Pathfinder flamingos: The early bird gets the … photo

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Somebody breathlessly called WSB HQ early this morning to report this sighting on the lawn @ Pathfinder K-8 along Genesee Hill. We’re not just all about fire trucks and teardowns; we love happy photos too, so we were glad to head out for a look. If we were a betting person, we would suspect it has something to do with the big event coming up Saturday (update: actually it’s for Teacher Appreciation Week), and the flamingos remind us we hadn’t published the latest news release from the fine folks @ Pathfinder about the event, some advance work done last weekend, and how you can be part of Saturday’s festivities:

Pathfinder Parents and Kids Brave Wet Weather to Prepare for Next Saturday’s Spruce-up

A dozen Pathfinder parents and students scraped, scrubbed, brushed, and sprayed through Saturday’s cold and rain, getting the portable classroom buildings ready for a new coat of paint next weekend.

Next Saturday, May 10th from 10am-2pm dozens of volunteers from Seattle Works, parents, students, and others from the community will work hard to upgrade and beautify Pathfinder’s facilities. Two Seattle School Board members (Steve Sundquist and Sherry Carr) will come by to show their support as well.

“We welcome anyone and everyone who would like to help! Come drop by for an hour or the whole time from 10-2, encouraged Heidi Jindrich, Co-president of the Pathfinder PTSA.

“This is truly a community effort and would not have been possible without the support of local West Seattle donors True Value Hardware, Authentic Home, Alki Lumber, and Silverleaf Landscape,” said Jen Giomi, coordinator of Saturday’s efforts.

Projects include painting and staining of the portable units that house the Upper Grades, landscaping the area, and beautifying & restoring the amphitheatre in the lower field. Eric Baer, PTSA co-president was optimistic, “We hope the rainy weekends have run their course, but if not, we have lots of indoor projects if the weather doesn’t cooperate.”

The Pathfinder community has waited patiently for many years for assistance and support to upgrade the facilities which house this progressive Seattle Public School – the only alternative K-8 choice in the Southwest cluster.

With current funding and strategic decisions putting the possibility of a new or newly renovated building on indefinite hold, the community is stepping up to do what it can. In addition to this one-day effort, plans are underway for continued landscape architecture and transformation of important spaces at the school.

“Pathfinder has a wonderful and unique program going on inside the walls – we want to do what we can to brighten up the outside of those walls. The school has grown from just a handful of students 15 years ago to nearly 400 students today, and the facilities just haven’t been able to grow with us due to limited funding. This is a way for us to help out – we invite everyone in the community to join us and show their support for schools and children!” Baer says.

Volunteers from the community are warmly welcomed. Come by and lend a hand!

Pathfinder is located on Genesee Hill ( 5012 SW Genesee St. ) – volunteers will be gathering on the blacktop area behind the school, at 51st Ave SW and SW Dakota. For more information, contact Jennifer Giomi (jgiomi@comcast.net or 931-4303).

We’ll be stopping by while out doing ongoing field coverage of West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day, which of course also is on Saturday (our contest prizes are now confirmed, more on that and a couple other bits of WSCGSD news coming up later).

2 Replies to "Pathfinder flamingos: The early bird gets the ... photo"

  • STB May 7, 2008 (9:16 am)

    Thank you for the nice coverage of our wonderful school. The flamingos are part of teacher appreciation week–if you look closer you will see each one is wearing the name of a teacher.

  • Joey Harvey May 7, 2008 (10:27 am)

    I wanted to make sure that Furry Faces Foundation got a mention here!! They so generously DONATED these flamimgo’s to us Pathfinder after I called to see about renting them !! Thank you- Teri!! Also, furry faces has an event at Hotwire on California this weekend to make hanging plant baskets for Mothers Day!! And proceeds will go to wonderful Animal rescue groups..Furry Faces-thank you thank you!

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