West Seattle, Washington
19 Sunday
After great community support for their first benefit bake sale last year, these two local girls are doing it again tomorrow and hope you’ll stop by. We received this announcement with the photo:
Gwen and Muriel, Schmitz Park 5th graders, are putting their love for animals to work again through their second annual Humane Society bake sale! Delicious cupcakes, cookies, brownies, and more! They’ll be back at the corner of 36th and Dakota this Sunday, August 3rd, from 10-3. The girls are also sponsoring a barrel from the Humane Society to collect cat or dog food (wet or dry), animal toys, or new scratching posts. Cash and check donations are very welcome; all proceeds go to Seattle Humane Society.
Clark Gilbert, a local runner and coach, has headed east to be part of a coast-to-coast relay raising money to fight MS. He left Friday for Brooksville, Pennsylvania, where he will start running the 17th segment of the annual MS Run the US Relay. He shared this info:
This relay started in April from LA with 17 different runners running various segments across the United States to finish in New York City. Each runner basically runs a marathon (26.2 miles) per day for 5 to 7 days as part of their segment. The Relay is a 3,000-mile relay run across America to help raise awareness and funds to help CURE multiple sclerosis (MS).
After finishing the 17th Segment, from Brooksville, PA to Sunbury, PA, Clark will continue running the Relay route along with Segment 18 runner, Valerie Olberding (from Bozeman, MT), to Fort Lee, NJ. At Fort Lee, they will be joined with other relay runners and supporters for the final 14-mile leg into New York City on August 16. August will be the final event, ending this year’s Relay.
In 2013 (photo at left), Clark ran two segments, #6 from Vernal, UT and then 18 from Mahoney City, PA, to New York City. Clark and his wife Shelly live and run in West Seattle. Besides running, Clark works at West Seattle Runner and is a running coach working with P3|Running. For information on donating, please visit: coachclarkruns.com/ms-run-the-us-relay.html
It was Sounders FC mania this afternoon at WestSide Baby‘s headquarters – even Jaxton, son of a WS Baby volunteer, was in the spirit. And here’s why:
Sounders FC midfielders Aaron Long and Aaron Kovar were there to record a public-service announcement about the need for diapers – which will be highlighted in a diaper drive at their August 10th home game against the Houston Dynamo. (That’s WS Baby executive director Nancy Woodland toward the right in the photo above.) While at WS Baby HQ today, the Sounders reps also joined local Safeway reps in sorting thousands of diapers donated at Safeway stores during the recent Stuff the Bus drive:
And of course the athletes obliged a few autograph requests:
Today’s gathering included reps from other companies that supported Stuff the Bus, such as HomeStreet Bank (WSB sponsor). That meant group-photo time:
You don’t have to wait for the next Stuff the Bus drive to donate diapers (or time, or money) to WestSide Baby – here’s how to help.
2:55 PM: Thanks to Alex for the photo – she says this lemonade and cookie sale at California/Portland in Gatewood (map) is raising money to help the Red Cross help fire victims in our state. (We’re waiting to hear back about how long they’ll be there.)
ADDED: If you didn’t already see the comment – congrats to the lemonade-and-cookie sellers for raising almost $200, which will be multipled by matching donations. If you missed the stand but would like to help, here’s what the Red Cross is doing in the fire zone, and how to donate.
Thanks to Sharonn Meeks for sharing that scene from the Walking on Logs area along the southwest end of the West Seattle Bridge. Shown are members of the Chief Sealth International High School Key Club, part of today’s volunteer cleanup crew at the sculpture site, including Sharonn and Nancy Driver from the Fairmount Community Association just east of the nearby Triangle area. (P.S. In case this makes you wonder – to date, no word on the fourth sculpture’s fate.)
Last night at The Hall at Fauntleroy inside the Fauntleroy Schoolhouse, potential investors gathered to find out more about the crowdlending push intended to bring in the final half-million dollars needed for fixing up the nonprofit-owned building. As mentioned in our preview, the Fauntleroy Community Service Agency is working with Bellevue-based social-investment facilitator Semble. FCSA’s Kevin Wooley explained that the project’s only been up on the Semble website a week, and they’re already more than halfway to their goal.
Wooley told the ~30 people in attendance that most of the money would go toward the ongoing roof-renovation project, and they hope to raise it within a month in order to get the roof work finished before the rainy season. A few other jobs are included, all work that FCSA promised would be done after its purchase of the former Seattle Public Schools property four years ago. Semble reps explained at the gathering that it’s an investment, not a donation, and interest will be paid – information on the project’s Semble webpage (see it here) includes the prospectus, FCSA financials over the past three years, and the interest rate, all of which you can take into account before deciding whether to become a lender.
(2013 photo by Robin Lindsey)
If you’ve ever considered volunteering with Seal Sitters, there’s one more chance this season:
Seal Sitters Marine Mammal Stranding Network’s final training for the 2014 seal pupping season will take place on August 9th. There will be no further trainings until late fall due to time constraints on volunteers.
Last year’s record-breaking pupping season stats in West Seattle (from late July’s first response to a newborn seal pup to the end of the year’s weaned pups) included 163 responses to marine mammals, including 66 positively identified seal pups. This 2014 season has begun unusually early in West Seattle with responses in June to one full lanugo seal pup “Luigi,” a second premature pup, and full-term “Junebug” who is now in rehab at PAWS Wildlife Center.
TRAINING DATE:
Saturday morning, August 9, 2014
10 am – 12 pm (doors open at 9:30 am; plan to arrive early to register and receive paperwork – training begins promptly at 10)
Alki UCC Church 6115 SW Hinds, Seattle
Please RSVP on blubberblog for the training to assure seating.*Note to parents: All children accompanying adults must be able to sit quietly through an almost-two-hour presentation (with break).
Unlike most marine mammal stranding networks, we encourage children to participate in Seal Sitters – supervised at all times, of course, by a parent or guardian. We are so proud of our amazing and dedicated volunteers who are on duty rain or shine – we hope you will join us!
A multi-media presentation will illustrate our educational work in the community and the unique challenges of protecting seals and other marine mammals in an urban environment. Included in the training is an overview of NOAA’s West Coast Marine Mammal Stranding Network and biology and behavior of seals and other pinnipeds (due to time frame, supplementary off-season sessions will include more marine mammals of Puget Sound). For additional questions and info or to be placed on a contact list for future training opportunities, please e-mail us.
Contact info is here.
(2013 Always Brothers runners near WS Bridge – photo used with permission)
Again this year, eastern West Seattle is on the final stretch of the Always Brothers 100-mile run to raise money for the children of fallen servicemembers. As detailed in this story – which includes the timetable and route – they’ll start at 6 am Saturday in Leschi, heading south through Renton and to Pierce County before heading back north; they will run along the Duwamish to the West Seattle low bridge around 7 am Sunday. They appreciate support along the route, and of course, donations too – you can donate online here, and you can track the run’s progress via the AB Facebook page. (We noted the 2013 Always Brothers run here last August.)
Since becoming a community-owned facility four years ago, the historic Fauntleroy Schoolhouse has made major progress toward taking care of necessary repairs and other upgrades. Now there’s one more hurdle to cross – and the schoolhouse’s managers are doing it via crowd-loaning, which will cost less, and enrich community connections more, than the traditional method of money-borrowing. You are invited to come find out about it tomorrow night (Wednesday, July 23rd) in The Emerald Room at The Hall at Fauntleroy on the south side of the schoolhouse:
The Fauntleroy Community Service Agency invites you to hear about a groundbreaking, socially minded investment opportunity while learning about plans for updates to our Schoolhouse.
We have partnered with Semble, a Washington-based business that is helping non-profits significantly lower the cost of capital projects by calling on their own communities to become investors, rather than using more traditional financing
sources. Come learn how you can become an investor in the future of the Fauntleroy Schoolhouse and preserve its rich heritage. (This is not a donation but rather an investment that will earn you a rate of return.) We hope to see you!
For a preview, browse the schoolhouse project’s Semble page. That’s 7 pm tomorrow, with light refreshments, at 9131 California SW.
The Roundtable includes representatives of aviation-related businesses and communities interested in airport issues. It was set up as an advisory board to make recommendations to the airport’s administrators, the King County Executive, and the King County Council.
The group meets monthly, though it’s taking July and August off, per the website. Its current members are listed here. Interested in the West Seattle rep opening? E-mail leslie.barstow@kingcounty.gov for application/info. (Photo from kingcounty.gov)
ORIGINAL 11:50 AM “HAPPENING NOW” REPORT: Since 10 am this morning, WestSide Baby volunteers have been greeting community members donating diapers at Stuff the Bus headquarters in the HomeStreet Bank (WSB sponsor) parking lot (northeast corner of 41st/Alaska) – and lots of other satellite locations. As the sign in the lower-right corner of the photo points out, food stamps don’t buy diapers. And babies/toddlers without diapers cannot be taken to day care so that their parent(s) can go to work. Your donations help families get on their feet and get to a point where they don’t need help any more. Here’s the list of donation locations – one might be near you even if you’re not in WS today! P.S. WS Baby reports that as of about 11:35 am, today’s donations have totaled about 28,000 diapers.
7:35 PM UPDATE: As of the 2 pm end of the major part of today’s drive, 41,450 diapers had been collected at the West Seattle location alone, with a drive-wide total of 260,713 diapers, per WS Baby. Fourth from left below is Krista, the donor who put them past today’s local goal:
While today’s drive was vital for myriad reasons including matching donations, you can donate to WS Baby throughout the year – check this page any time for current needs and where/how to donate.
What does your community need to thrive, to be a great place to live, work, visit? Right now, the city is getting ready to draw up a North Delridge Action Plan for that section of eastern West Seattle – as explained here – and looking for people to be part of an advisory committee. Your participation would include not only making suggestions and offering opinions, but also reviewing what other community members are saying as part of the process. Creating the plan is expected to take a year or so, during which there will be monthly meetings and three community events. You have two weeks to apply – August 1st is the deadline – contact Jake Hellenkamp (jake.hellenkamp@seattle.gov) for an application, and if you have questions about the plan itself, you can contact David Goldberg at DavidW.Goldberg@seattle.gov. The city’s also planning to have a booth at the Delridge Day festival on Saturday, August 9th, to share info about the planning process. Don’t find yourself five or ten years down the line wondering “whose idea was THIS?” – jump in now.
(Photo added: WestSide Baby and St. Joseph’s board members)
Days before one of its biggest donation events of the year – the Stuff the Bus diaper drive, coming up next Sunday (July 20th) – WestSide Baby has big news: It’s expanding, merging with a similar Capitol Hill-based agency. Here’s the announcement:
Thousands of children living in King County will benefit from a new collaboration between WestSide Baby and St. Joseph’s Baby Corner, located on Capitol Hill. The Boards of Directors from both agencies unanimously voted to merge the organizations, effective July 11, 2014. This exciting development comes as WestSide Baby is preparing for its largest ever outreach event: the 14th annual Stuff the Bus Diaper Drive July 20th.
(WSB file photo from past WestSide Baby ‘Stuff the Bus’ event)
WestSide Baby will continue to operate from its headquarters in White Center, and St. Joseph’s Baby Corner facility in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood will remain open under the leadership of WestSide Baby. Baby Corner will operate under the WestSide Baby name while continuing to honor the Baby Corner legacy.The merger of St. Joseph’s Baby Corner, established in 1988, and WestSide Baby, established in 2001, capitalizes on the strengths of each organization: the St. Joseph’s Baby Corner community’s longevity and loyalty, and WestSide Baby’s operating systems and deep-rooted support. The organizations have very compatible missions serving local children in need by collecting and distributing diapers, clothing and safety equipment, such as car seats and cribs. Both agencies have operated in partnership with established social service agencies, such as public health and food banks. Combining operations will immediately improve the service delivery to families. More diapers, clothing and safety equipment will reach more local families in need.
The announcement continues ahead, along with more information on how you can help with Sunday’s Stuff the Bus event:
Starting next Friday, another farmstand plans weekly sales of fresh produce in West Seattle – this one, announced today by the future Delridge Grocery:
Exciting news! Our Friday Farmstand launches this week! Finally – fresh, local, sustainable fruits and vegetables in Delridge!
Come by every Friday all summer:
4:30-7:30
5435 Delridge Way SW
Two doors south of the library, across the street from our future full-service grocery locationCelebrate our launch this Friday, July 18th, with free lemonade at the farmstand, and a fun comedy event afterward from 8-12 at the Skylark!
Want to be more involved?
Volunteer and take home free produce! Help run the produce stand and take home some leftovers! It’s easy and fun, and we’ll provide training. Sign up for volunteer shifts online.
Join the Canning Club!
Do you like canning pickles and jams to save for the winter? Join Friday Farmstand Canning Club and get first crack and discount prices on bulk quantities of leftover produce! To sign up, e-mail Farmstand Manager Ariana at taylorstanley@gmail.com with your name and phone number. You must be available to pickup produce after the farmstand, at 7:30 on Fridays.
Delridge Grocery, which has its roots in the Delridge Produce Cooperative effort launched five years ago, is working toward opening a co-op grocery store in the commercial space of the Cottage Grove Commons building at 5444 Delridge Way SW.
We’re often asked, “When’s the next benefit car wash?” This weekend’s answer – Sunday (July 13th)! 10 am-2 pm at West Seattle Autoworks (WSB sponsor), the West Seattle High School softball team will wash cars, by donation, to help pay for a trip next year to play in France, according to WSHS athletic director Trevor Leopold (who shared the photo – and who was honored as All-Metro Softball Coach of the Year this past spring). WS Autoworks is at 35th/Webster.
After multiple reports of this dog wandering Lincoln Park, possibly for days, we mentioned it on the WSB Lost/Found Pets page, and after no owners stepped forward, animal rescuers got involved. The dog has just been humanely trapped and is in rescuers’ care, and we’re helping cast a wide net to see if anyone has any idea who it belongs to. Here’s who to contact: Jim at Useless Bay Sanctuary, 206-552-0304 or uselessbaysanctuary@gmail.com, who says so far it’s believed to be female, about 55 pounds, no chip detected yet. For more of the backstory, see the Pets page item and its comment section. Thanks!
It began with a lap around the West Seattle Stadium track featuring the participants hailed as heroes – cancer survivors and their caregivers. And with that, this year’s West Seattle Relay for Life was underway as of about an hour ago. More than 20 teams are there for the all-night relay-style walkathon/campout.
They’re raising money for the American Cancer Society, with a goal of $50,000. Some teams and participants have been raising money all year, like tonight’s greeters, the mother-and-daughter team of Gerry and Lauri Cunningham:
Again this year, they made and sold spaghetti dinners to go, and told us tonight that they raised more than a thousand dollars. Just before the kickoff lap by survivors and caregivers, participants heard from organizers including Sarah, who identified herself as a survivor – diagnosed with kidney cancer at age 3, now cancer-free 20 years later: “The money you raise is saving someone’s life,” she said. “It saved mine.” As the night goes on, a long list of activities awaits participants – from the reflective luminaria ceremony at 10 pm (you are welcome to go make your own luminaria in honor of someone fighting cancer or someone who has passed) …
… to lighthearted activities like balloon ping-pong, hula-hooping, and midnight bowling, plus music by “DJ Gary.” It’s participants only from 11 pm to 5 am (some will walk, some will sleep, some will even watch movies) but visitors are welcome the rest of the time. At the heart of it is the walking, whether you’re in costume (like team Answers for Cancers, below) or not:
Tomorrow morning’s schedule includes 8 am yoga and stretches, a fire truck visit at 9 am, the kids’ parade at 10 am, and closing ceremony at 11:30 am. It’s not too soon to start thinking about getting involved next year, either by organizing a team or volunteering to help behind the scenes – more info (and donation links) can be found on the official WSR4L page.
It’s been a year since Massage Envy of West Seattle (WSB sponsor) opened at Westwood Village, and the anniversary celebration included tonight’s WS Chamber of Commerce After Hours event (in a tent just outside ME, to enjoy the summer night without disrupting the massages inside). Every month, a different local business hosts Chamber members for mingling and refreshments. At right below is Massage Envy proprietor Jennifer McCollum with Chamber CEO Lynn Dennis:
As part of the festivities, ME has a food drive all week – just come in and drop off donations in the barrel for the West Seattle Food Bank, whose Judy Yazzolino was there during tonight’s event:
Massage Envy also will be at the cancer-fighting West Seattle Relay for Life during its first few hours tomorrow night at West Seattle Stadium, 7:30-9:30 pm.
P.S. One more big benefit drive mentioned tonight – Stuff the Bus, the summertime diaper drive for WestSide Baby, whose executive director Nancy Woodland is president of the West Seattle Chamber Board. July 20th is the big day, in the parking lot of the Junction branch of HomeStreet Bank (WSB sponsor) at 41st and Alaska, but as mentioned here previously, you can start bringing in diaper donations now!
Nine days until West Seattle’s 4th of July Kids’ Parade … 20th annual parade, this time! And it’s the second year for current coordinators Jackie Clough and Allyson Schreck; Jackie shares the new flyer with everything you need to know, embedded atop this story (if you don’t see it there, please click here), and says they have a very specific volunteer request for parade day (one week from Friday):
We could use 4-6 adults to help us at the beginning of the parade, helping us get started.
Can you help? Once the parade gets going, Jackie promises, you’ll be able to move on and join in with the morning’s events. E-mail her at jackie@alkipartytreasures.com. Meantime, for the pre-parade ceremonies, she adds: “We have a fantastic National Anthem singer this year: Leilani Nitkey, a 6th grader at Madison Middle School this fall.” Haven’t been to the parade before and wondering what it’s like? Here’s our coverage from last year.
Even as the school year ends today, planning is under way for the next one starting in September – and that’s what this call for volunteers is all about: Girls on the Run is on its way to Highland Park Elementary for 2014-2015.
HPE is starting Girls on the Run at our school starting in the fall. Girls on the Run is an after-school program that uses the power of running to give girls the tools to celebrate their bodies, honor their voices, recognize their gifts, and activate their power!
The program is open to 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade girls. Both girls from HPE and from the surrounding community who do not have GOTR at their home school are encouraged to join. We are looking for volunteers to coach our girls. The commitment would be one or two times a week Starting September 29th and running through December 8th. Minimum age is 16. If interested please contact Holly Briscoe, the site liaison for HPE. hollybriscoe@hotmail.com
A week and a half until West Seattle Relay for Life – and teams continue fundraising, including this one:
Help us support a great cause!
Fauntleroy Children’s Center – West Seattle Relay for Life!
‘Dinner to Go’ Spaghetti Dinner Fundraiser – all funds go to The American Cancer Society – Relay for Life.
Taking orders for dinner (Wednesday, 6/18) fauntleroychildrenscenter@yahoo.com
Dinners can be picked up between 5-6 pm
The dinner includes; Spaghetti (with meat sauce or marinara), Caesar Salad, Corn, & Garlic Bread. $10 Adult & $5 Child
FCC is in the old schoolhouse at 9131 California SW. R4LWS, meantime, is June 27-28 at West Seattle Stadium.
That’s just part of what’s been donated already during the clothing/textiles (towels, sheets, etc.) dropoff drive that culminates today outside Denny International Middle School – along with a canopied stack of bags that have been dropped off, a room inside the school is full of what students and their families brought before today’s big finale. (It’s a fundraiser; the recycler pays them by the pound.) You are invited to bag up whatever you can donate and drop it off outside Denny (2601 SW Kenyon) before 4 pm. Our original preview includes a link with full details on what they can and can’t accept.
Last year, the signal boxes – this year, the retaining wall. The newest newsletter from Youngstown Cultural Arts Center notes that the arrival of summer means a new public-art project involving local youth in the Work Readiness Arts Program, which last year resulted in colorful sea-life designs on otherwise drab and vandal-targeted signal boxes (see video above):
This year, volunteers and students will work with artists Louis Chinn and Tess Gamez to design and paint the 210-foot retaining wall across from the Delridge Skatepark, adding depth, color and art along the busy thoroughfare. The goal is to create a mural that honors the rich history of the Delridge area, and celebrates the bright future being created as a community.
Youngstown has launched an online survey asking for suggested themes and elements for the mural – you can share your ideas here.
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