. 
Amal Sedky Winter‘s daughter, Miriam Yovetich, e-mailed to share her mother’s story. In e-mail to family and friends, Dr. Winter described the delegation as “almost 60 women with sleeping bags and tents” as they camped out hoping the border crossing would open so they could fulfill an invitation from the United Nations Refugee Agency to be in Gaza for International Women’s Day last weekend. (Her e-mail can be read in its entirety on this website.) Dr. Winter is an Egyptian-born psychologist who has been in the U.S. since her teen years, and has long advocated on behalf of Arab women’s rights. The delegation’s visit is scheduled to end today, according to this story about a B.C. woman who also is with the group. Dr. Winter’s daughter also tells us her mother has been developing this website to share information about Egypt.
West Seattle weekend scenes: Fashion show at The Sanctuary
Sorry, no runway models – instead, a fresh new concept: Real women wearing real clothes! (And, in our short clip, modeling to the fitting tune of “Got to Be Real,” the 1979 disco classic by Cheryl Lynn.) Good turnout this afternoon – we counted at least 50 – for the fashion show/West Seattle Food Bank fundraiser at The Sanctuary at Admiral (the ex-church-turned-event-venue north of Hiawatha):
The fashion show was co-sponsored by Designer Labels Consignment Boutique, Clementine, Elliott Hair Salon, Small Clothes, Coffee to a Tea w/ Sugar, and Herban Feast Catering.
Be ready to fight West Seattle hunger with “Scouting for Food”
(Scouts from Troop 282 with donations from the 2008 “Scouting for Food”)
Heads-up on door-to-door visitors you DON’T need to be suspicious about – in fact, you’re going to want to welcome them warmly: The folks at West Seattle Boy Scout Troop 282 e-mailed with advance word of Scouting for Food, which will send Scouts into local neighborhoods the next two Saturdays:
Scouting for Food
March 14 and 21
For twenty years, the Boy Scouts have worked together with community food banks to collect food for the hungry during the annual Scouting for Food drive. To date, more than 23 million cans of food have been collected for local community food banks. The Boy Scouts of America teaches the value of community service in all of its programs and the importance of helping others. Doing a Good Turn Daily is a cornerstone of the Scouting program.
Scouts from West Seattle Troop 282 will walk our neighborhoods delivering door hangers on Saturday, March 14. The following Saturday, March 21, Scouts will follow-up to collect non-perishable food item donations and deliver them to the West Seattle Food Bank. Emphasis is on food most needed for nutrition such as peanut butter, baby formula, packaged meals and canned goods, especially tuna, soups, stews, meats, fruits and vegetables.
Please help support the hungry in our community. It is more important now than it has been for many decades. Watch for a door hanger on your door and get your donations out early on March 21st, so you can join our Scouts in Doing a Good Turn Daily.
A bonus — donations to West Seattle Food Bank (and also White Center Food Bank, which serves part of West Seattle) count extra this month and next because of the Feinstein Challenge (explained here). ADDED 5:09 PM: First word of this came from Troop 282 – thank you! – but we also asked a followup question about other troops participating; we’re told that other area participants will include Troop 284 and Cub Scout Packs 282, 284, 285, 793, and 799. (As always, we really appreciate being able to share news like this with the rest of West Seattle, so whatever you and/or your group are up to, editor@westseattleblog.com – any time!)
West Seattle(ites’) weekend scenes: Rotarians and “mummies”
Big day for work parties! Thanks to Josh Sutton for the pix and this report:
Rotarians Bill Fazekas (left) and Ryan Reese split firewood today at YMCA Camp Colman, where the weather held out most of the day. Located on Key Peninsula, Camp Colman has an almost-100-year connection to West Seattle, founded by families in the Fauntleroy area.
Ten Rotarians (and three of their kids) joined forty other volunteers who cleaned winter debris, spread woodchips on trails and prepped camp for schoolgroups and spring campouts. YMCA Camp Colman also offers summer camp and is taking signups now @ www.ymcacampcolman.org If you’re a Camp Colman alumni, you can find a group on Facebook. Also, the annual Goop breakfast is coming up on Saturday, March 28 at the Fauntleroy YMCA.
The Fauntleroy Y is part of the West Seattle Family YMCA, which is a WSB sponsor. One more photo, this one of the whole group:
Meantime, we’re proud to be a co-sponsor of the first-ever Winter Movies on the Wall series in The Junction, which kicked off tonight with “The Mummy” – preceded by a race that’s hard to explain – you just have to see it:
The winner took home a gift certificate for Square 1 Books in Jefferson Square. Two more Winter Movies on the Wall, coming up the next two Saturday nights – the original (Gene Wilder) “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” next Saturday 3/14, and “Napoleon Dynamite” on 3/21, showtime at West Seattle Christian Church‘s brand-new activity center at 7 pm, doors open 5:30 pm, bring your own chairs and donations for West Seattle Food Bank.
West Seattle weekend scene: Annual cleanup at Fairmount Ravine
Snow? What snow? A few flakes didn’t stop 15 hardy people from volunteering their time this morning for the annual — every year since 1993! — cleanup of Fairmount Ravine, which runs along Fairmount Avenue, including under the Admiral Way bridge. John Lang told WSB they were glad to find less trash this year, and not surprised to find a whole lot of spray-paint cans. (You can see some of the paint vandals’ handiwork in our photos from last year’s cleanup.) They’re also working to clear invasives like ivy from the big trees along the slope.
If you look really closely – that blue jacket is being worn by one of the volunteers who was all the way up the slope under the bridge when we stopped by. Tully’s and Admiral Safeway donated coffee, hot chocolate, and donuts. (Congrats also to everyone who volunteered in today’s other work parties, including Lincoln Park and Camp Long; we include work parties in the West Seattle Weekend Lineup every week – they’re usually on Saturday mornings/middays and a great way to kick off the weekend.)
“Character counts”: Ex-coach honors “Champions of Character”
(Pictured from left are: Meredith Lang, Hope Lutheran 8th grader; Tori Hammond, 7th grader; Erin Salle, 8th grader; Anika Lidstrom, 8th grader; Meghan Espinoza, 6th grader; Olivia Wake, 7th grader. They were coached by teachers Kristin Tarabochia, and Kim Hood)
We received that photo of Hope Lutheran basketball-team members from Bob Matthews, along with a tribute he wrote in honor of their recent effort. Read on to see what he wants you to know about them, and the lesson they taught:Read More
Benefit brunch for West Seattle’s only homeless-family helpers
We first showed you that photo back in October, in this story about Family Promise of West Seattle, the peninsula’s only agency helping homeless families, with a day center and arrangements for night lodging. Board member Donna Pierce e-mailed today to invite you to a benefit brunch:
West Seattle Blog readers are cordially invited to “Delivering on the Promise,” a brunch benefiting Family Promise of Seattle, this Saturday, March 7, from 10:30 AM ’til noon, at Fauntleroy Church. Brunch begins at 10:30, and a program follows at 11. Please come hear about Family Promise’s work in our community, coordinating a network of congregations and volunteers that provides fellowship, temporary housing and food for newly homeless families, while staff provides case management, advocacy and direction to help guests access the housing and employment resources they need to regain independence. Admission is free, and donations supporting the organization’s mission will be solicited during the program. RSVP 206-388-9170 or fundraiser@familypromiseofseattle.org
Be a ray of hope for “The Sunshine Fund,” to help survivors
Sarah Bonzer e-mailed today to ask if we’d share a request that she in turn is sharing on behalf of her friend and co-worker, Katie Hogan; both of them live in West Seattle – that’s a candid photo of Katie at left, sent after we asked Sarah for one to go with this story. Before reading Katie’s request, you should hear what Sarah has to say about her friend Katie:
Katie was diagnosed with advanced cancer three years ago and I’ll never forget the day she made the announcement in our conference room at work. You don’t wish something like this on anyone, let alone a woman in her thirties with a young daughter and husband who has survived his own bout with cancer. Katie is one of the gentlest, most caring, considerate and hard working individuals you’ll ever meet. My life is better for having known her during this time, if that is at all possible. Sadly, Katie likely won’t live a full life like the rest of us. Yet in her final years, she stays committed to organizations such as the one she describes below which have supported her during this journey.
The organization is called the Young Survival Coalition; its Seattle branch has less than $40 left in its “Sunshine Fund.” Sarah says even $10 would be a big help – but you don’t have to take her word for it; read Katie’s note, by clicking ahead:Read More
West Seattle YMCA Partners With Youth “victory party” tonight
As the saying goes, it takes a village to raise a child – and in the case of this story, it takes a village of fundraisers to rustle up the money for programs to help kids. The West Seattle Family YMCA (WSB sponsor) gathered fundraising volunteers at The Hall at Fauntleroy tonight for the Partners With Youth Campaign “victory celebration”: More than $202,000 raised, close to the $205K target (half of the total $410K goal, with the other half raised by the Y’s Board of Managers). This money goes to keep YMCA programs accessible to kids, teens, and families in West Seattle, Vashon, and South Park. Tonight’s event brought together volunteers to report their individual achievements – those who exceeded certain personal goals got T-shirts – the photo above shows Katie Taylor, director of the Y’s afterschool program at Madison, calling out goal-exceeders’ names. (The Y website offers online-donation opportunities, by the way.)
Followup: Mike Gain takes the Prudential NW reins with optimism
(photo at left, Mike Gain in his West Seattle office, next to framed drawings of Cayce and Gain’s past headquarters)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
“Personally, I think the market’s bottomed out.”
Longtime West Seattle real-estate/development leader Mike Gain was careful to include the term “personally.” But it’s emblematic of his optimistic nature, which he is using to fuel what he calls the “run” to get up to speed as he takes over Prudential Northwest Realty, which he ran for two years after he and Roger Cayce sold their West Seattle-iconic Cayce and Gain real-estate firm to Prudential in 2002.
That “run” hasn’t stopped since at least Tuesday, when he prepared to tell the PNW areawide team he was coming back to run the company (as first reported here Thursday morning, once Gain confirmed it).
Even as I sat in Gain’s 3210 California SW office this afternoon – where I’d last visited in December 2007 to talk with Gain and Cayce about their rezoning proposal for the blocks surrounding it (more on that proposal’s status later) – signs of that “run” persisted.
Read More
Update: Fire in South Delridge; prayer hall closed
(added 7:14 pm, photo by Tony Bradley, replacing our original iPhone photo)
ORIGINAL 6:16 PM REPORT: 9428 Delridge, commercial building. Here’s a map. Scanner says smoke from the second floor. Off to check it out.
6:31 PM UPDATE: (From TR at the scene) No visible flames, but smoke coming from roof of the Ty Ty Market building that is just to the north of the Cafe Rozella (etc.) building on the alley (which veers southeast from a driveway opening on Delridge). Flames were seen on the second floor, but seems to be out now. The fire engines have traffic blocked around the Delridge and Roxbury Triangle.
UPDATE 6:43 PM: No one was hurt and fire crews are mopping up.
UPDATE: 6:51 PM: Traffic is also blocked along 17th SW between Roxbury and Delridge as crews are still packing up.
7:02 PM UPDATE: The incident commander told us at the scene that fire investigators have just gone in to figure out what started the fire and how much damage was done. SFD spokesperson Dana Vander Houwen says nobody was inside when the fire started. Photographer Tony Bradley got to the scene shortly after firefighters and saw some flames behind a 2nd-story window; we’ll add his photo when we get it (7:13 pm, we subbed it out for the iPhone photo originally on top of this – and here’s a second one from Tony, beneath this update).
10:07 PM: Just in case you’re wondering, we’re still awaiting official word from SFD on the fire’s cause.
8:49 AM MONDAY: Our fellow White Center Now contributor Ricardo Guarnero at neighboring Cafe Rozella says the fire actually was in a Muslim prayer hall in this building. We are still awaiting word from Seattle Fire investigators regarding cause/damage. Ricardo adds that there’s a note on the door saying “MASJID is closed indefinitely,” and adds, “The sign is on the door where Muslims gathered to pray five times a day. Next door is the ‘Hope Academic Enrichment Center.’ Both were there for the Muslim community in White Center – mostly African immigrants from the horn of Africa.”
12:39 PM MONDAY: SFD tells WSB that “improperly discarded smoking materials … in a vinyl couch” were to blame for the fire, which has been ruled accidental. Damage is estimated at $25,000. A photo we took at the scene this morning shows a burned couch:
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