HELPING: West Seattle Food Bank gets big gift thanks to TV personality John Oliver – and marbles

| West Seattle news | WS & Sports

Thanks for the tips! The YouTube video above is the championship round of the 2020 Marble League, which was played online over the past two months. TV personality John Oliver – who hosts “Last Week Tonight” on HBO – sponsored the season. That enabled big donations to nonprofits as race “winnings” – and today, on behalf of the race winner (we won’t spoil it for you if it’s something on your watch list), the West Seattle Food Bank was announced as a $5,000 donation recipient. You can see the (brief) announcement at 15:07 into the video.

You might recall that WSFB has had celebrity boosts before – in 2016, for example, we reported on a big night for the food bank during a Bruce Springsteen concert, with fans’ donations matched by Eddie Vedder (who sang with The Boss). And you can help the food bank any time – via this link.

MONDAY P.S. We asked WSFB if there was any backstory on how they got chosen – but it’s a mystery. (We’ll see if we can find a contact for the generous team.)

Friend O'Dinghus August 16, 2020 (8:01 pm)

I am always so happy to hear when people I believe to be awesome turn out to awesomely charitable too. No better cause around than our Food Bank / Lifeline! Wasn’t Robin Williams a benefactor as well? Such heroes one and all.

MercyMoi August 16, 2020 (8:02 pm)

That’s great news! I’m glad the WSFB is getting a boost in donations and web presence.Speaking of celebrity donations, I remember Robin Williams made a donation just before he passed away. It was how I heard that he died.

Yma August 16, 2020 (9:28 pm)

The marble thing is so silly – but methinks we need some silly right now . & how cool is that? Yay John Oliver- come visit.

LyndaB August 16, 2020 (10:01 pm)

Didn’t watch it all the way but how entertaining for a bit. Yay, for the WSFB. John Oliver is awesome.

Friend O'Dinghus August 16, 2020 (11:29 pm)

The closing ceremonies were magnifeco! Worth going back to watch all by itself.

Matt P August 17, 2020 (12:28 am)

My wife won our fantasy marble league! Loser had to buy her a shirt of her team. We had a lot of fun each week watching the events.

WSB August 17, 2020 (12:40 am)

Congratulations to her! I have to admit, I hadn’t heard of this, nor had co-publisher P, nor had our home-from-college son. One of the great things about this job … you learn something new every day.
- Dereck August 17, 2020 (11:11 pm)
  
  Yrs ago when ESPN got ESPN2 , and espn3 they would show this stuff for hrs. Lol what I thought was funny was the announcers comments.

chemist August 17, 2020 (1:15 am)

Hah, I saw the original announcement late at night but didn’t know the WSFB was one potential beneficiary.

https://youtu.be/z4gBMw64aqk?t=1055

nf August 17, 2020 (7:59 am)

Yay! Do check out the marble racing. It’s really fun. They’re nice, bite-sized nuggets of happy.

Also John August 17, 2020 (8:33 am)

Way more entertaining than baseball….

drahcir61 August 17, 2020 (10:58 am)

I think it was fixed. I was leading after the first few laps but got bumped back (illegally!!!) by Mellow Yellow. The refs missed that call big time. I think they were hypnotized by Cat’s Eyes. Mellow Yellow, I will remember this next year.

Gina August 17, 2020 (12:18 pm)

Thanks John Oliver!

Robin August 17, 2020 (4:58 pm)

My worlds are colliding! I’ve been a big fan of this goofy youtube channel for over a year- was very excited when John Oliver promoted it and even more excited when I saw the donation to WS Food Bank! It’s a good bit of silliness that helps one to cope with this year. Go Hazers.

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