A week and a half ago, we brought you Alki resident Charlotte Starck‘s story about her plan to journey to Detroit with a creation that had a place in automotive-industry history as well as family history – a 1930 Fisher Body Napoleonic model coach built by her late grandfather Irvin Starck, a Boeing machinist who put 18,000 hours into it over 55 years. Now Charlotte, her brother Jim Starck, and their special delivery, have arrived.

We asked Charlotte to let us know when she got there so we could publish a followup. She and her brother transported the coach in its container, which her grandfather also built:

Charlotte said the delivery was a two-site adventure:

First we met General Motors Director of Corporate Giving and Heritage Heidi Magyar at the new global headquarters for General Motors. They just moved in mid-January.

Then north 25 minutes to the new GM Heritage Center under construction that is the home for the coach now. We handed off to left to right in top photo) Rebecca Bushman and Chief of Heritage Kevin Kirbitz.

It is by far the most beautiful. They have a few others.

Charlotte adds that they were told theirs is the only known documented 193 inaugural-year coach, and that many historians think the early 1930 Fisher Body Guild coaches might have been the most technically sophisticated youth-craftsmanship-competition objects ever made in the U.S.

P.S. She’s been invited back when the Heritage Center opens.

By Macey Wurm
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

It’s that time of year again! Girl Scout Cookie Booth season kicked off this afternoon with five different locations around The Junction, and more than 20 in all of West Seattle. We visited the booths (tables) in front of Husky Deli and Easy Street Records, which were just getting started at mid-afternoon. Additional booths were in the process of being set up in front of the Junction QFC, Jefferson Square Safeway, and A La Mode Pies around 4:00 p.m.

, and Liv, three members of Troop 46258, had a table and signage outside Husky Deli. They drew attention to a “New Flavor!!!” called Exploremores, described as “a Rocky Road ice cream-inspired cookie filled with chocolate marshmallow and toasted almond creme,” per their sign. The crew has been part of Girl Scouts of Western Washington for four years:

Across the street, Eliana and MJ, two members of Troop 41333, were setting up in front of Easy Street Records. The pair are eighth-graders who have been Girl Scouts since kindergarten.

These Girl Scouts are planning to sell cookies at the aforementioned locations several more times in the coming weeks, with full details on dates and times for Junction locations found here. Other locations in West Seattle can be accessed through the “Cookie Finder” by entering a zip code, which will direct you to the booths closest to you.

Looking to order cookies online? Girl Scouts of Western Washington also offers the Cookie Connector, which allows you to enter a zip code, and support a local troop in your area through buying online.

Proceeds from Girl Scout Cookie season go toward the local council, Girl Scouts of Western Washington, which operates from Bellingham down to Cowlitz County, and toward individual troops. There are currently more than 40 troops selling in West Seattle. Cookies run $6 a box, except for the gluten-free “Toffee-Tastic,” $7 per box; find out more about the cookie varieties here.

Sales will continue until March 15, marking a little under three weeks to get your cookies and support the Girl Scouts!

By Charlotte Starck
Special to West Seattle Blog

On March 3, my brother Jim Starck and I will board a plane to Detroit carrying something far too fragile to ship — our grandfather’s 1930 Fisher Body Napoleonic model coach, carefully secured inside the handcrafted wooden box he built for it himself.

It will be the first time the carriage has ever left the Seattle area.

(Irvin Starck and the carriage, photo in locket)

Nearly ninety-five years ago, as a teenager in South Dakota during the Great Depression, our grandfather, Irvin A. Starck, obtained one of the very first Fisher Body Craftsman’s Guild model coach plans provided by the Guild – the inaugural year of what would become General Motors’ long running and most influential youth outreach and recruiting initiative aimed at getting boys into auto engineering.

He had a natural-born talent for building things and hoped to enter it by the Guild contest.

But, life happened. He was living in poverty during the Depression. He scrambled to work multiple jobs to survive. And just couldn’t sacrifice the time to focus on the model before the submission deadline.

But he never got rid of it. He kept it. For a someday.

We didn’t fully understand how poor he was then – until much later. One Thanksgiving, I noticed he never put mashed potatoes on his plate. (It was our favorite.) I finally asked why. He replied, “During the Depression, we didn’t have money for food. At one point, he said, that’s all we had. I had to eat potatoes for a few weeks.” He hated them ever since.

That moment stuck with me. As an adolescent, it was the first time I became aware of how fortunate I was to have food on the table every night. When he explained more of those days, it gave new meaning to the unfinished coach.

Eventually he moved to Seattle, was hired at Boeing, and spent 30 years as a machinist building airplanes. Precision became his profession.

And one day, he started to work on it again. Slowly. In the evenings after his shifts on the line, or when our grandmother was a little grumpy. Down to the garage he would go. To his own creative world. Under dim lights, hunched over his workbench with his glasses low on his nose.

The oversized plans, yellow with age, were mounted on the wall above as he shaped parts so small he sometimes held them in a vice. If a tool did not exist to create a detail, he fabricated one. He built the tool to build the design pressed into leather. He made tools to craft the intricate patterns that embellished the plated wheels. Complex parts didn’t stop him. He just built them.

He kept at it. This was not tinkering. It was mastery.

In 1985 — fifty-five years after getting the plans — he announced it was finished. That same year, he entered it in the model competition at the Washington State (Puyallup) Fair and won the top prize, a Blue Ribbon. News of the precision craftsmanship traveled from the fairgrounds all the way to General Motors headquarters in Detroit.

An executive wrote inviting him to place the carriage in the GM Heritage Museum.

He declined.

Having only recently completed it after more than half a century, he told us, with a chuckle, “I just finished it.” He wanted a little time to appreciate his own work.

Some facts from the Fair:

Irvin A. Starck’s Fisher Body Napoleonic Model Coach:
• Purchased: 1930 (first-year issue of the Guild contest)
• Completed: 1985 – Seattle, Washington
• Blue Ribbon: Washington State Puyallup Fair (1985)
• Estimated labor: 18,000 hours
• Approximate parts: 2,000

The Fisher Body Craftsman’s Guild contest was created during the Great Depression as both a recruiting pipeline and a youth outreach initiative.

Thousands of teenagers and their families participated. The 1/18-scale Napoleonic coach — based on Fisher Body’s iconic emblem inspired by Napoleon Bonaparte’s ceremonial carriage — became a symbol of craftsmanship and design excellence during the transition from horse-drawn transport to the automobile age.

My brother and I talked and agreed that it was time for others to see it. We contacted Kevin Kirbitz, Chief of GM Heritage. Over the decades, he has seen several surviving Guild coaches in fair shape. But he told us they had not seen one with this level of beauty and precision craftsmanship. General Motors is opening a new Heritage Center museum next spring, and Kevin said they would be honored to include our grandfather’s carriage in the permanent collection.

Now, 40 years after he first declined GM’s invitation — and nearly 95 years after he got the original plans — our grandfather’s carriage will finally return to Detroit.

It’s an emotional trip, because we love our grandfather so much and miss him dearly; he died in 2002. He taught us how to finish something you start. How to be patient when you don’t see all the pieces. How to find solutions and move forward. And how to do work you can be proud of.

Before it departs the Pacific Northwest, we believe this represents more than industrial history. It is a Seattle story — a Boeing machinist’s Depression-era dream completed over fifty-five years in a garage, honored at the Washington State Fair, and now returning to Detroit as part of American industrial heritage.

We will depart March 3rd to deliver it to the GM Heritage Center in Grand Blanc, Michigan.

=====
Charlotte Starck is a former journalist currently engaged in civic and community service as president of the Alki Community Council.

Thursday (February 26) is the first day you’ll see local Girl Scouts selling cookies inside/outside local stores, among other places. As always, the times and locations are listed on the Girl Scouts of Western Washington website – a quick check by zip code shows the earliest local booth on the schedule that day is Husky Deli (4721 California SW), starting at 3 pm Thursday; most other locations don’t start up that day until 4 pm. Look for your nearest location(s) by scrolling down this page to the search-by-zip-code box. Wondering which cookies are available this year? Look here – though you might not find all those cookies at all booths.

(WSB photos by Torin Record-Sand)

Earlier this week, while monitoring SFD radio calls, we heard the dispatcher make a short announcement about a firefighter’s impending retirement, with well-wishes for the firefighter, Patrick Dunn, described as most recently serving on Ladder 13, the fire truck based at Station 37 in Sunrise Heights. This morning, Dunn, family, colleagues, and friends gathered at Easy Street Records for a breakfast celebration; we stopped in toward the end for photos:

Dunn tells us he’s been with SFD for 29 1/2 years, and spent time at Belltown’s Station 2 and the U-District’s Station 17 as well as West Seattle’s Station 37. What’s next? “Getting healthy,” plus a trip to Europe to see his daughter, who’s studying abroad, and then will “launch my next chapter.” He told us his favorite memory is “the caliber of people I’ve worked with.”

Listings for Julie Garbutt‘s weekly free “Walking for Well-Being” walks in Lincoln Park are fixtures on the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar. But she’s just adjusted the meetup location, so we’re calling attention to it here on the main page too:

Walking for Well-Being, Wednesdays @ Meet at 47th/SW Fontanelle

Walking for Well-Being — Move together in nature, Wednesdays/Saturdays @ Lincoln Park 10:00 AM

Join Walking for Well-Being for Movement & Community! Walk together with fellow West Seattleites in and around Lincoln Park –Rain or Shine.

This free weekly walk is organized by Julie Garbutt of Waypower Coaching and takes place at a conversational pace covering 2.5 miles in an hour. All fitness levels are welcome.

Meet us at the corner of 47th Ave SW & SW Fontanelle (near the 76 Gas station). We leave promptly at the listed start times, so please plan to arrive early.The start is next to the black mailbox at the north Lincoln Park Service Entrance at the intersection of 47th Avenue SW and SW Fontanelle Street and features plentiful street parking.

Got something for our calendar? westseattleblog@gmail.com – thank you!

It’s already Saturday in Paris, where Bakery Nouveau owner William Leaman has just 3 days left before his second Coupe du Monde de Boulangerie competition, this time as a coach.

We first told you in October about Leaman’s return to the competition two decades after winning it as a member of Team USA in 2005. Since agreeing to coach last year, he’s been traveling regularly to practice with the 3 bakers selected from around the U.S for the competition. The team made it past the preliminary round last October in Las Vegas, and has been focused on the finals ever since.

(photos by William Leaman)
Leaman shared a photo of a recent practice day, showing the breads, pastries, savory “snacks,” and an artistic piece that depicts “the great inventions of your country” that each team must produce in a single day. They’re up against nine other teams from around the world. The competition is held every 2-3 years.

“We are done with practice and made our adjustments to the French flour; honestly, we feel pretty good!” said Leaman.

Next they will search Paris’ higher-end markets for finishing touches. “We have 2 more days to select the best possible ingredients we can find to garnish our products.”

Leaman says they’re staying across the street from Porte De Versailles, the exhibition hall where the competition is held, making it a hassle-free commute when it’s showtime very early in the morning on January 20th. Team USA will bake alongside Brazil, France, Japan, and Senegal. The following day, it will be Canada, Chinese Taipei, Denmark, Morocco, and South Korea, with judges announcing winners on January 22nd.

(WSB photo of Rachel Porter at November light-rail forum)

Congratulations to West Seattle Chamber of Commerce executive director Rachel Porter, honored by the national Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives in its 2025 list of “Forty Under 40,” which is explained by the organization:

This annual recognition program showcases 40 of the industry’s top emerging leaders who have demonstrated success in their careers and made significant contributions to the communities they serve. The list includes CEOs and staff professionals from a wide variety of roles and chamber sizes. Honored for their creativity, dedication and commitment to identifying innovative solutions that will help shape the future of the chamber profession.

The announcement of Porter’s honor also notes:

ACCE has over 1,600 chambers of commerce and related business and economic development organizations
as members, representing more than 9,000 professionals in the industry. Eligible chamber professionals must be nominated by their chamber’s president/CEO, direct supervisor or board chair. Candidates must demonstrate meaningful involvement in the advancement of their community and proven professional success within their chamber.

The full list of honorees is here. Porter has been executive director of the WS Chamber since summer 2023.

WSBLI’s Clyde Merriwether, Ashleigh McCurdy, Kateesha Atterberry, Roger Evans
(photo courtesy of Kateesha Atterberry, from Thursday’s event)

Story by Jason Grotelueschen
Photos by Jason Grotelueschen (unless otherwise noted)
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

The vibrant history and bright future of the Black community in the state of Washington were celebrated Thursday night at the Legacy of Learning: Building Futures Together fundraising event at the Washington State Black Legacy Institute (WSBLI) in West Seattle.

As we previewed last week, the dinner and social event was held in the group’s space at 2656 42nd SW in West Seattle’s Admiral District, which opened earlier this year with a mission of community engagement and sharing information about local Black history in compelling ways.

The group says it “doesn’t just preserve the past – we architect the future” through exhibitions, education, storytelling, and strategic partnerships to ensure that “Black stories in Washington are not only told, but celebrated and built upon.”

On Thursday night, the group shared their achievements and vision and rallied support for their ongoing and new projects.

Keynote speaker Dr. Keisha Scarlett, a longtime educator and school administrator with deep history in Seattle, gave rousing remarks later in the evening about the crucial mission of “protecting Black brilliance” and the importance of using imagination and hard work to tackle educational inequity and do amazing things for young people:

To open the evening’s program, WSBLI president/CEO Kateesha Atterberry shared updates about the group’s mission and activities, and implored guests to get involved and support their important work:

Atterberry is the founder of real-estate/development firm Urban Black, which partnered with WSBLI to purchase the city-landmarked building (built in 1924) where the event was held which the group calls home (it’s the former location of Christian Science church and the Sanctuary at Admiral). 

As described by Atterberry, WSBLI is designed to be permanent cultural institution dedicated to documenting, preserving, teaching, and celebrating Black history and achievements across Washington State.

“This is your space, your building, your place,” Atterberry emphasized, “and it’s more than a museum,” owned, governed, and operated by the community it serves. It is designed as a place where children and youth see themselves reflected in exhibits, curriculum, and leadership, and where elders’ life work is honored. It’s intended to be forward-looking and also ties cultural preservation to economic empowerment, as part of the same history. Core programs and services include:

• Youth and family education programs.
• Pilot preservation and research access.
• Cultural exhibitions, lectures, and public storytelling.
• Entrepreneurship and wealth-building workshops.
• Business development and technical assistance.
• Leadership development and community organizing training.

Atterberry ran through a list of development projects and initiatives, including a new 113-unit project at 23rd and Cherry, which is a construction collaboration financed by the Amazon Housing Equity Fund. She also described a community facility partnership in collaboration with Fathers and Sons Together (FAST) on the FAST Resource & Outreach Center (aka FAST ROC). 

Next on stage was Roger Evans, who serves as WSBLI’s curator, historian and vice president, talked about the strategies that the group employs as it relates to gathering, preserving and sharing stories of the Black community in Washington state: 

Evans said his personal interest in fostering intergenerational links and connecting elders to youth began over a decade ago, and he showed two of his family videos that underscored the importance of this work. He also shared stories of families moving from places like Oklahoma to Washington State almost a century ago, buying land and starting business and establishing lasting roots in the area.

Evans added that the WSBLI building is designed “to empower us see ourselves in the future,” with advanced multimedia combined with photographs and portraits for viewing. The group’s activities include oral history collection and digitizing in elders’ homes, schools, libraries, theaters, and residences, and then creating and archiving content including 360-degree videos and VR-enabled experiences to preserve the subjects’ presence, body language, and voice. They also do image restoration using AI. To engage with the larger community, they do public exhibits and outreach and collaborations with schools, museums, and universities.

Evans says the institute plans to soon launch a website featuring 10,000 prepared digital items for public access on mobile devices, which will take the group’s engagement to the next level.

The group then invited Scarlett to the stage for her keynote speech, which focused on the current state of education and society, children’s challenges, and the role of wisdom and faith:

Scarlett emphasized the importance of creating an educational ecosystem that co-develops identity but that “survival isn’t enough” — we need to assert presence, dignity, and purpose, and a strong desire for every child to have the same ecosystem.

She focused on “Black brilliance” as a core topic, and said “education should reveal brilliance, not expose weakness.” She added that it’s important to reframe traditional thinking, because “achievement gaps are just imagination gaps” caused by institutions lacking imagination, courage, and commitment to see brilliance in its students. “Black children are not underperforming; the systems are.”

She acknowledged the challenges of the current political landscape, but recognized continuity with the past: “We have been here before.” Black-led institutions truly matter, and “we don’t wait for the storm to pass, we dance in the storm.”

Scarlett closed by encouraging attendees to remember that “joy is strategy,” “we are the ancestors of the future that we are building,” and that it’s up to us to “build a future where every child has what they need, every family is stable, every community is whole” and to “build ecosystems that protect identity, reveal gifts, and develop leaders who develop leaders.” 

Guests on Thursday night enjoyed a Thanksgiving-inspired buffet meal, drinks and dessert:

And a photo booth:

Partner organizations Redeemed Wellness Center and Tiny Tots Development Center also had informational tables at the event. 

After the event wrapped up in the main-level room, WSBLI’s Clyde Merriwether took us on a quick tour of the lower level of the building, which houses the institute’s exhibits and displays, and serves as a centerpiece for showcasing the rich history that the group works hard to preserve. 

(Photo courtesy Admiral Neighborhood Association) 

We also caught up with Evans at Atterberry after the event. Evans said the group has hosted about 10 events this year, with plans to do more in the future. He said the focus of tonight’s event was to “talk about what we do,” and of course to raise money, but he emphasized that beyond money, the group also needs more volunteers in order to really bring its mission to life. Atterberry said that in the time since the group opened its doors in the Admiral District, neighbors have been “amazing and welcoming” and her group wants to return the favor by “being a real pillar to the community.” 

There were also several mentions Thursday night of the Seattle Griot Project, which is a local effort and parent organization that formed the foundation for WSBLI as it relates to documenting Black history in the area. 

For more information and to get involved, you can contact the organization via e-mail at wsblacklegacyinstitute@gmail.com.

Story and photos by Hayden Yu Andersen
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

In 2022, when the conflict between Ukraine and Russia finally boiled over into an invasion, longtime West Seattle resident and entrepreneur Peter Gelpi traded the comfort of an office for a bomb shelter on the front lines of the largest war in Europe since World War II. And, Gelpi says if given the chance, he’d do it all over again.

On Monday night at Our Lady of Guadalupe, Gelpi, who’s back in West Seattle after another trip to Ukraine, spoke on behalf of Impact Partners Ukraine, a nonprofit organization he helped found with longtime friend-turned colleague and fellow West Seattle resident Jennifer Gouge. The event was hosted by the West Seattle Hatters, a knitting club who have turned their talents toward making cold-weather hats for displaced Ukrainians. Since Gelpi met them as a presenter for another group’s meeting, he’s taken more than 800 hats to children and families forced out of their homes by the invasion.

Gelpi, formerly the Vice President of Programs and Operations at FIRST Washington, a program aimed toward inspiring and preparing students for careers in STEM, says there wasn’t one single moment that motivated him to volunteer in Ukraine. When the war started in 2022, as he put it, he simply felt compelled to go. “I swore to my wife I wouldn’t start another company,” Gelpi joked, “and look where we are.”

Since touching down in Ukraine for the first time three years ago, Gelpi has seen the conflict evolve, and he’s been forced to adapt alongside it. This adaptability, he says, is a strength of Impact Partners Ukraine. Instead of operating as a large, bureaucratic NGO (non-government organization), they’ve managed to stay nimble. Gelpi and Gouge opt to partner with other small, local organizations and individuals across Ukraine, acting quickly as boots on the ground to help coordinate, fund, and assist with whatever needs their partners have.

While they’ve been successful so far, establishing multiple operational kitchens and contributing to shelters across the country, it hasn’t been without hardship. Gelpi recalled a particularly difficult moment, when they were forced to evacuate a shelter they had set up in Toretsk, a city in Eastern Ukraine next to the frontlines.

“Even a few months before,” Gelpi said, “it became increasingly apparent that we were being surrounded. Slowly, the roads I was used to taking were being occupied by the Russians.” Evacuation itself was difficult, as they tried to convince residents to leave the only home they’d ever known for an uncertain future, against the imminent threat of occupation- or even death. “They kept saying no, our army will be there for us, our God will be there for us, and I had to say no.” Gelpi said, “We’re not going to be saved by anyone; we need to get out.”

A filmmaker following Gelpi’s efforts at the time recorded the process of evacuation, which he presented on Monday Night. Here’s the video:

Camera shots through the stained windows of a truck show Gelpi and his partners driving past burning buildings. Residents tearfully pack their belongings. Some carry elderly loved ones, no longer able to walk. The sound of bullets crack in the distance as everyone instinctively ducks. They drive past empty neighborhoods and the shells of buildings as they evacuate the city proper, all to the steady rhythm of shells on the horizon.

On those days, and there have been many, Peter says, it’s hard to keep going. But, through this work, he’s met so many dedicated, brave people, which he says helps him continue on. “Meeting Jennifer and the other organizers, being able to share stories and experiences, those connections sustain me.”

Jennifer Gouge has been Gelpi’s colleague for less than a year, but in that time, she’s gotten a clearer look at the conflict than many ever will. Her story started at the beginning of 2025, in January. “I felt myself spinning with anxiety with all the chaos, and the emotional upheaval going on in our country and our world,” she said. “I needed a focal point, Something I was passionate about. So, I made my decision to focus on one thing: to keep democracy alive and to support Ukraine.” Gouge had been following Peter’s efforts as a friend, but two months after deciding what she wanted to do, she was touching down in Ukraine as a volunteer.

“I went to witness the situation on the ground firsthand,” said Gouge. “I wanted to meet these Ukrainian partners and peers and see the impact they were having on their communities. I wanted to see who they were.”

As a civilian, Gouge said she wanted to be as prepared as possible headed into the conflict. “I went through all the thoughts of what could possibly happen,” remarked Gouge. “We practiced self-tourniquets. Whenever we went to a hotel, I always knew exactly where a shelter was. When we were walking around, I would always take note of nearby shelters. I was incredibly aware, the last thing I wanted to do was freak out.”

She and Gelpi both had their share of stories from their time in Ukraine. In fact, with the way both of them talked about it, you’d never have guessed that their lives were in danger. Gouge talked casually about looking out the passenger-side window of their car a handful of days in, only to be faced with a low-flying drone, keeping pace with them. Gelpi joked about watching a ballistic missile hit the street near a hostel and feeling asphalt rain down around him.

“Someone, an old woman, stepped outside and asked, ‘What should we do?’ and I said, ‘Well, they shelled once, they probably won’t shell again’,” he said, smiling. “The scariest sound I’ve ever heard was that second missile streaking overhead. In that moment, we could’ve been gone.”

“Our first night in Kyiv,” Gouge interjected, “we got bombarded, and Peter slept through the whole thing,” a remark that drew laughter from both of them.

But beyond the war stories, Peter and Jennifer both agree that what sticks with them the most is the encounters they’ve had with partners on the ground. People who were regular citizens before the war, often displaced from their own homes, have worked ceaselessly to help others and keep hope alive as the war continues into its third year.

Their presentation on Monday wasn’t just about Impact Partners Ukraine and what people can do to help; it was about sharing the stories of people like Sveta, a woman displaced from her home who’s built multiple shelters since the outset of the war. When a shelter closer to the frontlines was destroyed, instead of giving up, she buckled down and kept working. Today, she plans to start a shelter north of Odessa, in Bohhunove, a quieter community with a focus on agriculture. As Gelpi put it, they’re tired of things getting blown up.

Keeping evacuation efforts active is Philip, a longtime friend and partner whom Gelpi met early on during his time in Ukraine. He receives a text from an unknown phone number, usually just a set of rough coordinates, and as missiles and drones close in, he and his team drive straight into the fire to save the lives of people they’ve never met, a routine Gouge says he’s kept up daily for the last three years.

Then, there’s Rise of Ukraine, a group founded by young adults in Dnipro, a city eight miles southeast of the capital of Kyiv. Working together with the community, Rise of Ukraine seeks to give children who have been forced to learn remotely since the COVID-19 pandemic the chance to develop socially and academically. This Christmas, they’ll be hosting a party for the children in Dnipro, which Impact Partners is currently helping fundraise for.

Gouge and Gelpi have friends everywhere, and these connections have continually been inspired to work against all odds to help the cause in Ukraine. “The people I met showed incredible resilience,” said Gouge. “I saw their strength, I saw their compassion, I saw their commitment to rebuild. These are people who didn’t flee. Some of them could, but they chose not to. They chose to stay and make a difference in their communities.”

Peter and Jennifer have taken the compassion they saw in Dnipro, Toretsk, Kyiv, and so many more places in Ukraine to the United States, and so far, while the reception has been overwhelmingly positive, they both expressed frustration that the war has, in their words, faded into the background. “I think people care a lot about Ukraine,” said Gouge, “and frankly, a lot is going on, but they aren’t getting the right news. I feel like we can be a vehicle, people can hear about what’s going on in Ukraine through us.”

Throughout their presentation, they shared countless stories. Quietly sharing a cup of coffee in a basement with Ukrainian soldiers who’d nearly shot them before they identified themselves as Americans. Watching their wi-fi go out, something they quickly learned was an early warning of a drone strike. All of the countless hours spent working with Philip, Sveta, and Rise of Ukraine. Each story held the same throughline, a thread that pulls Peter and Jennifer through impossible odds, and sometimes unbearable tragedy: these stories need to be shared.

There’s one in particular that stands out in Jennifer’s mind, from a day she spent in Kyiv. She saw people sitting in a corner shop, having coffee. People jogged down the street next to her, and others were playing with their dogs, taking advantage of their moments outside before curfew. “And everywhere I looked,” she said, “I would see Tulips in bloom.”

To help support Impact Partners Ukraine and the Christmas for the Children of Dnipro project, you can donate through their website here. Currently, Gelpi and Gouge are focused on spreading awareness. If you have questions or know other organizations that would be interested in hosting them for an event, you can contact them at 206-465-0033 or info@impactpartnersua.org.