West Seattle, Washington
28 Thursday
Hundreds of people spread out across the east lawn at Hiawatha Community Center last Thursday night to enjoy the first of this year’s Summer Concerts at Hiawatha, presented by the Admiral Neighborhood Association (co-sponsored by local businesses including WSB) – and you’re invited to join the fun again tomorrow night for concert #2: 6:30 pm, with Back Burner onstage playing bluegrass. ANA president Katy Walum says kids can get free face-painting (2 painters will be there!) – the concert of course is free – but tomorrow night, please bring nonperishable food and/or money for the West Seattle Food Bank. Katy shares this note from WS Food Bank’s Anna Guitchounts:
The West Seattle Food Bank would like to thank the Admiral Neighborhood Association, Hiawatha Community Center, and all of the sponsors and community supporters of the Summer Concert Series at Hiawatha Community Center this year. We are very honored to be the recipient of the donations collected at the concert being held this Thursday August 5th. Last fiscal year this agency provided food and other supplies to families in need more than 36,000 times. The support of our community is essential in helping us fulfill this need. We thank you for your support of this event and the West Seattle Food Bank and we look forward to seeing you there!
Here’s our as-it-happened coverage from last Thursday’s concert – and the current forecast for Thursday night.
(Alki Beach 5K photo from September 2009)
Less than four weeks till the Alki Beach 5K Walk/Run (WSB sponsor) – coming up August 29th, benefiting Northwest Hope and Healing, a West Seattleite-run organization that helps newly diagnosed breast-cancer patients all over the region. If you’re not signed up yet, you can get a $5 discount on your registration fee during a special Alki Beach 5K Registration Party at Coastal (2532 Alki SW) this Friday, 4-7 pm. “Treats, drinks, giveaways” also are promised in the announcement on Coastal’s website – plus a 20 percent discount on one item, if you sign up while there. (If you just can’t make it to the party, you can register online by going here.)
The family friend who is helping organize efforts to assist the family of Petty Officer 3rd Class Jarod Newlove, the West Seattle sailor found dead in Afghanistan last week, has just set up a website: You can make donations to help PO3 Newlove’s family by going to jarodnewlovefamily.blogspot.com; the 25-year-old sailor leaves behind a wife and two very young children. Their friend, Hailey, also says they’re working on plans for a public event to remember and honor PO3 Newlove – no date/place set yet. 4 PM UPDATE: That event is now set for Tuesday – we’ve published a separate story here.
If you have a bicycle you can spare – somebody needs it on the other side of the globe. On Saturday, you can drop it off in The Triangle – and volunteers will take it from there. From Gatewood resident Tom Furtwangler:
A bicycle can truly have a transformative impact on the life of someone who lives several miles from their school, work, clinic, or water source: cycling reduces their time in transit, and increases the load they can transport.
There are many great organizations working to move used bikes to Africa, and build programs on the ground there to make sure bikes get in the right hands. And we have one right here in the Northwest – The Village Bicycle Project, which recently celebrated shipping its 100th container of bikes to Ghana!
Village Bicycle Project is having a bike drive this Saturday at the West Seattle YMCA from 9-5, which makes it incredibly easy to drop of an old bike, bike frame, bike wheel, pile of parts, whatever you have lying around, while you are out doing your weekend errands!
The Y is at 4515 36th SW (here’s a map).
Newly hung murals are gracing the walls of the closed-again Genesee Hill Elementary School … ironically, relocated from another closed Seattle Public Schools building, the former home of Van Asselt Elementary on Beacon Hill. That’s part of what’s happening as the new Genesee-Schmitz Neighborhood Council continues working with the district to keep the vacated campus from becoming an eyesore (or worse) – and they’re inviting you to join in a cleanup this Saturday, 9 am-1 pm: it’ll involve gardening, too, starting with the front beds and moving to the north playground as time allows. The GSNC also promises, “There will be free popsicles at noon!”
(Earlier WSB as-it-happened coverage of today’s WestSide Baby “Stuff the Bus” in West Seattle can be seen here)
About half an hour after the last diaper donations arrived at the WestSide Baby “Stuff the Bus” donation-drive site at the West Seattle Farmers’ Market, the diaper-filled bus pulled up in White Center – where WS Baby is headquartered – to unload, and the volunteers you see in our video got to work. Before the bus left West Seattle, WestSide Baby’s executive director Nancy Woodland had given us the quick tally on what they’d counted up, as of just after 2:
That followed a sudden down-to-the-wire flurry of donations – including these three deliveries just minutes after 2:
We didn’t get everyone’s names but we know the last three – local architects Brandon Nicholson and Shanna Kovalchick (whose business is headquartered in The Junction, steps away from the Stuff the Bus site) and toddler son Benjamin. And even though the donating finally stopped there around 10 past 2, it moved on down the street, where we caught up with Full Tilt Ice Cream‘s Justin Cline for the second time today (without even going to his White Center HQ):
His famous ice cream was served at the West Seattle Nursery Ice Cream Fest till 4, to raise money and collect diapers (note the boxes that had already arrived). Add to that volunteers at three local Safeways – we’ll check with WestSide Baby tomorrow to see if there’s a final total yet. But the bus-stuffing isn’t done – while last year they collected at locations in West Seattle and Burien on the same day, this year they’ve broken Stuff the Bus (co-sponsored by WSB) into two events, and they’ll have the bus at Burien Town Square during “Hot August Nights” on August 7th – spread the word! (You can also donate to WestSide Baby online anytime – go here.)
Need your car washed? Head to the West Seattle Eagles‘ south side parking lot before 3 pm – Pencil Me In For Kids will benefit, raising money for school supplies for kids in need (September gets ever closer) … look for the Illusions Hair Design (WSB sponsor) VW Bug on California outside the entrance, balloons and all.
Also up and running till 3 pm – the Highland Park Sunday Market‘s third edition at 12th/Holden. More edibles this week, including the Full Tilt Ice Cream bike – we even spotted Full Tilt proprietor Justin Cline chatting with the Street Treats truck crew:
Among the other offerings – gorgeous cedar planters made by a Highland Park resident:
(He’s also stocking up the West Seattle Nursery Ice Cream Fest under way now till 4 pm, raising money for WestSide Baby and collecting diapers on Stuff the Bus day.) And Alki Cab Company‘s Kelly Merten is selling her jewelry as well as her books about raw food and raising vegetarian/vegan kids:
You can get raw food at a couple booths with fresh produce, by the way! The market’s in the Highland Park Improvement Club lot.
(Adding in-progress reports till the 2 pm final tally)
9:08 AM ORIGINAL REPORT: That’s the sizable WestSide Baby contingent in Saturday’s American Legion Post 160-presented West Seattle Grand Parade – promoting today’s big event, the annual “Stuff the Bus” diaper drive (co-sponsored by WSB), 10 am-2 pm at West Seattle Farmers’ Market. Go buy some diapers and drop them off at the school bus you’ll see parked on 44th SW by the market. If you can’t make it there, you’ve got options – during the same hours, 10 am-2 pm, volunteers are collecting diapers at all three local Safeways (Roxbury, Jefferson Square, Admiral). And at West Seattle Nursery from 1-4 pm, you can drop off diapers during the Ice Cream Fest (featuring Full Tilt Ice Cream, with proceeds also benefiting WestSide Baby). They help thousands of local families every year – here’s a simple chance to be part of helping them keep the littlest members of those families healthy and happy. We’ll see you there.
10:08 AM UPDATE: We got to the bus just in time to photograph the first donors – Ava and Helen, who brought more than 50 diapers! Note that WestSide Baby also is having a bake sale – with cupcakes, cookies and more. It’s under a tent immediately north of the bus. Check out the cute fish cookies:
We’ll be checking back!
12:11 PM UPDATE: As of noon, the bus hit 10,000 diapers. The photo above shows volunteers Yvonne and Jordan at Admiral Safeway – one of the three local Safeways where diapers also are being collected till 2 pm, just like the bus at the Farmers’ Market; when we stopped there around 12:30 pm, they’d already rounded up 800 diapers at Admiral Safeway (where you can say hi to Anne from Ventana Construction [WSB sponsor and “Stuff the Bus” co-sponsor] between now and 2). If you’ve got kids, bring ’em along to donate at the bus – they get to beep the horn!
2:18 PM UPDATE: 27,000 diapers’ worth of donations at the bus (and totals to come from satellite dropoffs)! You can bring diapers to West Seattle Nursery till 4 pm (and buy Full Tilt Ice Cream to raise $ for WS Baby). Separate update in the works for later. Nancy Woodland of WS Baby says this may be the best year yet!
(Photo from today’s West Seattle Grand Parade, by Christopher Boffoli)
You couldn’t miss the reminders all over the WestSide Baby entry in today’s West Seattle Grand Parade (other coverage here and more to come) – tomorrow is their biggest donation drive of the year, “Stuff the Bus,” with a school bus to be set up right at the 44th SW entrance to the West Seattle Farmers’ Market, waiting for you to show up with armloads, bags, wagonloads, whatever, of diapers to donate. 10 am-2 pm. If you can’t get there in time, there are several other places you can drop off diapers as part of the event – like the Ice Cream Fest at West Seattle Nursery, 1-4 pm tomorrow (selling Full Tilt Ice Cream, and part of the proceeds going to WS Baby) – and also breakfast at the White Center Eagles, 9 am-noon (details here) – plus volunteers will be ready to accept your diaper donations 10 am-2 pm tomorrow at all three local Safeways.
Marra Farm in South Park – which grows tons of food for donations each year – recently got hit by tool thieves, and put out a call for donated replacements. We heard about it on the e-mail list that hundreds in South Park use to get and share news, and asked if it would help to share that call here. Robin DeCook from Lettuce Link said yes, they’re still looking for 2 donations: A gas-powered lawn mower and a gas-powered weedwhacker. If you can help, call Marra Farm coordinator Sue McGann at 206-694-6746, extension 1.
The banner at Admiral Way Viewpoint is one of several you’ve probably seen around the peninsula – this Sunday is WestSide Baby‘s biggest diaper-donation event of the year, “Stuff the Bus” – they bring a school bus to the West Seattle Farmers’ Market (10 am-2 pm at 44th/Alaska in The Junction), you bring the diapers, and by the time 2 pm hits, if all goes well, the bus is stuffed!
(WSB photo from July 2009 “Stuff the Bus”)
WSB is proud to be co-sponsoring the event again this year. There are usually a few satellite locations where you can drop off diapers if you can’t get to The Bus – we’re checking on that – but we just got word of one: West Seattle Nursery is having an Ice Cream Fest on Sunday afternoon, 1-4 pm, collecting diaper donations there too – and money from the ice cream (provided by Full Tilt Ice Cream) also benefits WestSide Baby. So it’s a Sunday doubleheader!
Another look ahead to the next big summer weekend – Saturday midday, Fauntleroy Park – another of West Seattle’s green treasures – needs some helping hands. Four of them are above, in the photo shared by Judy Pickens along with this preview:
Steve Hodson introduced his daughter, Georgia, to pulling English ivy when she was just a toddler. Now she’ll be joining her dad and park neighbors and users this coming Saturday in a major assault on the invasive vine in the southeast section of Fauntleroy Park. Steve, a long-time volunteer steward of the park, is coordinating with the Green Seattle Partnership and EarthCorps on the event. Meet at the 97th St. entrance to the park [map] at 9:45 AM and bring a lunch. Work until 2 PM or as long as you can. Contact Steve at noahsark10@msn.com.
(Thanks to all the volunteers who are out in greenspaces around West Seattle every weekend (and often between weekends!) – previews about/reports on/photos from your work parties are always welcome; here’s where to send ’em.) 3:40 PM: See the comments for an update on the new meeting site for this work party.
Last year, then-Seattle Lutheran High School senior Emily Meyer organized the “Remember This Benefit“ to raise money to fight Alzheimer’s – which killed her mom Betsy Meyer (shown with Emily at left, in a photo shared with us last year) way too early (the journey was chronicled by our partners at the Seattle Times). This week, Emily has another fundraiser in the works, to benefit the Alzheimer’s Association in memory of her mom, gone now for a year and a half: Tuesday night at Comedy Underground (109 S. Washington), hosted by Emily’s brother Alex Meyer. Here’s the lineup:
Dartanion London
Cory Michaelis
JR Berard
Jen Seaman
Andy Palmer
Barbara Holm
The show starts at 8:30 pm Tuesday (July 20), and tickets are just $10.
At Peace Lutheran Church in Gatewood (39th/Thistle; map), the big “tag sale” is today, 9 am-4 pm. Above, the crew working to put it together when we stopped by Friday morning. In addition to a variety of items on sale, they’re also having a bake sale, with earnings to “benefit neighbors in need and multiply with matching grant from Thrivent Financial for Lutherans.”
Also happening 9 am-4 pm, a big benefit sale for La Leche League of West Seattle, whose volunteers help local families with coaching and advice for breastfeeding moms. Its local leaders need to raise money for advanced training, according to Betsy’s post about the sale in the WSB Forums, where you’ll find many more details. 5281 45th SW (map).
For other sales this weekend, check the Freebies/Deals/Sales section of the WSB Forums, where you’re always welcome to post your own yard/rummage sale – benefit or not – free.
Thanks to the tipsters who shared the news that West Seattle firefighters are out by 35th/Fauntleroy in The Triangle, near the bridge entrance and Starbucks drive-through, taking donations for the annual “Fill the Boot” Muscular Dystrophy Association fundraiser campaign. They’re from nearby Station 32 – that’s Ladder 11’s Capt. David Pagan in the photo – and tell us they’ll be out till about noon. ADDED 11:07 AM: One more photo – MDA rep Alaina Miller with SFD’s Paul Hansen – and Ladder 11 itself!
That photo is from a sunny day in April, when volunteers from Rebuilding Together Seattle swarmed an Admiral District home to provide its owner with much-needed but unaffordable repairs. That’s what RTS does. And it’s putting out this call to see if anyone else in West Seattle could use their help:
Rebuilding Together Seattle, a nonprofit organization, is currently accepting applications from homeowners in need. Rebuilding Together Seattle (RTS) provides donated repair services for low-income homeowners, through the support of sponsors and community volunteers.
To qualify for the program, homeowners must be low-income and unable to complete the work independently. We assist those who are elderly, disabled, veterans, and/or families with children. RTS also assists non-profit or community organizations in need of facility repairs.
RTS is connecting with health facilities, government agencies, shelters, senior centers, and community centers to inform others about our program. RTS is need of community leaders to share the word about our program to those in need, with a goal to assist more clients each year.
RTS recently began a Veterans Program, in an effort to bring veteran community members together to help low-income veteran homeowners and their families. RTS also launched an Annual Repair Program that will focus on helping qualified homeowners with quick safety fixes around the house. These fixes include installing grab bars, handrails, skid strips, and updating to energy efficient light bulbs.
Interested parties can call our office to request an application, or view and print our application online at: www.rtseattle.org/forms.php. For more information, check out our blog at rebuildingtogetherseattle.blogspot.com!
You can also call 206-682-1231 or e-mail info@rtseattle.org.
That’s 4-year-old leukemia patient Hannah Grage and mom Carrie, in a photo shared by Kathy Henderson, the West Seattleite who had originally e-mailed WSB about last Saturday’s bake sale/yard sale/lemonade stand to help Hannah (WSB coverage here and here). Tonight, Kathy e-mailed again, asking if we could publish a big thank you to everyone for the heartwarming response on Saturday:
It was a huge success and far surpassed our expectations of what we would raise to help this family. … We were just astounded by the generosity of this community in helping this little girl and her family. … we really do want to send out a heartfelt thanks to everyone who made this event a big success. …
I also wanted to mention that the fundraiser would not have been possible without the help of an amazing group of women: West Seattle Moms of Tots (WSMOT – meetup.com). This group collected, sorted and priced all the items for the sale and also baked lots of goodies in some crazy hot weather. The sale would not have happened without the help of these moms, most of whom don’t know Hannah directly.
The baked goods even included an adorable cake – here’s a photo we took Saturday but had only previously shared via Twitter:
Kathy also points out that Hannah’s mom published a thank-you note on the website they are keeping about their journey; you can read it here (scroll down past the photos). We also found a link you can use to make donations any time.
Though Summer Fest is over, lots of big events are still ahead for West Seattle in the weeks ahead. Among them – August 29th is the Alki Beach 5K Walk/Run to raise money for Northwest Hope and Healing to help breast-cancer patients – and though that sounds like a long time away, today’s a deadline: If you register by tonight, you get an early-bird discount on the registration fee. Here’s the link.
Just in from Jack Wagstaff, ops manager at West Seattle Food Bank:
Do you have an hour or two once a week to help alleviate hunger in West Seattle? West Seattle Food Bank is currently seeking drivers for our Home Delivery program. We are looking for volunteers to deliver groceries to seniors and adults with disabilities at their homes or apartments. Prospective volunteers should meet the following requirements:
• Proof of WA driver’s license and the ability to pass a WA State Patrol background check.
• Use of their own vehicle and proof of current insurance.
• The ability to deliver groceries on Wednesday or Friday (mid morning to early afternoon)
• The ability to continuous lift 20-30 lbs for an hour or more.
• We are looking for a minimum commitment of six months.
• Ability to interact with a diverse population with kindness, consideration, and confidentiality.We are especially looking for volunteers with mini-vans and covered pick-up trucks.
You can reach the food bank via e-mail or phone – all the info’s here.
(Photo provided by WSLL: With manager Derek Page and coach John Coats are players Anthony Coats, Jack Page, Timmy Roach, Ethan Chen, Jackson Chilcott, Jackson Oehling, Anthony Goss, Thomas Sobotta, Jacob Terao, Blue James, Matt Dietz, and Grayson Oneil)
That’s the district-champion West Seattle Little League 10-11 All-Stars team we told you about last Thursday, after the big win that put them into the state tournament (WSB coverage here). Now they need a little help: The tournament is in Yakima, July 17-26, and WSLL is hoping to reduce the out-of-pocket costs to players’ families by raising money at a pancake breakfast and car wash this Saturday at Bar-S (map), 10 am-1 pm. Here’s the official flyer (with prices, including the discount for breakfast if you’re getting your car washed too!)
From Nancy @ WestSide Baby:
WestSide Baby Sorting Frenzy Volunteer Opportunity Today!
We will open today, Monday July 5th (12-3pm) for a special volunteer opportunity for adults or children over age 8 (with adult along). Have the day off and want to do something worthwhile? WestSide Baby has been fortunate to receive many of your donations of clothing items. Now we need a little help sorting through the donations to prepare them for distribution. If you can read the size tags, look for dirt and holes and inspect clothes for holes, we’d love your help to attack the pile of clothes in this picture taken this morning. We have empty shelves of many sizes but we know those gems are actually hidden in this pile.
If you can call or e-mail to let us know you are coming that would be great! If not, just show up at we’ll welcome you and give you instructions on how to make a difference TODAY.
WestSide Baby
10032 15th Ave. SW
Before the holiday weekend really revs up – we wanted to share this look ahead to something that’s happening next Saturday. Same day as West Seattle Summer Fest and the Seafair Pirates’ Landing at Alki, but this is big in its own way too, and everybody who’s rooting for little Hannah Grage is hoping you will stop by. She’s a West Seattle 4-year-old fighting cancer – acute lymphoblastic leukemia, diagnosed in April – and her family needs help with expenses, so friends, neighbors and relatives are having a garage sale/bake sale/lemonade-stand fundraiser one week from today – Saturday, July 10th. It’ll be 8 am-2 pm (so there’s plenty of time to go BEFORE, or after, Summer Fest and/or Pirates), 7228 39th SW (that’s in Gatewood; here’s a map; here’s the flyer for the fundraiser). You can read more about Hannah’s fight by going here, to see what her mom’s been writing about what they’re going through.
Holiday weekends, unfortunately, are always times of great need for blood. So Kim at Puget Sound Blood Center says they’re hoping more prospective donors will make appointments for one of two drives in West Seattle in the next few days – tomorrow, there’s a last-minute mobile drive at Westwood Village (by Pier 1), 9 am-3 pm (closed 11 am-noon); Monday, they’ll be at PCC West Seattle (WSB sponsor), same hours. Walk-up donations will be welcome but if you think you can participate in either one, please call for an appointment ASAP – 800-398-7888.
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