...and other times other times of the year as well.... ;-)
As pretty much everyone knows, my life took a significant turn earlier this year when I was about to be officially served with eviction papers and had to vacate my apartment. I ended up in Nickelsville.
I'm thankful for the limitless generosity of so many people and local businesses here in the WSB community. So many of my long time WSB friends, as well as ones I've made since this change in my life have not only been very supportive of me on a personal basis, but Nickelsville as a community as well.
This support has gone way above and beyond the generous donations of hot meals, other food, clothing and other personal needs, to hiring people out of Camp for odd jobs, providing gravel and bark mulch to help alleviate flooding during heavy rains, to providing smokeless stoves for heat/cooking, to rides to appointments, to taking a great interest in doing so much more to help, and literally asking, "What do you need? What more can I, or others, do to help?"
Not everyone in the WSB community is able to financially or physically help out as much as they may like, but their generosity comes in other forms whether it's challenging naysayers that may make negative comments on WSB articles on Nickelsville, or popping in on a Forum thread where somebody is giving away/selling something, and saying;"Hey, Nickelsville could probably use that!", to contacting the Mayor's Office and City Council urging them to support Nickelsville. (I have a hunch that a lot of that goes on unmentioned by those doing it.)
Others down at Nickelsville, over the months, have recognized my connection to the WSB community, and thanked me personally for the generosity and support of our Donors. I can't in good conscience take credit, as other than putting up the occasional "Nickelsville Needs" list here on the Forums, I have not gone directly to our Donors and asked for help. These generous folks have done this all on their own.
What I don't mind taking credit for is being the link between Nickelsville and the Donors. I’m proud to be that connection, and to be associated in that manner with the WSB community. Without Nickelsville coming back to West Seattle, three days prior to my moving in, I don't know where I would have ended up, at least the first few days. I was in such a scramble to get rid of all my stuff and vacate the apartment, the thought of checking out NV, or one of Tent Cities hadn't even crossed my mind. It wasn't, literally, until much more than 24 hours before I moved to NV that a good WSB friend informed me they'd moved back. I literally felt a great sense of relief upon hearing that, and feel that since NV “came back at just the right time”, my connection to the WSB community is something I can give back to Nickelsville. But, obviously, I couldn’t have done that if it weren’t for the folks here taking it upon themselves to help.
Of course, none of this would have ever been possible if not for Tracy and Patrick hadn't taken the huge step and risk in turning WSB into a full-time hyper local news source, which resulted in this community being born and evolving into what it is today. I appreciate WSB's ongoing news coverage as well, as it keeps Nickelsville in the spotlight as we try to get the City to officially recognize us, and on to hopefully getting basic services such as water/sewer/electricity.
Of course, along with those articles, come the inherent anti-Nickelsville comments, which (using one of the favorite phrases of a good friend :-) ) oh by the way, I consider many of which to be more troll-ish rather than being a legitimate, constructive, concern but I know that our supporters have our back there as well.
So, a huge thanks to this wonderful, generous WSB community and Happy Holidays to all!
Mike
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