West Seattle, Washington

24 Wednesday

48℉

How to help 4052 results

Happening today/tonight: From flowers to “frenzy”
May 21, 2009 8:01 am
|      5 COMMENTS
 |   How to help | West Seattle parks | West Seattle schools

Happening right now, the crew in the background of that photo is hard at work in The Junction — and has been since about 5:30 this morning! — hanging baskets of summer flowers (like the ones in the foreground). Here’s some of what else is happening today/tonight (in addition to the poetry slam and Pier 66 EPA hearing/rally we re-mentioned last night):

TODAY: Next step toward the Delridge Skatepark (most recent WSB coverage here)- its schematic design goes before the Seattle Design Commission at City Hall, 2 pm today.

TODAY: Great weather for a car wash, and SafeFutures Youth Center will clean yours in the U-Haul parking lot at the northwest corner of 35th/Morgan (map), 4-7 pm.

TONIGHT: At 5:30 pm, Seattle Public Schools is holding a public hearing at Gatewood Elementary about the proposed sale of part of the property it owns at Jefferson Square. The hearing has only been announced in a fine-print public notice, but we reported details of the proposed deal (which involved a legal fight) two weeks ago; if you have anything to say about it, be at tonight’s hearing.

TONIGHT: Also at 5:30, a potluck kicks off the rescheduled Pathfinder K-8 Multi-Cultural Night (full details here), with performances starting an hour later.

TONIGHT: 7 pm at Alki Community Center, the Alki Community Council meets with two big items on the agenda: Crime concerns in the wake of the May 1st shooting (and looking ahead to summer), and this Saturday’s Alki Community Wildlife Habitat celebration.

TONIGHT: Do a good deed while having a good time — at 7 pm, lend a hand (or two) for WestSide Baby‘s monthly “sorting frenzy”; details here (including how to RSVP).

Share This

Next step toward Delridge’s new playground: Plant sale fundraiser
May 20, 2009 11:10 am
|    Comments Off on Next step toward Delridge’s new playground: Plant sale fundraiser
 |   Delridge | How to help | West Seattle news

That photo is from eight days ago, when dozens of kids — and grownups — gathered at Delridge Community Center to sketch out and discuss their dreams for the center’s new playground, scheduled to be built in July, with the help of KaBOOM!, which works on projects like this nationwide. (Here’s our story from that day.) While costs will be dramatically lower than usual because of KaBOOM! and sponsors, the community still needs to chip in, and a major fundraiser has just been announced for the May 30th Delridge Day festival at Youngstown Arts Center – Lisa is circulating this message far and wide, and please note there’s a call for volunteers to step forward NOW:

On May 30th, the North Delridge Neighborhood Council will have a booth to promote the project at Delridge Day … We’ll have a display to raise awareness of the need for volunteers to help build the playground, take volunteer sign-ups, and have a donations jar & plant sale to raise a little “seed” money for project incidentals. We’ll also have a free activity where kids can plant seeds to take home.

Here comes the “ask” part–we need:
* volunteers to staff the booth on May 30th
* donations of plants or starts
* people to come by our booth and support our cause!
Should be a fun and an easy event to staff. I can see our sign now: “KaBOOM! and the North Delridge Neighborhood Council: Growing healthy kids and healthy communities.”

If you would like to participate by donating plants or starts, or by staffing the booth, contact me at granolagulch[at]earthlink[dot]net or 937-1522.

Share This

Wondering what to do about gang violence? Start here
May 20, 2009 9:35 am
|    Comments Off on Wondering what to do about gang violence? Start here
 |   Crime | How to help

The event in this announcement (forwarded to us by several people – thank you!) isn’t in West Seattle, but in light of the gang-linked May 1 shooting on Alki (which has now resulted in an arrest – here’s the report we published last night), it’s more than relevant – read on for details:Read More

Share This

Hour to spare Friday morning? West Seattle High School needs you
May 19, 2009 1:58 pm
|    Comments Off on Hour to spare Friday morning? West Seattle High School needs you
 |   How to help | West Seattle news | West Seattle schools

We told you last month about the DECA Marketing students from West Seattle High School headed to Internationals competition. Now their teacher Michelle Sloan has a request for the community, to help with some more-local judging:

Every few months, students in the marketing class make projects and compete with other teams in the class.

This time our project consists of creating a hotel and marketing it. At this time we are looking for judges who would be available Friday May 22nd from 11:00-12:00.

The judges can be community members, business owners, people with backgrounds in advertising, graphic design, and marketing.

Thanks!

They can reach me at masloan@seattleschools.org

Share This

Green Seattle at HPAC: “If everyone volunteered … we’d be done”
May 18, 2009 8:04 pm
|    Comments Off on Green Seattle at HPAC: “If everyone volunteered … we’d be done”
 |   Environment | Highland Park | How to help | West Seattle news

The photo at left is from a recent Green Seattle Partnership-affiliated work party at Lincoln Park, exactly the kind of work party that Green Seattle’s Joanna Nelson evangelized at tonight’s Highland Park Action Committee, saying “If everyone in Seattle volunteered (in forest restoration) once every five years, we’d be done.” She talked about the organization’s hopes of having “all the forested areas in Seattle in restoration by 2025” — bringing back conifers, which live for hundreds of years, instead of the relatively short-lived trees like alder and maple that sprung up after the native conifers were cleared. But it’s all about volunteer help, she stressed. HPAC is having a Westcrest Park “mini-summit” at next month’s meeting, according to HPAC chair Dan Mullins, who is proposing that a committee be formed to oversee restoration work at that park, which is part of the West Duwamish Greenbelt; Nelson mentioned a small pilot project expected to start soon. (As she also noted, restoration work is done elsewhere in the WDG by the Nature Consortium.) Green Seattle is one of three environmentally oriented organizations appearing at tonight’s HPAC meeting; more coverage to come. (P.S. Green Seattle’s website has a list of work parties happening here and elsewhere in the city, and we include West Seattle events in the WS Weekend Lineup every Friday.)

Share This

Happening now: Rambo and friends, looking for homes
May 17, 2009 12:41 pm
|      3 COMMENTS
 |   Gardening | How to help | Pets

Update on the adoptable dogs and cats at the Furry Faces Foundation plant sale/pet adoption event running through 4 pm today (3809 46th SW; map) – Hotwire Coffee (WSB sponsor)’s Lora Lewis is there and sends pix of some of the pets who just might be looking for YOU – that’s Rambo in the photo above – and following the nameless but cute kittens, it’s Griswold:

Griswold’s a Rottweiler mix, 18 months old, available through King County Animal Services – Lora says the fees are $75 dogs, $35 for cats, $75 kittens. And as she adds, “Lots of plants too, of course!”

Share This

Happening today: Lupus 5K, plants/pets, gardening/beer, more
May 17, 2009 6:59 am
|      14 COMMENTS
 |   How to help | Pets | West Seattle Farmers' Market | West Seattle religion

Among today’s highlights:

We got that video at a cheering station along Alki Ave during last year’s Walk with Us to Cure Lupus 5K — today, another sunny day for the fundraising walk, which starts from the Alki Bathhouse at 10, after check-in at 9 (more info here).

Also at 10, Furry Faces Foundation‘s plant sale/pet adoption event starts its second day at 3809 46th SW (map), continuing till 4 pm. Even more pets today, dogs and cats, and as of our visit around 2 pm yesterday, Riley (shown above with the Animals First Foundation folks) hadn’t found her permanent home yet. As for the plants? Vegetable starts and flowers, sun and shade, and if you’ve got questions, some great folks are there to help – like F3 leader Teri Ensley‘s mom Lila:

Gardeners who also enjoy beer and art have an event tailor-made for them at West Seattle Nursery – joining forces with Prost and Twilight for its first “Beer Fest” 1-5 pm, combining beer, gardening and art. Pretzels too, according to the WSN website. Part of today’s sales go to West Seattle Helpline in honor of the occasion.

Also today: In The Junction, as always, 10 am-2 pm is West Seattle Farmers’ Market time – here’s the link to today’s list of what’s fresh.

One more event of note: Our Lady of Guadalupe is celebrating its new Pastoral Center with an Open House, all welcome, 9:30 am-1 pm (more info here; the new center’s on 35th just north of Myrtle – here’s a map).

Share This

Fund set up for Chief Sealth High School student hurt in crash
May 15, 2009 8:24 am
|      4 COMMENTS
 |   How to help | West Seattle news | West Seattle people

Another update this morning as 16-year-old Chief Sealth High School student Coreena Wolford continues her fight to recover from major injuries suffered in a crash 9 days ago. As reported previously (last week’s story here, Monday update here), Coreena collided with another driver the afternoon of May 6th, while she was driving to South Park’s Concord Elementary for her volunteer work with the Team READ tutoring program. She has been in the hospital ever since, and her family is now approving updates to a Caring Bridge website set up to provide information on her recovery (that’s where the photo at left is from). This morning, there’s a new post – a fund is finally set up for those who want to donate to help with Coreena’s expenses:

Bank: BECU (Boeing Employees Credit Union)
Account Name: Benevolent Account for Coreena Wolford
Account Number: 3583245599 (checking)
BECU Routing Number: 325081403

You can donate at any BECU branch, or use that information for a transfer from your own account at any bank. Meantime, a short update on Coreena’s condition accompanies that information, saying she is “doing much better.” You can sign her online guestbook here.

Share This

Furry Faces plant sale to spotlight West Seattle author too
May 15, 2009 7:11 am
|    Comments Off on Furry Faces plant sale to spotlight West Seattle author too
 |   Fun stuff to do | Gardening | How to help | Pets

Since Furry Faces Foundation‘s big plant sale this weekend is all about raising money to help animals, a bonus event on Saturday fits right in: West Seattle author Val Mallinson will be signing and selling copies of her books “The Dog Lover’s Guide to the Pacific Northwest” and “The Dog Lover’s Guide to Seattle” for the first four hours of the first sale day, donating $1 from each book sale to F3. As F3’s announcement puts it, “Together with her faithful companions Cooper and Isis—also known as “The Wonder Wieners”—Val reveals the best dog-friendly romps, digs, and eats in the Pacific Northwest in these two new guidebooks.” She’ll be there 10 am-2 pm tomorrow (Saturday); the plant sale is 10 am-4 pm Saturday and Sunday; the location both days is 3809 46th Ave SW (map). And did we mention the plant sale also will offer pet-adoption opportunties? in addition to the “1,200+ healthy, nursery quality plants at reasonable prices, beautifully suited for Pacific NW gardens” – even more details here.

Share This

Delridge Playground update: $670 to go …
May 14, 2009 11:48 pm
|    Comments Off on Delridge Playground update: $670 to go …
 |   Delridge | How to help | West Seattle parks

Two nights after all those kids (and some accompanying grownups too) got together to design the future Delridge Community Center playground, Betsy Hoffmeister posted this pitch via Facebook, reminding they just need a bit more cash for the project:

Shameless plea for cash: NDNC must raise $670 more in earnest money for the Delridge Community Center Playground Project. Here’s how to send anything from $5 to $670: go here https://app.etapestry.com/hosted/DelridgeNeighborhoodsDevelop/OnlineDonationDNDA.html and make a donation. In the comment box write “FOR NDNC PLAYGROUND PROJECT.” Tell me how much you sent so I can keep track and send a TXU/tax letter.

Betsy’s at betsy (at) hoffmeisters (dot) com. NDNC is North Delridge Neighborhood Council, for which she serves as co-vice chair.

Share This

Hike tomorrow, lupus 5K Sunday – and the weather’s improving!
May 14, 2009 11:22 am
|      1 COMMENT
 |   Environment | Health | How to help

It just might get into the 70s by tomorrow. So if you’re free in the afternoon, join the Nature Consortium‘s free monthly hike in the West Duwamish Greenbelt, 1 pm tomorrow (14th/Holly; map), RSVP to Lisa Corbin (lisa@naturec.org), who tells WSB, “There has been a lot of work done recently with the trails and an entire hillside has been cleared of blackberry and planted with natives, not to mention the spring growth of skunk cabbage, trillium, etc. A great time to see the greenbelt.” Then on Sunday at Alki, you can join the 5K to help fight lupus, a chronic auto-immune disease:

To be specific, Sunday’s event is the Seattle/Puget Sound Walk with Us to Cure Lupus Walk-a-thon (photo above is from last year’s event). The ALR Walk with Us to Cure Lupus event will be a 3 mile (5K) walk, starting at Alki Bathhouse at 9 am To be part of it, call Laurie Gray at 206.919.6270 or visit walk.lupusresearch.org/seattle (where you can also pledge to support walkers, if you can’t be there in person).

Share This

Update: Delridge playground planning meeting – colors, wishes
May 12, 2009 10:05 pm
|      1 COMMENT
 |   Delridge | How to help | West Seattle parks

By Kathy Mulady
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

The Delridge Community Center playground-planning meeting (earlier update here) just ended, with a firm idea of the types of toys that will be included in the final design and the preferred colors – purple for the plastic parts, spring green for the poles and sunny yellow for other metal parts like bars and railing.

The playground will be built with the help of KaBoom, with lots of community donations and sweat.

The fun part of the meeting was picking out the equipment; the wish list includes a loopy whoop, whirligig, all kinds of slides, a play house or village shop, a super satellite, e-z digger, and something called “crazy bones.”

Next, the equipment will be arranged into three designs that will be presented at another community meeting in about two weeks.

That was the fun part. There is also a lot of work. All the playground building will happen on Friday, July 17. There will be two days of prep work, before the big build.

Several people volunteered to be team captains, and they would love some more help from the community: Overseeing recruitment is Chris Southam (seattlesouthams@gmail.com); public relations, Holli Margell (holli.margell@gmail.com); safety and maintenance, Benjamin Pulanco (benjaminpulanco@gmail.com) and youth involvement, Lou Edwards (louannedwards@msn.com)

There is also a green committee to make sure the build is environmentally friendly, a food committee, and a logistics committee that is charged with figuring out where all the volunteers will park on the big day.

KaBoom has built about 1,600 of these playgrounds across the country and has the details down. The slides and swings and climbers are made by Playworld.

Share This

Recovering from a fire: A plea for West Seattle help
May 12, 2009 7:56 pm
|    Comments Off on Recovering from a fire: A plea for West Seattle help
 |   How to help | Not WS but we're mentioning it anyway

(January 2009 photo by C. Simmons)
You just might be hearing from West Seattleite Megan Lingafelter tomorrow — she’s starting a quest for donations to enhance a benefit auction to help a local music producer recover from a devastating loss during that huge fire alongside the Spokane Street Viaduct 4 months ago. (The photo above shows part of the burned wreckage, which was centered at Pacific Sheet Metal.) Read on to see the letter Megan is circulating:Read More

Share This

Happening now: Delridge playground design meeting
May 12, 2009 5:01 pm
|    Comments Off on Happening now: Delridge playground design meeting
 |   Delridge | How to help | West Seattle parks

Right after posing for that photo moments ago at Delridge Community Center, those kids all got stickers certifying they are “Playground Designers” – the drawings they made in the preceding hour are proof of that, too. The kids’ portion of the meeting to design DCC’s future playground is over – a spaghetti dinner is about to start – but if you’re interested in the project, there’s still time to get here and join in the grownups’ meeting (with child care provided) starting around 5:30 pm. End result: A playground is to be built, with the help of KaBoom, to replace the unsafe, aged one that DCC has now, in a one-day session (followed by a week or so of curing) in mid-July; the project still needs volunteer help and some money donations too – betsy (at) hoffmeisters (dot) com is your contact if you can pitch in.

Share This

Just hours till your family’s chance to help design a playground
May 12, 2009 10:40 am
|    Comments Off on Just hours till your family’s chance to help design a playground
 |   Delridge | Fun stuff to do | How to help

One more reminder – today’s the day: Not only is this a rare chance to help design a playground (backstory here) – it’s a rare opportunity for children to be part of the process as well as grownups. 4 pm today marks the start of an all-ages afternoon and evening – with free dinner! — helping shape the new playground that Delridge Community Center will get this summer, thanks in no small part to KaBoom, which helps local communities get new playgrounds that — with volunteer help and community support – are built in a day. The design discussions start at 4 pm with a “kids’ meeting” for their ideas on what they want to see; 5 pm, spaghetti dinner; 5:30 pm, adults’ meeting (with child care provided!). North Delridge Neighborhood Council co-vice-chair Betsy Hoffmeister is hoping for a big turnout – the bigger the turnout, the more support for the new playground, and the more ideas for what it’ll be like, the merrier! Just show up at the community center and jump in.

Share This

Want to raise a future guide dog? West Seattle group needs you
May 10, 2009 8:11 pm
|      2 COMMENTS
 |   How to help | Pets

Want to raise a puppy to become a guide dog? Tomorrow night is your next chance to meet the folks with West Seattle Guide Dogs for the Blind. They sent the photo at left – that’s Kenneth, 5 months old, now being raised by Cheryl Phelps in West Seattle. The group has a meeting at 7 pm tomorrow (Monday 5/11) at Hiawatha Community Center – or, if you can’t go, get in touch with Sue Bonney, seedogs@mail.com or 206-330-7999. (Want to know more about what it’s like to raise a guide dog? The people you’ll meet tomorrow night will have the best answers, of course, but this webpage offers more info, too.)

Share This

Got these on your calendar? Helpline and Kiwanis events ahead
May 10, 2009 5:31 pm
|    Comments Off on Got these on your calendar? Helpline and Kiwanis events ahead
 |   Fun stuff to do | How to help

Last month, we took that photo at Hillcrest Presbyterian as West Seattle Helpline volunteers helped executive director Anna Fern (right) prepared for the first visits to the relaunched Clothesline clothing bank (WSB preview here). Clothesline is just one way that Helpline offers a hand to local families who need help – NOW – and this week, you get a chance to in turn help Helpline, NOW, while having a good time: The annual Taste of West Seattle fundraiser is Thursday night, at The Hall at Fauntleroy, 6:30-9 pm, with myriad West Seattle restaurants participating — some offering more than one “taste”! Contact Helpline for tickets – all the info’s online. Two weeks later, quite the fundraising bash in the works as the Kiwanis Club of West Seattle celebrates its 80th anniversary – just yesterday, we caught up with the Kiwanis at their West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day event:

While there, we got a poster for their May 31st “Roaring Twenties to the Twenty-First Century” event at South Seattle Community College, with proceeds benefiting community projects including scholarships, and Kiwanian Warren Lawless e-mailed today to be sure we’d heard about it:

Come celebrate the Kiwanis Club of West Seattle’s 80 years of service to our Community!

Sunday, May 31 2009
5 PM – Social Hour . 6 PM Dinner
Brockey Center at SSCC

For tickets contact us at kiwaniswestseattle.org or 206 330-6843

Proceeds benefit the Kiwanis Scholarship Fund for SSCC students and the children of West Seattle through the club’s 21st Century Fund (a 501.c.3 entity)

Share This

Also happening right now: Gateway cleanup followup
May 9, 2009 10:16 am
|    Comments Off on Also happening right now: Gateway cleanup followup
 |   Environment | How to help | West Seattle news

“Myron with the blackberry-whooper,” is how Sharonn Meeks captioned that photo, sent from the followup cleanup happening along a section of the “Gateway” stretch of the Fauntleroy Way end of The Bridge – sequel to the huge cleanup last September (as covered here), organized by the Fairmount Community Association. If you want to pitch in, they’re continuing till about 1 pm. Thanks to Sharonn for the photos!

Unrelated P.S., one more reminder of another way to do good today – Be sure your bag of nonperishable food is out for your letter carrier to pick up as part of the one-day-only Stamp Out Hunger food drive!

11:26 AM UPDATE: Another photo from Sharonn – Earl Cruzen, whose hard work helped pave the way for many special things around West Seattle, including Walking on Logs, which is part of today’s cleanup and the backdrop for this photo:

Sharonn notes Earl is still going strong at 89 AND despite the fact he’s recovering from a stroke a few months ago.

ADDED LATER: One last pic from Sharonn – the results!

Share This

Volunteers needed: West Seattle Edible Garden Fair 2 weeks away
May 8, 2009 2:34 am
|    Comments Off on Volunteers needed: West Seattle Edible Garden Fair 2 weeks away
 |   Fun stuff to do | Gardening | How to help

We first told you two months ago about the impending West Seattle Edible Garden Fair (WSB story here), with subsequent mentions and reminders along the way as the food-gardening movement continues to grow in West Seattle … now, with two weeks till the May 23 event, Community Harvest of Southwest Seattle is looking for additional volunteer help. The Edible Garden Fair is 9:30 am-4 pm May 23 at South Seattle Community College, tackling topics such as: Growing Gourmet Vegetables, Building Safe and Healthy Soils, Gardening in Small Spaces, Cooking with Northwest Greens, and a Panel on Victory Gardens, Then and Now (full list of presentations here). The soon-to-open West Seattle restaurant Fresh Bistro (in the Mural Apartments [WSB sponsor] building) will provide food samples, and you’ll even get the chance to recycle used garden books and tools. If you can volunteer some time to help with the fair, e-mail Aviva: aviva@duwamish.net

Share This

Don’t just put your mail out Saturday – put food out too
May 7, 2009 6:04 am
|      2 COMMENTS
 |   How to help | West Seattle news

(Photo courtesy the mayor’s office)
That’s Mayor Nickels meeting with local letter carriers in Wallingford to help get the word out about this Saturday’s annual Stamp Out Hunger food drive – the most convenient food drive of the year, since it comes right to your house. You may have gotten the special blue plastic bag with your mail already, but if you didn’t, you can use any sort of regular grocery bag too; just fill it with nonperishable food items and put it by your mailbox (or your door, if that’s where you get your mail) on Saturday morning, before your mail delivery, so your letter carrier can pick it up. Once the pickups have been happened and letter carriers have transported the food back to participating post-office sites, with volunteers’ help, Food Lifeline gets the donations and distributes them to local food banks – both food banks that serve our area, the West Seattle Food Bank and the White Center Food Bank, will benefit from what’s donated around here. So before you hit the road to shop during West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day (maps and updates here) – or if you’re selling, before your shoppers start arriving – put out something for this more-important-than-ever cause. Here’s more information about this nationwide food drive.

Share This

Cat adopt-a-thon at Alki Community Center on Saturday
May 5, 2009 11:13 am
|      4 COMMENTS
 |   How to help | Pets | West Seattle news

Saturday is already a great shopping day because of West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day (here’s how to get The Map!) – if you’re in the market for a new pet too, check out adoptable foster cats at Alki Community Center. (The one pictured at left got a home during the last West Seattle adoption event in November.) We posted this in the WSB Forums yesterday but wanted to mention it here too while we have a moment – read on for the official announcement:Read More

Share This

Happening today/tonight: Multiple ways to reach out and help
May 2, 2009 5:31 am
|      2 COMMENTS
 |   How to help

(photo added 10:47 am from Furry Faces hanging-basket sale, courtesy Lora at Hotwire, who notes Teri from Furry Faces has two canopies to keep shoppers/basketmakers dry!)
They include fundraising rummage sales for West Seattle Montessori School (WSB sponsor; sale is at the nearby American Legion Hall) and Arbor Heights Elementary, a barbecue at West Seattle Thriftway to raise money to fight breast cancer, Furry Faces Foundation‘s hanging-basket plant sale in the Hotwire Coffee (WSB sponsor) courtyard to benefit animal rescue, the Rainbow Girls‘ car wash at White Center Albertson’s, and the West Seattle Lions Club‘s sock hop at the Seattle Lutheran High School gym to benefit a scholarship fund. More information on all those events – and what else is happening today/tonight – click here to jump directly to the Saturday section of the West Seattle Weekend Lineup.

Share This

Admiral Adopt-a-Street tomorrow: Pitch in, get treats!
May 1, 2009 3:40 pm
|    Comments Off on Admiral Adopt-a-Street tomorrow: Pitch in, get treats!
 |   Environment | How to help

admiralogo.jpgOne more event tomorrow — Admiral Neighborhood Association president Mark Wainwright reminds us that tomorrow’s the day for neighbors to gather outside Metropolitan Market at 9 am to launch the quarterly Adopt-a-Street cleanup. Supplies provided, free treats, plus a chance to do something to make your neighborhood look better (like the North Delridge Neighborhood Council and Chief Sealth High School PTSA did along Delridge Way LAST Saturday!).

Share This