West Seattle, Washington
27 Friday
We first told you one month ago about the West Seattle Walking Trails project, as the map was made public for comment — now, Chas Redmond e-mails to say it’s time for the next step, development of wayfinding kiosks — and today, there’s a call for artists. Read on:Read More
Starting at 4 pm, Endolyne Joe’s in Fauntleroy donates part of tonight’s proceeds to the Denny Middle School music program (featured here with video during its first-ever midwinter-break camp). Choir and band performances are promised, to serenade you during supper!
So vowed Puget Sound Key and Lock owner Michael Dein when we talked with him briefly during the WSB Forum members’ gathering tonight at Beveridge Place Pub to plan a fundraiser. That’s him at left:
He says they’re going to hang a banner outside the store marking their promise to return, though it may take a couple months – he says the building owner promises to rebuild the interior, but they need to replace a lot of equipment and other supplies that “melted” in the fire, and as we first reported hours after the Friday morning arson, they have no fire insurance. That’s why WSB’ers are organizing a benefit – below, a different angle of part of the group – that’s “JoB” second from right (forgive us for not gathering everyone’s names; we had to rush off to check out the outage that someone had just texted us about) – the group was about a dozen strong when we stopped by:
JoB reports:
The consensus of the meeting is that we will have a combination raffle/social event sometime mid-April. The time and date will be determined by space availability … Our first choice is a tournament at West Seattle Bowl… But we will have to see what we can make work.
Next meeting is 10 am Saturday at Uptown Espresso, and even if you weren’t there tonight, you’re invited to pitch in and help. (Follow the discussion here.) Meantime, the Seattle Police Arson and Bomb Squad is still working to solve the firebombing; we talked with police spokesperson Mark Jamieson this evening and he had nothing new to report, just reiterating that the case is “a priority” and police want to hear from anyone with tips (call 911 or the arson hotline @ 800/55-ARSON).
WSB’ers have opened their hearts and wallets for the local food banks, which certainly need help year-round — now, here’s another way you can keep somebody from going to bed hungry — Donna sends this (we mentioned the church shelter in question last month):
I’d like to let everyone know about a situation in our community that gives us an opportunity to serve some folks in need.
From February 2008 until mid-February 2009, West Seattle Church of the Nazarene is hosting a SHARE-run shelter for 20 homeless men each evening. Guests are on-site from 7 pm to 7 am, 7 nights a week.
Many of the shelter guests work and have little more than a roll for breakfast and a cup of soup for dinner at night. They need adequate nourishment in order to work, address their housing and health needs, and regain self-sufficiency.
Please consider providing meals for these folks, and please let your family and friends, church, local business, school, gym, etc., know about the need for help in providing breakfasts and dinners at the shelter during this year. Once, once in awhile, or a regular commitment—all offers are gratefully appreciated.
Please see our very humble website (westseattlemeals.airset.com) for more information and for open dates on the calendar. (They’re ALL open right now!) Folks who want to provide a meal should then contact me with:
· the date(s)
· plans for delivery
· any questions
· phone number and email addressThank you for your generosity and willingness to help others at a difficult time in their lives.
Thanks to Arbor Heights Elementary School teacher Mark Ahlness for these photos from last night’s Art Fair and Auction (silent-auction participants shown below) — he says it was an “incredible success”! More fundraisers are on our Events page (including tomorrow night’s Chief Sealth Tamale Dinner for music $).
When we mentioned The Tap Project the other day, a few commenters mentioned they were offended by a particular radio commercial they had heard. They’ve received a response from someone local who worked on a different part of the Tap Project publicity campaign, and since the item’s a few days old, we wanted to spotlight that new comment here:
I work at the ad agency Publicis West in Seattle. I am the Creative director and copywriter of the local public service campaign for the Tap Project Seattle. I did indeed write a radio spot which is airing, but it doesn’t mention anything about a waitress. I am not sure where the radio spot you’re talking about came from.
Please know that the Seattle restaurant community are our best friends in this project and we have been working hand-in-hand with restaurants to support this great cause. I was a waitress myself all through college and would NEVER suggest that a food server not be tipped. In fact, I had lunch today at Le Pichet and we gave both a big tip to the waitress and a $75 donation to TAP!
Perhaps the radio spot is part of the national public service campaign. If so, they are definitely utilizing a tongue and cheek tone and probably didn’t have the intention of offending the very people who are supporting the TAP Project.
Below is the script for the radio spot currently airing in Seattle:
ANNC: This morning when you woke up there was a 65% chance it was falling from the sky. You turned on a tap and bathed in it. You turned on another tap and brushed your teeth in it. You put on clothes that were washed in it. You flushed a gallon and a half of it down the toilet. You got in your car and crossed large bodies of it. You drank a latte steamed with it. You gossiped next to a cooler of it. And you haven’t given it a second thought. You haven’t had to. Because in Seattle we’ve got plenty of water. But not everyone in the world is so lucky. The fact is, 5000 children die every day from a lack of safe water. During world water week, we can help change that. Dine out March 16th through the 22nd and donate a dollar for a glass of tap water. That dollar will provide 40 children with safe drinking water for one day. And because you thought about water for a change, someone else won’t have to. For participating restaurants or to donate online, go to tapproject.org/Seattle
Doesn’t solve the mystery of that other commercial, but just wanted to share this with anyone concerned there was some local snarking going on.
No, not the Seahawks.
BLUE: The Tap Project is under way. As we mentioned 2 weeks ago, participating restaurants are asking patrons to donate $ for their otherwise-free tap water; the $ goes to UNICEF for safe drinking water for kids. 4 West Seattle restaurants are participating (through Saturday): Ama Ama, Beato, Eats Market Cafe, Skylark. Saturday is World Water Day and will be marked with the Walk for Water on Alki.
GREEN: Sustainable West Seattle meets tonight @ Camp Long. The agenda includes a rep for Puget Sound Community Change — connecting green businesses and customers.
That’s Pat Wright of the Total Experience Gospel Choir on stage tonight at West Seattle’s Kenyon Hall, accompanied by KH proprietor Lou Magor in an impromptu-by-audience-request performance of “Amazing Grace.” This was the first of four amazing nights of Wright and her choir visiting KH somewhat as artists-in-residence, as they get ready for a major journey:Read More
Above, “during” and “before” pix from the WSB Forum members’ smash-hit benefit this afternoon at Beveridge Place Pub — ringleader JoB has posted a wrapup in this forum thread, and we just got this note from Pete Spalding of the West Seattle Food Bank board:
WOW!!!! Where can I start?
First of all from all of our clients, the Board of Directors of the West Seattle Food Bank would like to send out a HUGE THANK YOU to the organizers, everyone that participated and to Gary the owner of the Beveridge Place Pub for making a big difference on a Sunday afternoon.
I could not believe the number of folks that turned out for this quickly, but well-organized event. Lots of energy in the room for not only the West Seattle Food Bank but also for a great program, Dress For Success. Through everyone’s hard work and charitable mood it was a most successful event. The big event today raised a whopping $704.51 along with approximately 300 pounds of donated food.
Just a quick plug to say that our work at the West Seattle Food Bank goes on everyday of the year. The need in our community is on the increase right now and we certainly appreciate all of the very generous folks here in our West Seattle community that help us keep our doors open to our neighbors in need.
Here are a couple of other ways you can help us right now:
1. If you are a Bruce Springsteen fan you know that he is playing at KeyArena on March 29th. You can go to this link charityfolks.com/cfauctions/auction_verticalngo.asp?slrid=1048
and bid on a pair of tickets to the show as well as passes to the E Street Lounge before the concert begins. The proceeds from this bidding will benefit the West Seattle Food Bank.2. On May 1st we will be celebrating our first anniversary in our new building by holding an event at the Hall at Fauntleroy. It is called Instruments of Change because everyone that comes that night is an instrument of change for our West Seattle Community. The event begins at 6 pm and tickets are $75. The ticket includes a sit-down meal along with some great entertainment. Phyllis Campbell, President/CEO of the Seattle Foundation, will be our guest speaker. You can go to our web site www.westseattlefoodbank.org to buy tickets or for more information.
Once again thanks for a great Sunday afternoon event. WSB readers ROCK!!!
Ditto that from us. Huge “way to go” for the folks who expanded their online friendship into the offline world and found a way to morph a meetup into a chance to do even more good in the community. You can join the ongoing discussion here.
Quick photos snapped just before the official start of the West Seattle Food Bank-benefiting festivities. Beveridge Place Pub, now till 4 pm. Full details here (or scroll two posts down if you’re on the home page).
Ever heard the phrase “the Seattle process,” as in, propose something, talk it to death over a long, arduous period of time, and then maybe in the end nothing happens anyway? NOT the case with this. Over the course of barely a week, a group of WSB Forum members has hatched this idea, expanded it, and this afternoon — with your help too — is making it happen. Join them at Beveridge Place Pub in Morgan Junction (map), 2:30-4 pm, for good times on behalf of a good cause – here’s the full announcement one more time:
Members of the West Seattle Blog Forums got together to create a fundraising social for the West Seattle Food Bank… and another local charity, the Seattle Dress for Success program.
What began as a few local members cleaning out their oversupply of quality handbags and donating them to charity as an excuse for a good party has attracted local attention and we are getting donations we didn’t expect; some of them top-end designer handbags.
All donated handbags will be up for sale at the auction… some of them will simply be for sale for $5… some of them will be up for bid with a $5 minimum and $25 maximum.
We will also be collecting non-perishable food items and cash/checks for the West Seattle Food Bank. Every donation will be matched through the current $1 million dollar Feinstein Foundation donation challenge (read more about it here). This will be a great opportunity to make your dollars count and help out one of our more important local resources.
What began as a problem; what to do with handbags that didn’t sell, has created another opportunity for donations. We will be donating any bags that don’t sell to the Seattle Dress for Success program and will also collect donations of quality used women’s business attire and cash/checks for their program. They especially need plus size clean and ready to wear clothing.
We expect participation from local representatives from both organizations and will have information on both organizations for those who would like to know more.
So if you are 21 or older (Beveridge Place is a pub), this is a great chance to drop by, have some fun, drink a little beer, drop off some of what you just cleaned out of the closet, do some good, find a great handbag at a really reasonable price and get to meet some of the more infamous West Seattle Blog Forum members. We will be wearing nametags with our sign-in names so you can identify us.
We are accepting donations of all types of quality bags; we hope to have something to offer those males who are brave enough to attend. If you would consider selling it at a consignment shop; we want it. You can show up at 2 pm when the pub opens to drop off donations, or contact JoB to arrange drop-off prior to the event. All unclaimed bags will be donated to Dress for Success.
If you’ve got any last-minute questions, the latest forum thread is here.
Not only is sale season (as noted earlier this morning) under way, so is fundraising-car-wash season. Above, you see a quick snap of the Seattle Rainiers 14U team‘s car wash that’s happening till 4 pm today at Complete Auto Repair on the west side of 35th at Holden (map here, but you can’t miss ’em; stretched out over about 2 blocks in both directions are some of the most enthusiastic sign-wavers we’ve ever seen). And the sun’s out just in time!
From the latest West Seattle-related items linked from the More page (which you can check any time for citywide and regional coverage mentioning WS, 
beyond what we’re covering here on the WSB main page) — we find Nicole Brodeur writing in the Times today about an amazing event we mentioned here last weekend — starting tomorrow night and continuing for four nights, Pat Wright (left) and the Total Experience Gospel Choir come to Kenyon Hall in West Seattle (map) as they prepare to revisit Katrina-ravaged areas of the South. Find out more at the Kenyon Hall website; Brodeur is scheduled to be part of the events tomorrow and Monday night.
From the Southwest Seattle Historical Society/Log House Museum:
Are you a retired Accountant or CPA? Are you looking for some meaningful work that will benefit you and your community?
The Southwest Seattle Historical Society and the Log House Museum are in need of a volunteer like you to be our Board Treasurer. We need a skilled individual who has the time to maintain the accounts of the Historical Society which operates the Log House Museum, Birthplace of Seattle on Alki. Let’s talk! We have a Board of Trustees, a Museum Director and staff that you would work with to keep us “in balance.†Please contact Marcy Johnsen at 206-909-9366 right away!
H4H IS DAYS AWAY: If you missed the announcement the other day, a group of energetic, creative, community-minded WSB Forum regulars have is organizing an awesome-sounding charity-benefiting event this Sunday afternoon at Beveridge Place Pub — you’re invited, and you might be able to help even if you can’t be there in person. Read all about “Handbags for Hunger” here, and join its organizers in the forums here.
VOTE FOR WSB: The group-blog site Metroblogging Seattle resumed its “blog tournament” just in time for a Final Three vote-off, and WSB is one of the final three (as is Accidental Hedonist, run by West Seattleite Kate, featured in our continuously updating Blogs section). Please consider taking a few seconds to hop over here and follow the link to vote for WSB. The “awards ceremony” will be here in West Seattle, no matter who wins – and we’re planning to show up, win or lose – 6:30-8:30 pm this Friday @ Skylark.
A group of WSB Forum members who’ve been getting together F2F have just hatched a great plot to do a good deed while having a good time — and this Sunday, they’re making it rapid reality. Here’s their official announcement, including a way you can help ahead of time:
Handbags for Hunger
Silent Auction
Sunday, March 16, 2008
2:30 pm to 4 pm ….Beveridge Place Pub
6451 California Ave. SW (Morgan Junction; map here)Members of the West Seattle Blog Forums got together to create a fundraising social for the West Seattle Food Bank… and another local charity, the Seattle Dress for Success program.
What began as a few local members cleaning out their oversupply of quality handbags and donating them to charity as an excuse for a good party has attracted local attention and we are getting donations we didn’t expect; some of them top-end designer handbags.
All donated handbags will be up for sale at the auction… some of them will simply be for sale for $5… some of them will be up for bid with a $5 minimum and $25 maximum.
We will also be collecting non-perishable food items and cash/checks for the West Seattle Food Bank. Every donation will be matched through the current $1 million dollar Feinstein Foundation donation challenge (read more about it here). This will be a great opportunity to make your dollars count and help out one of our more important local resources.
What began as a problem; what to do with handbags that didn’t sell, has created another opportunity for donations. We will be donating any bags that don’t sell to the Seattle Dress for Success program and will also collect donations of quality used women’s business attire and cash/checks for their program. They especially need plus size clean and ready to wear clothing.
We expect participation from local representatives from both organizations and will have information on both organizations for those who would like to know more.
So if you are 21 or older (Beveridge Place is a pub), this is a great chance to drop by, have some fun, drink a little beer, drop off some of what you just cleaned out of the closet, do some good, find a great handbag at a really reasonable price and get to meet some of the more infamous West Seattle Blog Forum members. We will be wearing nametags with our sign-in names so you can identify us.
We are accepting donations of all types of quality bags; we hope to have something to offer those males who are brave enough to attend. If you would consider selling it at a consignment shop; we want it. You can show up at 2 pm when the pub opens to drop off donations, or contact JoB to arrange drop-off prior to the event. All unclaimed bags will be donated to Dress for Success.
You can e-mail JoB at joanne (at) brayden.org; you can also join the chat about this event, and a multitude of other topics, in the WSB Open Discussion Forum.
10 am-2 pm, you can be part of the Community Mother/Baby Shower organized by WestSide Baby and the Seattle South chapter of Soroptimist International. They’re collecting diapers, newborn- and toddler-size clothing, books, baby equipment, and $ donations for local families in need, as well as $ donations for the Malawi Baby Formula Fund. Just bring your donation(s) to the John L. Scott office in Westwood Village (north side of the center, in the breezeway between Bed Bath Beyond and Jamba Juice). For more on what’s happening today (and tomorrow), check our West Seattle Weekend Lineup.
Later this month, restaurants around the country will be asking patrons to help raise money for UNICEF to get safe drinking water to children in developing nations, by inviting donations of at least $1 per glass of tap water patrons would usually receive free. It’s called the Tap Project; in West Seattle, Beato and Ama Ama already are signed up to participate, and organizers say there’s time for more to get on board. (This map shows all Seattle restaurants that have signed up so far.) Restaurants interested in participating can start here; the donation drive will happen during World Water Week, March 16-22 (which by the way will end with a separate fundraiser on Alki, the Walk for Water).
From the WSB inbox, sent by Kelsey Diller:
I am writing to ask your help to save homes in West Seattle from being torn down. I was inspired to start a company, Orbit Homes LLC after watching my neighbor’s home get scheduled for demolition. After compiling a competent team of specialists I am now looking for a charming home located in West Seattle that is 18 ft. high or less and no more than 27 ft. wide to fit on a property I bought to move a house onto. If you know of any homes that may be within this size range please call me at 206 554-1622 and become a part of saving the environment and preserving West Seattle’s flavor.
Sat in on tonight’s monthly meeting of the Southwest District Council and brought back lots of quick updates on West Seattle goings-on plus heard new and interesting things from the group’s guest speaker, City Council President Richard Conlin (left), who also spoke to the Alki Community Council’s last meeting (WSB coverage here):Read More
For the next two months, donations to either or both of the two food banks that serve areas of West Seattle — the West Seattle Food Bank and White Center Food Bank — will bring the agencies and their clients an extra boost. This news release explains why:
$1 MILLION FEINSTEIN CHALLENGE TO BENEFIT LOCAL Food BankS
March and April donations to West Seattle Food Bank and White Center Food Bank will qualify for Feinstein Challenge
The West Seattle Food Bank and White Center Food Bank are encouraging community members to make donations between March 1st and April 30th so they can be submitted for matching funds from the Feinstein Foundation’s $1 Million Challenge.
For the past 11 years Rhode Island philanthropist, Alan Shawn Feinstein, has made $1 Million available to help anti-hunger agencies. For every cash and food donation received by the end of April the Feinstein Foundation will add a financial contribution.
“It may be hard for many to believe,†said Fran Yeatts, executive director of the West Seattle Food Bank, “but more than 3,200 families visited the West Seattle Food Bank in 2007. That’s 10% more than the year before. And the White Center Food Bank served 3,812 families, a 16% increase from 2006. So it’s obvious that the threat of hunger is very real in both our communities.â€
“The more we receive during the challenge period,†said Ms. Yeatts, “the greater the match we’ll get from the Feinstein Foundation, which will help us provide for the babies, teens, adults and seniors who depend on our two organizations .â€
For the West Seattle Food Bank, donations may be mailed to 3419 SW Morgan, Seattle, WA 98126. For information about the West Seattle Food Bank’s programs benefited by the $1 Million Challenge, visit www.westseattlefoodbank.org or contact Fran Yeatts at (206) 932-9023, or email wsfb@teleport.com.
For the White Center Food Bank, donations may be mailed to 10829 8th Avenue SW, Seattle, WA 98146. For information about the White Center Food Bank’s programs benefited by the $1 Million Challenge, visit www.whitecenterfoodbank.org or contact Rick Jump at (206) 762-2848, or email wcfb@drizzle.com.
Information about the Feinstein Foundation and the $1 Million Challenge, visit www.feinsteinfoundation.org
That was one of Mom’s favorite sayings, applicable in almost any circumstance. We invoke it this morning as part of a request for help: A grass-roots West Seattle-wide disaster-readiness effort is under way, and Cindi Barker from the Morgan Community Association is creating a list of neighborhood point people to help. These can’t just be the same neighborhood-council leaders who already have taken on an Atlas-esque amount of tasks – some additional help is needed. It’s not time-intensive but it’s a good deed you can do on behalf of your neighbors. Right now, people are needed to volunteer for the Admiral and North Delridge neighborhoods. You can e-mail her to find out more, no obligation — cbarker (at) qwest.net. (And you’ll be hearing more here in a few weeks about quick, easy ways to get more peace of mind via home preps. Later today, also, you might get a few hints; we are about to head out to tour a new local home touted as “disaster-resistant.”)
With everything that is discussed openly in our everyday lives and in the media these days, you might conclude there is nothing too taboo to talk about. That would not be true; a big, dangerous one remains.Read More
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