Through month’s end – next Saturday – dining at The Bridge (4439 35th SW) benefits Food for Art, a fundraiser for the art therapy program at Transitional Resources, which provides “respectful, optimistic, and recovery-oriented care” to people living with severe/persistent mental illness. When customers order off the fresh sheet, The Bridge will donate 10% of the proceeds. Transitional Resources also has announced a party and raffle at 3:30 pm next Friday (August 30th) to celebrate the benefit; raffle tickets are on sale at The Bridge any time between now and then, with the grand prize two tickets to two Sounders FC games this fall.

P.S. As noted in comments, the raffle drawing will be at 8 pm, with tickets on sale until then.

From now until October, you can stop by Illusions Hair Design (WSB sponsor) to admire five watercolor paintings that local artist Tom Friberg is selling, with part of the proceeds benefiting local nonprofits. Maine Western, pictured above, is one of the five. So is Morning Fishing, pictured below:

Like what you see? The paintings range from $10 to $15 for smaller prints, and $200 for larger prints. Friberg is donating 50 percent of his sales to three charities that support women and children in the Seattle area: Jubilee Women’s Center, New Beginnings, and Abused Deaf Women’s Advocacy Services. You can see more of his work here. Illusions is at 5619 California SW; its hours are listed here.

In case you haven’t already seen this in the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar: With school now less than two weeks away, families in need are invited to a backpack-giveaway event this Sunday. It’s at West Seattle Baptist Church (4157 California SW), 1-3 pm Sunday (August 25th), and there’ll be free pizza, too, WSBC says. If you have questions, call the church at 206-932-3717.

Food banks aren’t just for food, as this request reminds us:

The West Seattle Food Bank distributes books of all kinds to their clients. Children’s picture books and toddler board books are especially needed right now. If you have books in good condition, please consider donating them to the Food Bank. You can drop them off Monday through Friday 9 am to 3 pm, or Wednesday until 7 pm (Monday and Wednesday are the best drop-off times) The Food Bank is on the corner of 35th Avenue SW and SW Morgan St. (enter through the garage on Morgan). YOUR DONATIONS WILL BE GREATLY APPRECIATED.

(2012 Alki Beach 5K start; photo by David Hutchinson)
Less than one week until West Seattle’s next benefit run/walk – the Alki Beach 5K, benefiting Northwest Hope and Healing, the West Seattleite-founded nonprofit that helps breast-cancer patients. It starts at 9 am next Sunday (August 25th) on Alki Avenue SW near 61st SW, and heads east from there – remember that the race route on Alki/Harbor Avenues will be closed for a few hours Sunday morning as a result. Online registration remains open until Friday morning; sign up here. Or you can sign up in person at West Seattle Runner (California/Charlestown; WSB sponsor), and of course, near the 5K starting line on Sunday morning (but why wait?).

In case you happen to see them – or want to go look for them – here’s the info on two groups of weekend-long fundraisers scheduled to pass through our area this morning:

ALWAYS BROTHERS 100-MILE RUN: We first mentioned this on July 31st, and now it’s under way:

Marines and supporters from Always Brothers are running 100 miles in 24 hours to call attention to brain injuries/diseases affecting veterans, and they’re coming through South Park and West Seattle on their way to a 9 am CenturyLink Field finish (the video above is from the early going in the South Sound). Organizers told us they expected the West Seattle leg of the run – mostly along West Marginal Way SW, as you can see on this map – to happen around 8 am. You can see other scenes from the run on the Always Brothers Facebook page.

(Update: Great photo here that looks to have been taken just past the bridge.)

OBLITERIDE 180-MILE BICYCLE RIDE: The longest of the routes involved in the inaugural Obliteride fundraising bicycle rides is going through West Seattle and White Center this morning, as riders make their way to the finish line. They rode all day Saturday, stopped in Tacoma for the night, and are finishing the ride this morning. Here’s the turn-by-turn description of the route; note that they will be in White Center around mile 36, heading through West Seattle along Fauntleroy Way, Beach Drive, Alki Avenue, and on across the low bridge. They’re starting from Tacoma at 7:30 am – and the finish-line festivities at Magnuson Park in North Seattle start around 10 am – so keep an eye out for riders somewhere after 8:30, perhaps? P.S. Among the musical acts performing for the 180-mile riders this weekend is West Seattle’s own Not Dead Yet, scheduled for 3:30 pm today at Magnuson.

Tomorrow, Morgan Junction Crossfit is hosting the 4th Annual Pipehitters Classic – a Crossfit-training competition with men and women from all around the region – from 8 am to 5 pm at Madison Middle School (3429 45th Ave SW). Participants compete in a variety of strength events, like weightlifting and dragging tires. (See here for a preview video.)

According to the event’s Facebook page, , proceeds from registration fees will benefit a fund for the family of Seattle Police Officer Tim Brenton, the West Seattle High School graduate murdered in 2009. It’s free to watch Saturday’s event; there will be a collection jar for spectators who wish to donate.

Morgan Junction Crossfit says it’s made donations in memory of Officer Brenton in the past, but this will be the first year that all proceeds from the Pipehitters Classic will go to the fund benefiting his children. Other local Crossfit gyms have also honored Officer Brenton since his death.

(Thanks to WSB reader Eric for the tip on this.)

(Message chalked on Fairmount Avenue during run to show support for Sarah, one week after she was hit)
Two weeks ago, we reported on the crowdfunding campaign to help Sarah – previously known only as “Red” – the runner hit and left by the side of Fairmount Avenue early one June morning, seriously injured, found by two West Seattle Good Samaritans. It was started by Sarah’s friend Ed Lorah, who today sent a message directly from Sarah and her husband:

With very full hearts, David and I want to thank you all for your overwhelming kindness and support. We are deeply and profoundly touched by the warmth and generosity extended to us in this unexpected challenge and chapter.

I am home now and at least able to take on short walks around the house (versus long runs through West Seattle or large work challenges). This recovery is a very slow, sometimes scary, and very humbling process, but with all of the love, patience, and generosity that is being sent our way, I feel better-equipped to meet the challenges. Thanks again for your support and encouragement!

Sarah

More than $8,000 has been raised so far; donations toward Sarah’s medical bills are still being accepted here. The case remains unsolved.

That map represents the West Seattle/South Park leg of a run we have just learned about via this announcement:

Residents are invited to cheer Marines from Always Brothers as they run 100 miles Aug. 10 and 11 from Seattle to Orting and back to honor military heroes from Washington State and to raise money for research of brain diseases and injuries experienced by veterans.

A group of Marines and civilians, some local and some from other parts of the U.S., will depart Leschi at 6 a.m., Aug. 10, and run through Mercer Island, Renton, Maple Valley, and Enumclaw before stopping at the Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs Soldiers Home in Orting. After a short break there they’ll continue along the outskirts of Puyallup and on through Sumner, Auburn, Kent, Tukwila, South Park and West Seattle, where they will be joined by a police escort as they cross the West Seattle bridge and finish, as a group, at CenturyLink Field at 9 a.m., Aug. 11.

This is the third year Always Brothers, a non-profit fraternal organization made up of Marines, other veterans, and their supporters, has hosted a 100-mile, 24-hour ultramarathon to benefit Marines and their families. This ultramarathon, unique in that it is not a race, will raise money for One Mind for Research™, a Seattle nonprofit dedicated to curing brain diseases, including traumatic brain injury (TBI) and post-traumatic stress (PTS).

“My original inspiration for working to improve diagnostics and treatments for brain injuries was the incredible number of soldiers returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with TBI and PTS,” says ONE MIND’s CEO Gen. Pete Chiarelli (Ret.), Seattle native and former Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Army. “We are proud to be supported by veterans’ organizations like Always Brothers to aid our mission of dealing with these ‘invisible wounds’ in both the military and civilian populations.”

Some runners will run the entire 100 miles while others will run as part of a team, with each team member running 5 to 25-mile legs. No matter the distance each participant runs, the ultramarathon is not a race. Participants will stick together the entire way, raising awareness of brain diseases and the stigma associated with them.

“Running 100 miles in 24 hours won’t be easy, but it’s nothing compared to what soldiers with PTS and TBI face,” says Marine Dan Neilsen, Maple Valley resident and vice president of Always Brothers. “We invite anyone and everyone to cheer us along the route, come to the north plaza of CenturyLink Field at 9 a.m. on Aug. 11 to watch us finish, or support the run financially at active.com/donate/AlwaysBros100OneMind.”

People interested in supporting virtually, or following the runners online can receive social media updates using the hashtag #100forONEMIND on Aug. 10 and 11.

As you can see in the map above, the West Seattle leg will primarily be on West Marginal Way SW, and organizers estimate they’ll be in the vicinity around 8 am August 11th, a week from this Sunday.

Just two nights until you can be part of history – the first-ever West Seattle Timebank orientation! Tamsen Spengler reminds us that it’s happening this Wednesday night (July 24th) at the Senior Center of West Seattle (4217 SW Oregon), with a potluck at 6:30, orientation 7-8 pm. Why would you want to be part of the Timebank? Tamsen shares a story shared at the Timebank table at West Seattle Summer Fest by a woman who now lives on Vashon Island:

“I became a big fan of Timebanks when volunteering after the Christchurch earthquake in New Zealand. Because Lyttelton, where the epicenter of the quake was, had New Zealand’s first timebank, we were able to recover much more quickly than any other neighborhood. I became the right-hand person of the timebank coordinator, who had two cell phones going constantly. Because she had been the timebank coordinator for 7 years, she knew everyone, and everyone knew her, and she put people together who could help each other after the quake. Way better than any Red Cross or city or New Zealand government official could possibly do.”

Adds Tamsen: “That’s a powerful testimony. We say, ‘We build community, one hour at a time,’ but this shows it in spades. The network we put together, today, could pay our neighborhood back in many ways we never expected.” Questions before Wednesday’s event? E-mail info@wstb.tbanks.org.

What you see in our photo, next to the trophy Hotwire Online Coffeehouse (WSB sponsor) won for its entry (see it here) in Saturday’s West Seattle American Legion Post 160 Grand Parade, is a very special beverage: The official Seal Sitters Coffee, a 12-ounce blueberry and mint dark-chocolate mocha. Hotwire is donating $3 from each and every one sold to Seal Sitters Marine Mammal Stranding Network. The donation goes even further, since fundraising helps Seal Sitters qualify for the Neighborhood Matching Fund grant for its Year of the Seal: Sentinels of the Sound project. By the way, volunteer time helps toward the “match” too, and Seal Sitters has a volunteer-training session coming up this Wednesday night – details are in the announcement published here last month, including how to RSVP (to make sure they still have room).

One more charity effort this week at Hotwire – Gently used women’s shoes (or new, if you want to buy something to donate!) are being collected for a silent auction Saturday (July 27) benefiting local nonprofits including Furry Faces Foundation, in connection with the next West Seattle Outdoor Movies screening (“The Devil Wears Prada”) that same night. Drop off shoe donations by noon Saturday; later that afternoon, you’ll be able to preview the auction items – stand by for an update later this week.