Tickets are still available for tomorrow night’s Bring It Home dinner/auction to benefit the White Center Food Bank, which also serves part of West Seattle – here’s the reminder:

Join us for this year’s fall event, the Bring It Home Dinner and Auction on Friday, October 18th at the Sea Mar Community Center! Come together with the White Center Food Bank community for dinner & drinks, live music, and a “fireside chat”. We will also share a short video presentation showcasing our wonderful new facility and the people who make up this amazing organization.

We have raised roughly 75% of our $8.6 million goal and this event will gather community members, donors, customers, staff, board members and volunteers to raise awareness and financial support to complete our Capital Campaign. So far White Center Food Bank has received widespread support from Washington State, King County, many foundations, businesses, private donors and others. Our goal is to raise $1,000,000 more in private funds, through this event and additional donor engagement. With the completion of this campaign, we can return 100% of our focus to raising funds to keep the community fed. Together, we can Bring It Home!

The fireside chat will include local Senator Joe Nguyen, Executive Director Carmen Smith, Board Chair Gabbi Gonzales and experienced volunteer, Ashley Northup who will illustrate the importance of our new facility to the community and our organization. The event will be MC’d by the inspiring White Center community king and food bank partner, Kimnang Seng. Delightful music from the virtuoso pianist Marina Albero and her quartet will create a celebratory ambiance for this special event. Each ticket includes dinner provided El Catrín, dessert by Patrick’s Cafe and Bakery, plus a drink ticket.

Date: Friday, October 18
Time: 6 pm-9 pm
Event Location: 9635 Des Moines Memorial Dr S.

“We’ve accomplished so much together as a community in the last two years since launching our capital campaign: started & completed construction on our new site; moved into our new site and started distribution; and raised 75% of our capital campaign goal. Now that our project is nearly complete, it is time to bring our capital campaign home and move onto the next chapter of supporting our neighbors beyond food resources.” – Carmen Smith, WCFB Executive Director.

Tickets are available here.

(Chili flight from 2022 West Seattle Junction Harvest Festival cookoff)

The weather may not yet be chilly … but the food forecast is chili. Three upcoming events in the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar feature fundraising chili cookoffs, so we’re spotlighting them in case you haven’t yet heard.

FAUNTLEROY CHURCH/Y CENTENNIAL CHILI COOKOFF: The first one is coming up this Wednesday (October 16, 6:30 pm at Fauntleroy Church‘s fellowship hall (9140 California SW), part of the centennial celebration. Organizers say, “We will be donating all proceeds from this Chili Fest Cookoff to a shared campaign to eliminate medical debt for families in need in the Seattle area.” $15/person, kids under 10 free. If you’re a chili cook, you can even register to compete. RSVP – whether you’re a prospective chili consumer or cook – by going here.

WESTSIDE INTERFAITH NETWORK: Next Saturday (October 19) at 6:30 pm at St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church (3050 California SW), this coalition of faith communities is raising money for its social work via its first-ever chili cookoff. Tickets for this one are also $15, and you get chili, cornbread, and salad, plus additional donation/purchase opportunities to support WIN’s projects such as the weekly Welcome Table for people in need. Buy your ticket(s) here.

JUNCTION HARVEST FESTIVAL: West Seattle’s premier chili cookoff is back this year during the West Seattle Junction Harvest Festival, starting at 11 am Sunday, October 27. Restaurants and other pro food purveyors compete to raise money for the West Seattle Food Bank; you buy a flight of chili (while they last) in the festival zone at California/Alaska, and vote for your fave. (No advance ticketing for this one.) We’ll be checking in with the WSFB soon to see who’s competing this year (and to see what the pricing will be)!

(WSB photo from 2018 Laps With Lou)

For 20 years, now-retired PE teacher Lou Cutler led an annual daylong running/walking event on the field at Pathfinder K-8, raising money for Make-A-Wish, for which he’s volunteered even longer. The event – during which Lou celebrated his birthday by circling the field once for every year of his life – was held during a school day until last year, when it had to move to a Saturday. That just wasn’t the same, so 2023, marking his 72nd birthday, was the last Laps With Lou. But his Make-A-Wish support continues, and he’s found a new way to do it on his feet: This week, he’s going to Boston for a big walk Sunday on the legendary Boston Marathon route. We asked him to tell us – and you – about his plan:

At this time next Sunday, I will have finished the Boston Marathon walk and will no doubt be fully exhilarated that I followed the same path as all the great Boston Marathon runners over the past 100-plus years. The only difference is that instead of finishing where the Marathoners finish, we will finish at Boston Common and I assume that might be due to a traffic issue. The good news is that our course is slightly longer, so I can proudly say that I did a Marathon plus several extra tenths of a mile!!

I haven’t done the recommended amount of training in terms of longer walks, but rather will rely on the inspiration that I receive from my regular interaction with the Make A Wish kids, who are the bravest people in the world who meet daily health challenges head on with maximum effort and a minimum of complaint and through it all are incredibly resilient and superstars!!

As much as I will enjoy myself next week walking the Marathon and raising money for MAW, nothing will ever compare with the joy and thrill of running with the entire Pathfinder student body to benefit Make A Wish for the past 20 years.

As was the case for all the years of Laps With Lou at Pathfinder, there’s a Make-A-Wish link where you can donate directly to Lou’s fundraising campaign to help kids’ wishes come true – just go here.

(WSB photos)

The doors are about to open for general admission to The Taste of West Seattle, and we’re told tickets are still available at the door, so ditch your dinner plans and come to The Hall at Fauntleroy (9131 California SW) to enjoy tastes and sips from dozens of local purveyors – all to benefit the West Seattle Food Bank. What’s in our photo is just one of the two big event rooms where you can circulate between tables and try everything. Among the participating purveyors, Nola’s Events (WSB sponsor), serving sweet and savory flatbread options:

Another WSB sponsor that’s here, Mioposto (serving up tiramisu):

And Viscon Cellars (WSB sponsor) is pouring:

“Papa Tony” (of Hot Sauce fame) is serving up caramelized-onion pasta:

Here’s what Cactus> is offering:

Seattle Sorbets had the scoop:

Mission Cantina came from Admiral:

And Fauntleroy’s own Birdhouse:

In The Hall’s downstairs room, along with some of the food/drink offerings, you’ll also find featured musicians Correo Aéreo:

If you want to support the WSFB a bit extra, you can buy a raffle ticket, and/or play the Wine Game downstairs:

The Taste of West Seattle is on until 8 pm, but you’ll want to get here before 7:30. $75 admission, 21+ only. You can vote for your favorite tastes/sips, too. And it all goes toward not only the food-insecurity work done by WSFB, but also their other work, including emergency assistance to keep people from becoming homeless, and the Clothesline, offering clothing to people in need.

ADDED: WSFB’s Robbin Peterson shared the list of winners:

Alki’s Fire Tacos won two votes – for “savory” and “beverage.” Also:
–Viscon Cellars for “pour”
–Falafel Salam for “veggie”
–Dolcetta for “sweet”

We’re still just a few weeks into the new school year, and some things are still getting settled – like a roster of volunteers to help local kids via Invest in Youth. Here’s the announcement we were asked to share:

Can you give 1 hour, 1 day a week to be a volunteer tutor for the 2024-25 school year?

Invest in Youth is currently accepting applications for volunteer tutors! Tutors are paired with a 3rd-5th grade scholar at any one of our several Seattle Public School locations, starting in late October 2024 through mid-May 2025.

What makes Invest in Youth tutoring so unique is its emphasis on being both academic-focused and relationship based. Tutors have the same student over the course of the school year. Our mission is to help students to believe in themselves and become confident, capable, and resilient learners. “I feel like I can be myself with my tutor,” says last year’s student at Sanislo Elementary.

You can choose to be a tutor or a substitute tutor at any one of our 5 schools most convenient for you. In West Seattle:

Tuesdays, 2:40 PM – 3:40 PM @ Roxhill Elementary (at EC Hughes)

Thursdays, 3:40 PM – 4:40 PM @ Sanislo Elementary

No experience is necessary; just a commitment to showing up for a young person and providing caring learning support. Tutors typically work on math skills, reading fundamentals as well as being a friend and mentor to their students. Time is spent in the classroom with other student-tutor pairs and materials are provided. An SPS teacher and Invest in Youth staff member are also onsite with you and available to help.

Our youth today have experienced a wide range of Covid learning loss. By joining our volunteer community, you can help to bridge that gap by giving a student 1:1 learning support and mentorship to help them thrive.

Adults as well as high school juniors and seniors (in strong academic standing) are welcome to apply. This is a great opportunity to give the gift of mentorship and for students to receive credit for service learning hours throughout the year.

Register here today

Learn more at InvestinYouth.org | Questions? Please contact Jenny Ho, Invest in Youth Program Manager (jho@investinyouth.org)