West Seattle, Washington
20 Monday
(Honey-bee swarm photographed in Genesee last year by Ute Herzel-Harding)
On this Earth Day, here’s a simple way to take action – save this information about what to do if you encounter a honey-bee swarm. Don’t panic – don’t be afraid – do report them to beekeepers who can give them a new home, which is what some bees are looking for at this time of year. Here’s expert advice from Puget Sound Beekeepers Association president Krista Conner, who happens to be a West Seattleite:
Puget Sound Beekeepers Association wants you to be prepared to help the bees!
With recent losses of bee populations worldwide, seeing a few bees around the garden is something to celebrate. But what do you do when a few thousand bees show up?
Most swarms are the size of a football, more or less.
Longer days bring a surge of blooming trees and flowers which create a short window of time for healthy honey bee colonies to split and create new colonies. This split happens when honey bees swarm: roughly 10-15 thousand bees and their queen will leave an existing colony and land upon a tree branch or side of building. Once there, this mass of bees can resemble a very large pine cone or football shaped mass. Swarming is the natural process that honey bee hives go through to create new colonies and spread their genetics to new locations.
Honey bee swarms are vulnerable outside the hive to weather, animals and more importantly people. They need to find a new home quickly. In a rural setting this is usually a hollow tree but in the city with loss of habitat this can take the form of a wall or attic of a house where they become a problem for homeowners.
If you encounter a swarm it is important to remain calm and to call a beekeeper quickly before the bees leave to a new home or take up residence in an undesirable location. It is important to not kill or disturb the honey bees by spraying pesticides or even water on them.
Puget Sound Beekeepers Association offers the community a “swarm list” – a list of beekeepers who are willing to collect swarms. The swarm list should be your first resource to manage a honey bee swarm. Swarm collection usually is provided for free if the bees are within easy reach and are not inside a wall or house. Follow the directions on the list for confirming help is on the way. While you wait for the beekeeper, the best thing you can do is get your camera ready and make sure people stay 10-15 feet away from the swarm.
When a beekeeper arrives they will remove the swarm by transferring them into a hive box. Bees in a swarm are less likely to sting because they have nothing to defend and are gorged with honey so they have energy to build a new colony. The beekeeper may work bare-handed or in a full suit to transfer the football sized swarm of bees into a hive with a shake of a branch or by the handful if they are on a wall. Once the majority of the bees are in the hive the beekeeper will wait for any stray bees to find their way into the hive box before closing the hive up to take to their new home.
Here and anywhere in the greater Seattle area, please refer to the Puget Sound Beekeepers Association swarm list to find a swarm-catching beekeeper: pugetsoundbees.org/psba-swarm-list
Thanks for helping the bees!
Puget Sound Beekeepers Association
Lots of time left to get to Ola Salon in Luna Park for Furry Faces Foundation‘s first-ever “Heels for Hounds” – not just a silent auction of some cute shoes (casual as well as fancy, as shown in the photo above), but also wine tasting, appetizers, and live music, all to benefit animal advocacy:
Ola’s at 2942 SW Avalon Way.
45 local food-and-beverage businesses are signed up to be part of this year’s Taste of West Seattle, the West Seattle Helpline fundraiser that’s now just under a month away (May 16th, The Hall at Fauntleroy) – the poster at right (click it for a full-size PDF) just went up around the area, and the full list of participants can be seen on page 2 of this PDF. Helpline executive director Tara Luckie told us at this past week’s West Seattle Chamber of Commerce lunch meeting that tickets are still available – $45 general (cheaper than the door price IF they don’t sell out, which they did last year), $90 for VIP (early admission, special seating, special raffle). “Not only are the food and drinks amazing,” Tara says, “but it’s a community effort of local establishments and West Seattle residents coming together to raise funds for families in need in West Seattle.” Tickets are available online here (note it’s a 21+ event).
(Clip from last year’s edition of ‘The Mama-logues’)
It’s a good time and a good deed – your ticket to “The Mama-logues: A Comedy about Motherhood,” next Friday and Saturday (April 26-27), 7 pm each night, at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center in North Delridge. Here’s what it’s all about:
Now in its second raucous year, The Mama-logues: A comedy about motherhood, is two hours of spit-your-beer-out-funny in celebration of motherhood! Local actors will be doing staged readings from mom-tastic blogs, books and articles
including Ellen Degeneres, Moms Who Drink and Swear, The Bloggess, Samantha Bee, Rants from Mommyland, Haiku Mama and many others! And oh yes, the dance pieces! Stand aside, Lady GaGa! Here comes ‘Bad Mom Pants.’ Oldies Queen fans may also be treated to a reprise of ‘Mommy Rhapsody.’
Beer, wine, non-alcoholic drinks and a wide array of desserts and swag will be offered for sale at the event. Bring your girlfriends, be they mamas or not! Heck, you can bring your man-friends! There is a little something for everyone to laugh at in this show.
New for 2013: The SHOUT-OUT!
Want to give a ‘Shout-Out’ to a mom you know and love? For $50, we will include a photo of your mom pal and a message to her in the video portion of the show. For $100, we’ll include her photo and message in the video and strategically insert her name as a character in the performance! Send an electronic photo of the mom (or moms – you can include yourself!), the message exactly as you would like it to appear in the show, and the evening your ‘Shout Out’ Mom will be attending, to Laurie Levy at laurie@laurielevy.net.
All proceeds benefit WestSide Baby and Open Arms Perinatal Services; get your $15 tickets online right now by going here.
P.S. While it’s about motherhood, it’s not for the littlest members of your family – it’s recommended for ages 13 and up.
If you like to plan ahead – Our Lady of Guadalupe School is looking right now for adult volunteer tutors who can help out starting this fall. Here’s the request:
Adult volunteer tutors are needed in the fall for OLG School’s after-school tutoring program. The program meets on most Wednesdays of the school year from 2:15-3pm and pairs tutors with 1-2 students in grades 1-5. Tutors help students with reading, math, and/or writing skills.
The school has a strong need for math tutors for grades 4 and 5, but needs other grades and subjects as well.
Previous experience helpful but not required. Training is provided. Called to Protect and background check are both required.
For more information please contact Katie Bucy, Early Intervention Specialist, kbucy@guadalupe-school.org , 206-935-0651 extension 127 or visit this website.
The program has been in existence since the fall of 2000, and serves approximately 50 students each year.
A two-part announcement from Delridge Grocery – first, it’s their regular monthly meeting on Monday (April 22nd), 6:30 pm at Delridge Library (5423 Delridge Way SW), with a call for volunteers – people to help at a community event, talk with their neighbors, and otherwise help as the DG team works toward its future storefront. They’re also putting out a call for donated items to sell at their benefit sale on West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day, which is three weeks from tomorrow. You can arrange for pickup or dropoff by contacting them at delridgegrocery@gmail.com (and/or, go to Monday’s meeting and connect with DG leadership there).
Sea lions on a buoy in the bay are among the sights Puget Soundkeeper Alliance volunteers (like Tom Foley, who shared the top photo) see when they go out on patrol. Often, the sights are less pleasant – pollution pouring from an outfall, litter floating on the water (though Tom reported a little less of that during the recent patrol). Even if you can’t get out on the water and take action, you can support the Soundkeepers’ work today through Sunday by stopping by Shanti Salon and Spa (WSB sponsor) for their benefit bake sale – with treats like these, made by members of the Shanti team:
Shanti is on the north end of The Admiral District, at 2138 California SW, open until 7 pm today, 9 am-7 pm on Saturday, 10 am-6 pm on Sunday.
We’ve already featured upcoming opportunities for shredding and non-routine recycling – If you’re planning (or doing) spring cleaning, here’s a chance to recycle clothes! West Seattle Brownie Troop 43779 invites you to drop off donations for its clothing drive; they’re getting the word out now so you can save up items you might otherwise dispose of:
Clothing Drive – Week of April 29th through May 4th
Please bring your gently used clothes to the collection box out in front of the Gatewood Elementary office.
Spring cleaning? Brownie Troop #43779 community service project is collecting used clothes for the Northwest Center!
Saturday, May 4th: General public clothing drop off in Gatewood’s back parking lot (California Ave SW and SW Frontenac) from 11 am – 1 pm
Way back in December, we told you about Furry Faces Foundation collecting ‘gently used’ women’s shoes for a first-of-its-kind auction event, Heels for Hounds. Now, the event is just days away – this Sunday (April 21) – and F3 is still accepting donations:
The Heels For Hounds weekend has arrived! We have somewhere between 150 – 200 pairs of shoes for the auction, with more being donated every day. In fact, folks can bring gently worn shoes to the event!
Donation locations before then:
• Ola Salon: 2942 Avalon Way SW; 206-933-6702; www.olasalon.com
• Clementine Shoes: 4447 California Ave SW; 206-935-9400; www.clementines.com
• Hotwire Online Coffeehouse: 4410 California Ave SW; 206-935-1510; hotwirecoffee.com
• The Wash Dog: 6400 California Avenue Southwest; 206-935-4546; www.thewashdog.comAre you ready for shoe bidding wars? We hope so. Here is the event info:
Heels For Hounds Silent Auction & Animale Wine Tasting (Benefiting Furry Faces Foundation)
Date: April 21
Time: 3 pm – 6 pm
Location: Ola Salon, 2942 Avalon Way SW
Admission Donation: $15.00 (provides appetizers and wine sampler)
Wine by the glass: $8
For event updates before Sunday, keep an eye on F3’s Facebook page, here.
Back on April 7th, we published Chief Sealth International High School football head coach Luther Carr III‘s call for pledges as his players prepared to participate in the MS Walk to help fight multiple sclerosis. Now that the big event is past, he wanted to share public words of thanks (and the team’s photo from MS Walk day):
Chief Sealth International Football would like to thank all of our community, family, and friends who assisted in our efforts to raise money for MS (multiple sclerosis). Along with thousands of others in the State of Washington we raised funds and walked on April 14, 2013, to find a cure for a world free of MS. At least 12,000 people in our Northwest community are living in chronic pain because of MS. Ridding the world of MS is a great cause, and our student-athletes learned a great lesson, giving back! Thank you again and Go Seahawks!!
According to the team’s page on the MS Walk site – where you can still make a donation – they raised more than four times their goal!
Yet another win for the division-leading West Seattle High School Wildcats – now 9-1 in Metro League play – and tonight, you can help supporters raise money for the team. First, the summary from Greg Slader, who also shared the photos:
Sunshine and freshly cut grass welcomed the Varsity Baseball team to Bainbridge island. Sam Hellinger (top photo) enjoyed a nice day, hitting 2 for 4 with 3 RBIs while pitching a complete game (7 innings) and racking up 11 strikeouts. The team was hot from the beginning, scoring three runs in the first inning as Morgan and Spencer were all over the base paths scoring two runs each.
(Jimmy Mai goes for the tag at the plate)
Next game is Wednesday @ Hiawatha, 3:30 pm, vs. Franklin.
Now, the benefit: From 3 pm until close, today/tonight, part of the proceeds from food and beverage purchases at Christo’s on Alki will benefit the team through the WSHS Booster Club. Christo’s is at the beach, 2508 Alki SW.
A call for volunteers, if you can help:
West Seattle residents, let’s hit the roads! Volunteers are needed for Senior Services’ Volunteer Transportation program, which provides many West Seattle seniors with access to important medical care. Using their own vehicles, volunteer drivers offer a personalized touch in driving elderly clients “door to door”– from their home to appointments. This FLEXIBLE volunteer opportunity allows drivers to “open doors” (both figuratively and literally) for those who are unable to drive themselves.
In the month of March, the program was unable to cover an abysmal 33% of the client ride requests received from West Seattle, Highline, and Burien older adults— simply because there weren’t enough volunteers to meet the need of our community. Anyone who owns his/her own vehicle and has daytime availability is encouraged to apply.
For more information, please contact Hilary at (206) 748-7588 or hilaryc@seniorservices.org, visit www.seniorservices.org/transportation, or check out our blog at volunteertransportation.blogspot.com. If you have the “drive” to help others, this volunteer opportunity is for you!
(Brandon St. Greenspace volunteers during October 2012 Duwamish Alive!; photo by Nick Adams for WSB)
Next Saturday is the twice-a-year Duwamish Alive! cleanup/restoration work-party day – and as usual, you can choose from multiple work-party locations to get involved with helping take care of West Seattle’s river and its watershed. Organizers like to know how many people to expect – so if you are interested in helping out on Saturday, go here and mouse over “Sign Up” to see the drop-down list of eight possible sites where you can help, from West Seattle to South Park to Tukwila, 10 am-2 pm April 20th.
(Photo courtesy West Seattle Montessori/West Seattle Academy)
In recent months, we’ve shared the news of multiple food drives by community-minded students at local schools – and we have another one today: This time, to help pets in area shelters. West Seattle Montessori/West Seattle Academy (WSB sponsor) assistant director Heather Aquino explains:
Our seventh-grade students have taken on a very cool cause. (Through) April 25 they are challenging all of our classes to collect as much pet food as they can, by the pound, to be donated to local Seattle shelters. Our winning class will have a small party hosted by these incredible seventh-graders.
Community members are welcome to donate pet food too – drop it off at the school, 11215 15th SW, today or April 22-25th (as with Seattle Public Schools, WSMS/WSA will be out on spring break next week).
Love to run? Here’s another benefit 5K to add to this spring’s schedule. This announcement is just out of the WSB inbox:
Just wanted to let everyone know that the West Seattle-based nonprofit Orphans to Ambassadors
is hosting the RUN FOR LIGHTS 5k in Lincoln Park on May 4th, 2013 at 10 am. Orphans to Ambassadors provides sustainable technologies and solutions to children’s homes around the globe through the use of solar power, rainwater harvesting systems, water filtration, rocket stoves, vegetable gardens, and animal husbandry. The RUN FOR LIGHTS 5k will benefit a solar project at an orphanage in Uganda this coming summer. Snacks and T-shirts are included in the registration fees: $30 for adults, $20 for those 18 and under before May 1st, or $35 after May 1. Register now to guarantee a t-shirt! Walkers welcome. Tickets can be purchased here.
They’re also looking for sponsors – if you’re interested, e-mail katherine@orphanstoambassadors.org.
That pile of stuff represents donations dropped off last weekend at Hotwire Online Coffeehouse (WSB sponsor) in The Junction – one of many businesses, groups, and individuals who have reached out since WestSide Baby‘s urgent call for help last week. Hotwire proprietor Lora Swift shared the photo just before heading to WestSide Baby HQ on Tuesday to drop off the donations, so before we in turn shared the photo, we asked WS Baby executive director Nancy Woodland what they still need the most:
We will continue to need all clothing and diapers and safety equipment – car seats, strollers, etc. – but our current critical list is:
Boys pants 4t-12,
PJs, boys and girls 4T-12,
newborn diapers,
diaper cream, and
baby shampoo
WestSide Baby is open certain hours for dropoffs, and has satellite dropoff locations – for the latest list, check their website; we know Firefly Café and Creperie (WSB sponsor) is also collecting car seats through month’s end and is matching each car-seat donation with a packet of diapers.
Silent auctions are a bit like shopping at sales – though you’re never sure if you’re going to have the winning bid – with a bonus payoff: You know your money’s going to do good work. In the case of “Catsino,” under way at Beveridge Place Pub in Morgan Junction until 6 pm, it’s going to help those who can’t speak or fight for themselves – animals. There are so many circumstances in which the organizations behind the event – presented by Furry Faces Foundation – step in. If furry friends like Nora could say thanks, we’re sure they would:
In addition to the beneficiaries, Catsino also involves local businesses and groups who are sponsoring – and staffing! – the just-for-fun game tables, like Ventana Construction (WSB sponsor), whose Anne Higuera is at right in our next photo:
Ventana’s offering a “Carpenter for a Day” item in the silent auction, we noticed, so go bid! The fun’s not even half over. The pub’s at 6413 California SW.
Though their playing season is still a ways off, Chief Sealth International High School‘s football team is keeping busy. They’re joining in Seattle’s Walk MS next weekend and asking you to support the cause on their behalf. Here’s the message Sealth head football coach Luther Carr asked us to share:
A few days left: Chief Sealth Football is participating in WALK MS this year April 14, 2013. Please donate to MS (Multiple Sclerosis) Society on behalf of CSI FB Seahawks (Chief Sealth International Football).
This annual walk is a community service event organized throughout the country to increase awareness and fundraise for the research of Multiple Sclerosis. Multiple Sclerosis is an autoimmune disease that affects the brain and spinal cord (central nervous system). This condition affects millions worldwide. Some of the symptoms of those with this condition experience periods of numbness, loss of sensitivity, muscle spasms, loss of speech, fatigue, and blindness. Episodes can occur without warning and without any inciting factors lasting days, weeks or months. I personally decided to get involved because a friend lost his sight in one eye as a result of MS. Early and ongoing treatment with an FDA-approved therapy can make a difference for many people with Multiple Sclerosis. To learn more about MS go to nationalmssociety.org. To learn more about WALK MS Seattle 2013, go (here).
Walk MS 2013 is a great opportunity for Chief Sealth High School football players. They are fundraising for a worldwide condition that affects millions, and has no cure. They are also learning the act of service! As an added benefit, each player will also earn community service credit hours needed to graduate from Seattle Public Schools.
No donation is too small or too large, says Coach Carr – you can donate through the CSI team page by going here.
SATURDAY, 11:41 AM: You have lots of time left – till 3 pm! – to donate food and/or money TODAY to the West Seattle Food Bank, with the help of West Seattle Kiwanis members like Linda Cox, shown here with local Key Club members helping out. As noted in our daily highlights, dropoff spots include PCC Natural Markets (California/Stevens), where we photographed this team, West Seattle Thriftway (California/Fauntleroy), Metropolitan Market (42nd/Admiral), and the Junction QFC (42nd/Alaska).
MONDAY MORNING P.S. – Via the WS Food Bank’s Facebook page, we’ve learned the drive brought in “1800 pounds of food and $773.95!”
In case you’re still planning your Saturday:
HELP CLEAN UP LINCOLN PARK: Friends of Lincoln Park could use as many hands as it can get, removing invasive plants. Meet at 9 am (or look for directions if you come late) – details on our calendar.
HELP CLEAN UP NORTH DELRIDGE: The ND Neighborhood Council‘s Beautification Committee also welcomes helping hands, as it tackles the 23rd/Juneau staircase Saturday morning, 10 am-noon – details on our calendar.
KIWANIS FOOD DRIVE @ GROCERY STORES: The Kiwanis Club of West Seattle will have members and Key Club students outside four local grocery stores 9 am-3 pm Saturday, collecting food and money for the West Seattle Food Bank (remember, donations go further till the end of this month) – if you’re going shopping, buy something extra and drop it off. You’ll see them at Metropolitan Market, PCC Natural Markets, and West Seattle Thriftway (all WSB sponsors) and at QFC in The Junction.
WESTSIDE BABY DONATIONS: Remember the urgent call for help earlier this week? Lots of great folks are stepping up – including businesses, with two WSB sponsors offering incentives to donate:
Hotwire Online Coffeehouse (4410 California SW) offers a free 8-ounce Americano through Sunday if you drop off any of the items listed here.
Firefly Café and Creperie (4160 California SW) is accepting diaper and car-seat donations for WS Baby through the end of April. For each of the first 50 car seats that come in, Firefly will donate a package of diapers.
And WSB Forums member Gretchen is offering help in getting donations to WS Baby if you have something to donate and no way to get it there.
Love spaghetti and sports? Saturday night, they share the stage at the Chief Sealth International High School Seahawks’ Baseball Dinner and Silent Auction. From the announcement:
This is our annual event to celebrate the season and raise funds to support the baseball program. Tickets are only $10 and include a spaghetti dinner served up by the players, along with a small silent auction filled with fun stuff and delicious home-baked desserts.
Tickets will be available at the door, cash/checks only, 5-7 pm Saturday (April 6) in the Chief Sealth Galleria (2600 SW Thistle).
(Volunteer Kathi Ishimaru in action! SWSHS photo)
Everything old is new again – or can be, if it gets some TLC – and that’s the mission of the Southwest Seattle Historical Society, which is welcoming prospective volunteers to an informational session this Saturday at its Log House Museum. Volunteers have been busy lately at events including the Alki Elementary centennial celebration last week, and will be vital at upcoming events such as the Colman Estate tour on April 28, Alki Lighthouse centennial on June 1, and the All-West Seattle High School Reunion on June 7. Here’s the SWSHS pitch for you to get involved, starting with attendance at Saturday’s session:
Got time to volunteer? The Southwest Seattle Historical Society needs you! Like to interact with people? Fix computers? Update databases? Make small repairs? Transcribe interviews? Shoot videos and still photos? Plan events? Get a glimpse of our community’s past? Whether you have lived here one year or 50, come learn about how to turn your desires and skills into meaningful tasks that will help preserve and promote the heritage of West Seattle and the greater Duwamish peninsula. Here’s a way to look to the future helping others explore West Seattle’s past.
The Southwest Seattle Historical Society, which operates the Log House Museum, offers this introduction to volunteering, led by Clay Eals, executive director. It will include a brief primer on West Seattle history. The museum is one block from Alki Beach, at 61st and Stevens. More info: 206-938-5293 or loghousemuseum.info.
The session for prospective volunteers is 11 am-1 pm on Saturday (April 6th).
(EDITOR’S NOTE: Fauntleroy resident Judy Pickens, who volunteers her time and talent to a variety of endeavors including local schools, continues to gather and report information on volunteer needs at West Seattle schools where the need is greatest, sharing it here periodically. Here’s what will probably be the last request for this school year.)
By Judy Pickens
Special to West Seattle Blog
A school volunteer’s greatest reward is knowing that students have an enrichment activity because you are there to make it happen. And it can happen in the spring as well as earlier in the school term. Consider one of the following ways to dip your toe in the water of school volunteering. You may find yourself back in the fall!
At Highland Park Elementary (1012 SW Trenton)
Contact stpaolone@seattleschools.org
Ongoing: Adults or high-school-aged students to support classroom teachers with tasks such as listening to students read or copying/cutting; varies by teacher/grade – your choice. Pick any hours on any day, 9 AM-4 PM.
Ongoing: Adults or high-school-aged students to support reading/math club with tasks such as listening to students read or helping with elementary match – your choice. Pick any Mon., Tues. or Thurs., 3 PM – 4:30 PM.
*************
At West Seattle Elementary (6760 34th SW)
Contact smtaylor@seattleschools.org
Ongoing: Adults to assist fifth grade with small groups and provide other teacher support. Pick any hours on any day, 10:30AM-3 PM.
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