West Seattle, Washington
09 Tuesday
Two ways to do a good deed this weekend and leave your community a little cleaner – both happening this Saturday morning (June 4th):
SEAL SITTERS ‘SENTINELS OF THE SOUND’ CLEANUP AT ALKI: As first mentioned here almost two weeks ago, a very-low tide will enable Seal Sitters Marine Mammal Stranding Network and friends to get out on Alki Beach for a 10 am-noon cleanup. Everybody’s welcome – find out more on the Seal Sitters website, and RSVP if you can, though Seal Sitters stress that you also are welcome to just show up.
ADMIRAL NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION ADOPT-A-STREET: Meet at 9 am at Metropolitan Market (WSB sponsor) in Admiral to be part of this quarterly cleanup. Incentive: Treats beforehand, sack lunch afterward – just spend a few hours helping clean up your community. The Admiral Neighborhood Association also invites you to its upcoming monthly meeting, says president Larry Wymer – Tuesday, June 14th, at 7 pm at The Sanctuary at Admiral (42nd SW/SW Lander), with the agenda featuring HALA (Housing Affordability and Livability).
Thanks to volunteers of all ages, led by West Seattle-based Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2713, The Junction’s flags are up in honor of Memorial Day.
If you weren’t able to help put them up, there’s one more chance to help – meet at 4:50 pm by Cupcake Royale at California/Alaska to help take them down.
Between now and then, you’ll find local veterans’ groups at the Forest Lawn (6701 30th SW; WSB sponsor) Memorial Day ceremony at 2 pm, all welcome.
With this year’s commencement ceremony just a few weeks away, we’ve been asked to share a donation request to ensure that all West Seattle High School seniors can participate in this year’s ceremony. Volunteer coordinator Amy Doll has asked the WSHS community if any of last year’s graduates would consider donating the robes they wore in the commencement ceremony: “I have several students that aren’t walking because of the cost of the robes. The PTSA has a budget to help students but I would like to be able to let kids keep their Hat, Stole, and Tassel. I can do that if I have donated robes.” If you can donate one, please drop it off in the school office, which is open weekdays until 3 pm (though not tomorrow, because of the holiday).
P.S. One parent tells us they’re also welcoming used prom dresses. If you have a question about these donation requests, please e-mail asdoll@seattleschools.org. (Prom is next Friday, June 4th; graduation is June 21st.)
(Click image to see as full-size PDF)
At this month’s Highland Park Action Committee meeting, Connie Wolf, vice president of the HP Elementary PTA, gave the group a quick update on progress toward the school’s new playground. It now has a design, with help from students, but also has a long road to reality. Your help is needed – and your enthusiasm for helping them get a place to play! An upcoming open house was mentioned; we asked for more information and design images, and received this update from Elyse Clemens on the playground committee:
Over the course of this school year, the community at Highland Park Elementary School worked together with Pomegranate Center to design a playground for our school. Using input from the students, families, teachers, and community members, the new playground design is full of natural elements for students to play and explore on. There are hill slides, boulder steps, log scrambles, a net climber, and rain and sensory gardens. We are also looking forward to a welcoming entry way on 11th Ave SW that will invite the entire community to enjoy the new space:
(Click image to see as full-size PDF)This Fall we will be working with Pomegranate Center to develop construction drawings for the design. And throughout the 2016-2017 school year we will be holding community events to raise funds, both direct monetary contributions and community participation matching through Seattle Neighborhood Matching Fund. We hope to have enough money to start the first phase of construction in Summer 2017.
We will be holding an Open House on Thursday June 16th from 6-7 pm at the current playground. This is an opportunity to meet the Pomegranate Center design team and get excited about the future playground. They will map out the design with sidewalk chalk on the blacktop and answer questions. All are welcome to join in the celebration!
We hear there’ll be ice cream! Get it on your calendar – it’ll be on ours. HP Elementary is at 1012 SW Trenton.
(WSB photo, June 2015)
When Lou Cutler took that last lap around the Pathfinder K-8 field last June, shortly before retiring from his job as the school’s PE teacher, it seemed like the end of his annual Make-A-Wish fundraising runs, joyful occasions in which the entire school community took part. But it turns out the tradition isn’t ending after all – Lou will be back at the school on Pigeon Point on Friday, June 3rd (one week from tomorrow), to do it again! Since this time of year also brings his birthday, he leads a lap for every year he’s been on the planet, and this year it will be the momentous number 65. Lou tells WSB, “Easiest way for me to explain this all is that I am having so much fun, I don’t want the run to end. The spirit is certainly willing and the cause is great, so I’ll be ready!” Maybe a little more walking, a little less running, but all the better for anyone and everyone who wants to join in – all are welcome – just drop by Pathfinder next Friday morning, at or after the scheduled start time of 8:45 am. Make-A-Wish points out that Lou’s run “has raised more than $60,000 — that’s enough to grant 12 wishes to local kids with life-threatening medical conditions!” (Outside the run, he’s been a wish-granting volunteer for more than 20 years.)
P.S. Here’s where you can go to donate specifically in honor of Lou’s run.
In case you haven’t yet seen them in the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar, two Memorial Day notes:
(2015 WSB photo)
JUNCTION FLAG HELP: Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2713 welcomes community assistance in putting up and taking down the West Seattle Junction’s U.S. flags on Monday. Meet at California/Alaska, in front of Cupcake Royale, at 8:50 am for flag placement, 4:50 pm for flag removal.
FOREST LAWN CEREMONY: At 2 pm on Monday, American Legion Post 160 and community partners will present the traditional annual Memorial Day ceremony at Forest Lawn (WSB sponsor) in High Point (map); all welcome.
(2014 WSB photo)
Right afterward, you’re invited to a 3:30 pm reception at Post 160 HQ in The Triangle (3618 SW Alaska).
While the school-funding shortage means PTA/PTSA fundraisers are not unusual, this one is: The Schmitz Park Elementary PTA is hosting the first Fox Hole Classic Golf Tournament – which, president Robert Kelly says, its purpose is “to provide financial grants for other West Seattle school PTA’s. This is an opportunity to help make the entire community the best place for our children to succeed as students and citizens.” Here’s the scoop on the tournament:
Join us at West Seattle Golf Course on Friday, June 10, 2016
2:30 pm Shotgun Start (1:15 Check-in)There will be prizes for: Hole-In-One * Jackpot Hole * Tee & Door Prizes KP’s * Longest Drives * Putting Contest
Registration open now. Cost: $125 per golfer.
Early Bird Foursome Special: $400
Limit 144 total golfers. Deadline June 3rd.Register and Pay Online or submit the attached form (PDF) with check.
Questions, please contact Robert Kelly: president@schmitzparkpta.org
Kelly says this is open to the public and they’re also seeking sponsors, via hole sponsorship, a one-time monetary donation, prize donations. As he notes, “Each year, school PTA’s help close the funding gaps by providing important resources that help our children learn and achieve every single day.”
From Seal Sitters Marine Mammal Stranding Network, word of two ways you can help care for West Seattle shores and the creatures who share the beaches and waters with us – first, an announcement, second, a reminder:
Seal Sitters and the Alki Community Council will be co-sponsoring the “Sentinels of the Sound” beach cleanup at Alki Beach on Saturday, June 4th, 10 am-noon. There will be a very low tide that day, enabling access to a wide stretch of beach to remove dangerous debris. The adjacent sidewalks and street will also be scoured for trash – it is estimated that up to 80% of all trash discarded on land ends up as marine debris.
Trash poisons, maims, and kills wildlife. Lend a hand to help keep marine life safe and meet up at the Statue of Liberty Plaza. There will be a brief talk about the dangers of marine trash before dispersing to clean up the area. Last year, volunteers removed an estimated 9,000 toxic cigarette butts in approximately two hours.
Please visit our website for more details and the RSVP link. Volunteers do need to provide gloves and pickup sticks this year, but bags will be available at the sign-in table.
Now, the reminder – Seal Sitters training tomorrow!
Harbor-seal pupping season is on the horizon and Seal Sitters volunteers enable pups to rest safely on our urban beaches. We will be holding a training on Monday evening, May 23rd. There are just a few available spaces left to attend. Please visit the volunteer page of our website for info and to RSVP.
Seal Sitters welcomes volunteers of all ages.
2:32 PM: One group of young West Seattleites had an important job to do before arriving at the West Seattle Bee Festival in time for this morning’s parade: Volunteer work at the West Seattle Food Bank a few blocks away. Marco – who shared the photos (and is at left, below, with WSFB operations manager Lester Yuh at right) – says Girl Scout Brownie Troop #40146 bought 100 pounds of rice with the earnings from their cookie sales, and came to WSFB to put it into family-sized bags. (They also had some left over for a bit of fun, Marco says – an afternoon at Southgate Roller Rink.)
Marco is a regular WSFB volunteer, by the way, during food distribution on Thursdays, and the food bank always welcomes help – volunteering, donating food, and/or donating money.
(WSB photo)
On this “Bike Everywhere Day,” one rider who arrived in West Seattle tonight is truly doing just that – riding around the world. At left in our photo is Tim Bridgman, with West Seattleites Dave Nichols (center) and Gary Potter (right), photographed tonight outside Potter Construction (WSB sponsor) between Alaska and Morgan Junctions.
Bridgman is from England and is on an around-the-world ride that started four years ago, in Norway, with his wife Sharon Bridgman. They planned to raise money for ShelterBox, which provides emergency shelter and supplies to people in need around the world.
Two years and 15,939 miles into their ride, Sharon Bridgman was hit and killed on a road in southwestern Bolivia.
Tim decided that in honor of the ShelterBox cause – helping people carry on through disaster and tragedy – he would continue (here’s his story as told to a reporter in Britain). Last year, he resumed the journey in South America, where he had left his bicycle. And now, he’s on the last leg of the journey, riding through the Pacific Northwest en route to Barrow, Alaska, after more than 32,000 miles. Nichols (a ShelterBox volunteer responder) and Potter both support ShelterBox through the Rotary Club of West Seattle; the two met up with Bridgman this afternoon in Auburn for the last leg of his ride into West Seattle, where he is staying with Potter.
Bridgman is chronicling his journey online here. You can donate to ShelterBox through the special page set up for him and his wife, here. He’ll be in West Seattle until Sunday, before resuming his ride north.
Two community cleanups tomorrow! Start your weekend knowing you’ve done a good deed. First, from Jill:
Join us Saturday at 9:00 AM for a short litter cleanup in Gatewood. We are meeting at Myrtle and 35th near the water tower (park on Myrtle) at 9 AM and will do a cleanup along 35th to Henderson. Probably one to two hours max. Bring gloves and water, safety vests if you have them, and ORCA passes if you want to bus back to your car! I may have extra picker-uppers and vests, depending on how many extra folks come. Serious rain probably cancels.
We also have this announcement from Esperanza on Puget Ridge:
The Puget Ridge Neighborhood quarterly clean-up will be on Saturday.
Meet at 10:00 AM at 6559 18th Ave SW to pick up bags and form teams.
(2013 West Seattle 5K photo by Tracy Brigham)
This Sunday brings the West Seattle 5K walk/run along Alki, and race director Jeff Mensing, last call for volunteer help – a few more people would be appreciated!
We are very much in need of volunteers to help with the West Seattle 5K Run/Walk on May 22nd during the race, especially because one adult is needed at every intersection of the route. If you can volunteer, shifts starting from 7:45 and 8:30 until 11:30 AM, we would be very grateful! If you are interested or available, please email wshs5kvolunteers@gmail.com with your name and availability.
P.S. Tonight is your last chance to register online – if you miss the deadline but still want to sign up, you can do that Saturday noon-6 pm at West Seattle Runner (WSB sponsor) or starting at 8 am on Sunday.
(WSFB’s Fran Yeatts with Nucor’s Walter Reese)
Thanks to Judi Yazzolino from the West Seattle Food Bank for the photo and report on its big event last weekend:
The West Seattle Food Bank has honored Nucor Steel for being such a strong partner in helping end hunger in our community for so many years: On Saturday, May 14th, the West Seattle Food Bank held their biggest fundraiser of the year, the 9th Annual Instruments of Change, at the Seattle Design Center.
The first Instrument of Change Award was presented to Nucor and their employees, who since 2003 have raised more than $200,000 for the food bank through their holiday funds and food drive. An integral part of Nucor’s culture is working with the community. Giving back is their nature. Walter Reese, Controller of Nucor was present to accept the award.
The West Seattle Food Bank would like to thank their sponsors, donors, and guests for supporting and helping to raise $131,200! This will allow them to continue to provide nutritious and healthy food, baby supplies, pet food and books to all of our neighbors in need.
You can help out WSFB any time – just go here.
(WSB photo from 2015 West Seattle 4th of July Kids’ Parade)
West Seattle’s only 4th of July parade – the Kids’ Parade through North Admiral streets – is a joyful way to start the holiday for hundreds of local families and the increasing numbers of spectators who watch along the way. It’s been a community-organized tradition for more than 20 years. While it’s free to participate and observe, it’s not free to stage, with costs including permits and insurance. This year, organizers are asking you to help cover the costs, via crowdfunding. The parade’s new coordinator, Emily Williams, has set up an IndieGogo page for contributions, with this year’s parade coming up fast. Every little bit will help.
Updates on this year’s West Seattle Bee Festival – one of spring’s first big events, now just nine days away, on Saturday, May 21st:
*A live band will lead the Kids and Pets Costume Parade, starting at 11 am, and will play until 12:30 pm, after which, festival organizers say, a “mix of world music” will take over.
*Woodland Park Zoo is bringing its “Up Close” pollinator program exhibit: “It will include a slideshow of unusual pollinators and illustrate ‘the sneaky ways (ninja!) plants attract their preferred pollinators. There’s a fascinating science to it!’ That quote is from Sherry Lankston, one of the Zoo staff, who will be there. The Zoo program will be held inside Neighborhood House’s High Point Center from 11:30 to 1:30. They are also bringing two of their live ‘Animal Ambassadors’ to the festival: A Jungle Nymph and a Leopard Gecko! These are pollinators from other countries.”
*Full Tilt Ice Cream has recently joined the “enclave” of food trucks, along with Patty Pan Grill and Wicked Pies. Lanham will be blocked off between SW Graham St and Sylvan Way SW for the Vendor and Information Fair. Food trucks will be on the south end of the block.
(WSB will be at the Vendor/Information Fair, covering the festival live.)
Now, here’s how YOU can help this ever-bigger festival:
*More volunteers are needed – several to help with the Honey Run at 10 am, to “make sure the runners stay on the course and hand out water. We can also use more help with set-up, tear-down, and clean-up. And, we can use some awesome friendly West Seattle people to help staff our information tables and perhaps help out in other ways. Those who’d like to help can email us at westseattlebeefestival@gmail.com.” A meeting for prospective volunteers is planned next Tuesday night near the festival site.
The Taste of West Seattle – your chance to sample dozens of local establishments in ONE place, while helping the West Seattle Helpline – is less than three weeks away. But your chance to get ticket(s) is likely to end much sooner – last time we checked with Helpline executive director Chris Langeler, the number left was down in the double digits. General Admission tickets are $65, and while there’s no limit on food tastes, each GA admission comes with three “drink taste” tickets, with more available for purchase ($2 each, three for $5, unlimited for $20) when you get to The Taste. But you won’t get in without a ticket, so guarantee yours now by going here and support the work of the Westside Award-winning Nonprofit of the Year, 6 pm May 26th at The Hall at Fauntleroy!
P.S. Organizers have been serving up food-and-drink participants’ names in little bites but we’ve noticed the ones revealed so far include WSB sponsors Metropolitan Market (also the presenting sponsor this year), Salty’s on Alki, and Dream Dinners.
(Photo by Dina Lydia Johnson)
The folks at Highland Park Improvement Club want to make sure you know that, post-“eyebrow” trouble, their building is back in business again – they just hosted the monthly Corner Bar on Friday night and have another big event on the way:
The awnings are gone, the building is safe, and we are back in business! Movie Night, Corner Bar, Highland Park Uncorked, and all classes and events are on! More than ever, we need your support to help make this neighborhood gathering place better.
Highland Park Uncorked is Saturday, May 21. Tastings from 8 local wineries, raffle, silent auction featuring local artists – register here.
(Sponsors for HP Uncorked include WSB.) HPIC is at 12th SW/SW Holden.
(Photo by Robin Lindsey)
Tayler and Ana, graduates of the UW’s Environmental Science Program, are Seal Sitters Marine Mammal Stranding Network volunteers, and that means they’re helping wildlife all over our area. Want to join them? Here’s your next chance:
Seal Sitters Marine Mammal Stranding Network will be holding our “Spring New Volunteer Training Session” on Monday evening, May 23rd, from 6:30 – 8:30 pm.
For more information and to RSVP (required to attend), please visit the volunteer page of our website. We encourage children to join and become stewards of Puget Sound’s fragile marine ecosystem.
As an authorized agent of NOAA’s West Coast Marine Mammal Stranding Network, Seal Sitters MMSN responds to reports of all marine mammals along the shoreline of West Seattle, from Brace Point through the Duwamish River.
Join Seal Sitters, a very active network, and make a difference for wildlife!
(WSB photo from 2014 West Seattle 5K)
If you’re not walking, running, or rolling in the West Seattle 5K along Alki on May 22nd – can you help make it a success? From race director Jeff Mensing:
We are very much in need of volunteers to help with the West Seattle 5K Run/Walk on May 22nd during the race, especially because one adult is needed at every intersection of the route. If you can volunteer on Sunday, May 22th, shifts starting from 7:45 and 8:30 until 11:30 AM, we would be very grateful! If you are interested or available, please email wshs5kvolunteers@gmail.com with your name and availability.
The WS5K (co-sponsored by WSB again this year, and every year from its inception in 2009!) benefits West Seattle High School via its PTA.
Big changes this year for the Highland Park Improvement Club‘s annual wine-tasting fundraiser, Highland Park Uncorked, coming up Saturday, May 21st:
Registration is now open for our 8th Annual Highland Park Uncorked! We are so excited to be planning this event, with a few changes that will be sure to impress you!
Register now, as we’re sure to sell out.
A few noteworthy changes & new events:
*We now provide the wine for you! We’re working with 8 local wineries to bring you some amazing wines to try! So leave your bottles at home, the wine is on us…
*Everyone gets a commemorative glass to take home! Because you are our valued guest and supporting our community, we think you all deserve one.
*Silent art auction! With so many amazing talented artists in our very own neighborhood, we will be highlighting them with a new silent auction, in addition to our regular raffle. Our club is deeply rooted in this community, and it’s a perfect opportunity for us to share some of our local talents with you all.
*Wine Roulette! Test your luck by spinning our wheel and pulling a wrapped wine bottle from our ‘wine cellar,’ ranging from high-end bottles, worthy of sharing with the boss, to barely guest-worthy, but still drinkable. No matter what, you walk away with a bottle, the club gets a donation, and it’s a great opportunity to win a top-quality bottle of wine for a cheap price.
So register now! As a reminder, we book out in tables of 10. So book an entire table, or we’ll put smaller groups together so you can cozy up to some new friends.
(WSB is among the co-sponsors of HP Uncorked again this year.)
In case you hadn’t heard, or forgot, the annual GiveBIG donation drive for hundreds of nonprofits was extended through today because of technical glitches with the Seattle Foundation’s new donation software. So this is one last reminder – you have until midnight TONIGHT to give to participating organizations who will then be eligible for added “stretch” dollars. As usual, we made a list of local participants and their special donation links for the event – you’ll find it here.
(UPDATE: Due to technical trouble with the Seattle Foundation’s new site earlier, GiveBIG is extended until midnight Wednesday night)
ORIGINAL REPORT, 4:56 AM: Until midnight tonight, your donation(s) to local nonprofits can go further during the Seattle Foundation‘s annual GiveBIG event.
If you’ve donated on GiveBIG day in the past – this is important: This year, they’ve changed how it works, if you want to help multiple organizations/groups – instead of going to multiple individual special donation pages, just go here and add as many recipients and donations as you want, and the total payment will be a single transaction.
But you CAN go to individual pages – the GiveBIG-specific donation links (not the same links as years past) for the locally helping/locally based organizations on the official list are below. If we’re missing anyone in WS/WC, please e-mail editor@westseattleblog.com and we’ll add.
· Alki United Church of Christ
· Arts Corps
· ArtsWest
· Association of Latino Professionals For America
· Blue Earth Alliance
· Camp Fire Central Puget Sound
· Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association
· Denny-Sealth Performing Arts
· Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition/Technical Advisory Group
· Duwamish Rowing Club
· Duwamish Tribal Services
· Empower Mentoring Program
· Environmental Coalition of South Seattle
· Explorer West Middle School
· Fauntleroy Children’s Center
· FEEST
· Free2Luv
· Friends of All-City Band
· Friends of the Animals Foundation
· Furry Faces Foundation
· Gender Diversity
· Highland Park Elementary PTA
· Highline Schools Foundation for Excellence
· Holy Rosary Parish School
· Irish Reels Film Festival
· Killer Whale Tales
· King County Library System Foundation
· Kol HaNeshamah
· Legal Counsel for Youth and Children
· Navos
· Northwest Center
· Opera On Tap Seattle
· Our Lady of Guadalupe School
· Plumbers Without Borders
· Pongo Publishing
· Providence Mount St. Vincent Foundation
· Reel Grrls
· SafeFutures Youth Center
· Seattle Adaptive Sports
· Seattle Glee Clubs
· Seattle Green Spaces Coalition
· Seattle People of Color Salon
· Seniors Creating Art
· Shine Bright
· South Seattle College Foundation
· Southwest Seattle Historical Society
· Southwest Youth and Family Services
· STAGEright
· STEM K-8 PTA
· Technology Access Foundation
· The Cabiri
· The Kenney Foundation
· The Mission to Seafarers – Seattle
· The Nature Consortium
· The Phffft Company
· the Service Board
· The Village of Hope
· The Whale Trail
· Totem Star
· Transitional Resources
· Twelfth Night Productions
· Vivace Chamber Players
· West Seattle Block Watch Captains Network (link takes you to Seattle Neighborhood Group; write WSBWCN in the comments)
· West Seattle Community Orchestras
· West Seattle Food Bank
· West Seattle Helpline
· WestSide Baby
· Westside Unitarian Universalist Congregation
· Wheelchairs for Nigeria
· Whit Press
· White Center Community Development Association
· White Center Emergency Food Association [WC Food Bank]
· YES Foundation of White Center
· YMCA of Greater Seattle [then write in West Seattle to designate for local Y]
· Young Shakespeare Workshop
Again, you can also go here and start entering organizations’ names – if they’re part of GiveBIG, they’ll show up in the dropdown, and if you want to donate to more than one, just use the button on the form to keep adding.
P.S. At least one special event locally as part of GiveBIG – you can support the White Center Food Bank (which is in the GiveBIG system as the White Center Emergency Food Association) via Dine Out For Hunger, with four popular WC spots donating part of today’s proceeds – info here.
ADDED 4:26 PM: GiveBIG has now extended until midnight Wednesday night, after tech trouble with the Seattle Foundation’s new website led to slowness and crashing. Meantime, we’re adding a few more local nonprofits who’ve let us know they belong on our list.
(2013 WSB photo)
The path under the west end of the West Seattle Bridge needs some TLC, so Swedish Automotive (WSB sponsor) is organizing another cleanup. Our photo is from one led by Swedish proprietor Dave Winters in fall 2013. They’re hoping you’ll be interested in helping out next Saturday, 9 am-noon, along the path from the bus stop to Chelan Café. This time, the city will provide all the equipment, so all you have to bring is yourself – and please RSVP to say you’re planning to help – call 206-938-8685 or e-mail swedishautomotive@msn.com.
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