TEAM Delridge tonight: Food for thought – and action
That was the turnout tonight at Southwest Community Center for TEAM Delridge – community members getting together to envision future neighborhood improvements, including healthier food – since it is, after all, part of the King County Food and Fitness Initiative:
Two more TEAM Delridge meetings are planned, April 20th and May 18th, locations to be announced.
2 more Delridge events to note this week — both potlucks, in fact. First comes the monthly FEEST Community Potluck at 5:30 pm Wednesday, Youngstown Arts Center, which, according to an e-mail alert, is “offering youth-prepared organic dishes, an opportunity to build community with youth members of the Food Education Empowerment and Sustainability Team, and a glance at King County Food and Fitness Initiative’s proposed Community Action Plan to improve and sustain resources in the Delridge and White Center neighborhoods.” Then Saturday, it’s the Community Potluck event organized by the volunteers working toward a Delridge Produce Cooperative, this Saturday from 11 am-2 pm, also at Youngstown (read more here).
Sign up now – for something you’ll hopefully never have to do
Be on the lookout for that display around West Seattle in the months to come. It’s part of the next phase of an effort that really started to rev up last year. If you were a WSB’er last spring/summer, you may recall our coverage of special events introducing neighborhoods to community meeting places (like this one), designated just in case of major disasters — someplace you could go to get connected with information and help, if all the other channels fail. There currently are eight such neighborhood gathering spots around West Seattle which are now dubbed “emergency-communication hubs.”
Saturday morning, many of the volunteers who are working on this got together in Morgan Junction for a discussion including guests from the city and county — and that’s where we all learned about help that’s needed right now for a “corps” that hopefully will never have to spring into action – the Public Health Reserve Corps. Don’t let the name scare you off – they’re looking to sign up volunteers who are NOT health pros, too — read on for more about that, and about the state of disaster readiness in local neighborhoods:Read More
Getting the word out: Water Day today, World TB Day Tuesday
Volunteers tabled and walked along Alki today in honor of World Water Day — to make sure you know that something we take for granted — a clean, safe water supply — is still elusive for way too many people worldwide. Find out more here (including info about an event at Seward Park on May 30th, in which participants will try to walk 5 kilometers carrying 5 gallons of water — which water1st.org notes is “the average walk made by women and children in poor countries who lack access to safe, convenient water supplies”). Another day of awareness with local involvement is just two days away — World TB Day on Tuesday, with local students helping put on a big event downtown:
The World TB Day event Tuesday night at Town Hall is free – and promises to be an eye-opener. Full details here. If you thought tuberculosis was a thing of the past – this King County-specific information alone will cure you of that notion. (The local rate, in fact, hit a 30-year high in 2007.) Student organizers also have been sending out TB info via Twitter – follow their tweets (and see the archives) at twitter.com/worldtbday.
Greenbelt cleanup: Can you pitch in too? Local students hope so!
As you probably noticed in the West Seattle Weekend Lineup, lots of work-party action in local greenspaces today, as is the case most Saturdays – but if you can spare some time TOMORROW, here’s a request we just received:
My name is Sam Westler and I go to Chief Sealth High School. A group of students along with myself are hosting a work party to remove the invasive plants in the West Duwamish Greenbelt. We are working from 10-4 on Sunday March 22nd, and we would like to get the word out to as many people as possible. Everyone is welcome to come help out. We are meeting in the Cooper Elementary School parking lot at ten.
If you haven’t been to Cooper, which is on Pigeon Point, here’s a map.
Today/tonight: Scouting for Food, Movies on the Wall, more
Reminder – The Viaduct is closed till 6 pm for the first day of its semiannual inspection; the Battery Street Tunnel is closed around the clock till early Monday morning. But why leave West Seattle? Highlights from the latest West Seattle Weekend Lineup include:
SCOUTING FOR FOOD – You may have received a door hanger about this; we reported on it two weeks ago. Local Boy Scouts will go door to door to collect food donations to help fight hunger; if they’re not in your neighborhood, you can still take donations to the West Seattle Food Bank (map) 10 am-2 pm.
FRY BREAD FOR JUSTICE – 10 am-5 pm at the new Duwamish Longhouse (map) – $20 donation, food and entertainment to help the tribe raise money to keep fighting for federal recognition.
CASUAL INDUSTREES SALE – This sassy West Seattle clothing business doesn’t have a regular storefront but it’s opening the doors for a big sale this weekend – 6205 SW Admiral (map), 10 am-6 pm today.
FREE MOVIE – “Napoleon Dynamite” is the grand finale of the first-ever Winter Indoor Movies on the Wall series presented in The Junction by local businesses (including WSB!) – free (but bring money for concessions and nonprofit-benefiting raffle), 7 pm, the new West Seattle Christian Church activity center (map), bring your own chair(s), doors open at 5:30 pm.
“ECLECTIC” MUSIC – That’s how guitarist Andre Feriante described the show he and others will present in the Admiral Theater‘s Listening Room series at 9 tonight ($12).
Much, more more in the WSWL.
Delridge Produce Co-op updates: Potluck plan, & Galena’s story
(From left, Delridge Produce Co-Op organizer Galena White, Nola [daughter of Jennifer Grant], board members Jennifer Grant and Ranette Iding, volunteer consultant Johnathan Oliver from Heart On My Sleeve)
The next big event for the volunteers working toward a Delridge Produce Cooperative is a community potluck (to which you’re invited!) one week from tomorrow, and they gathered to work on the plan last night at Pearls coffeehouse. Music, food, a raffle, and even a chili-making demonstration are planned for the event 11 am-2 pm (see the flyer on the Delridge Produce Cooperative home page) Saturday, March 28, at Youngstown Arts Center. Your role? Show up, with “healthy food” to share, and have fun. Meantime, co-op organizer Galena White recently wrote up a recap of how this all got started, in response to requests from other media looking into stories about the Delridge Produce Cooperative effort, and we want to share her story as an inspirational instance of one person who decided to stop “complaining” – and take action – see what she did, step by step:Read More
First jobless, now homeless: Sherry can’t keep Moon any more
That’s Moon the cat. Moon needs someplace to stay – short term or long term. His person, Sherry, lost her job, then got evicted this week, according to Delridge resident Paul Boyarin, who met Sherry at her recent yard sale. Now that she’s staying at an emergency shelter, she can’t keep Moon with her; the neighbor who’s watching him can’t keep him; Paul himself is maxed out with four foster cats; and local cat rescuers say they’re full to capacity right now. So Paul wonders if anyone in WSB-land would be interested in taking care of Moon, who’s about three years old, described as “very friendly and sweet” and “a well-loved indoor cat.” If you can help, here’s how to reach Paul: pzalic@yahoo.com
Almost spring: Help the West Seattle Edible Garden Fair grow!
Not only will there be a West Seattle Edible Garden Tour again this year, there’ll also be a West Seattle Edible Garden Fair too. And you can help it grow – by spending an hour and half with organizers this Sunday afternoon. The Edible Garden Fair, involving Community Harvest of Southwest Seattle and the city Department of Neighborhoods, is set for May 23rd at South Seattle Community College, a day of “presentations and panel discussions about growing food,” according to the CHoSS website. But before it comes to fruition, it’s time for planning and strategizing – and that’ll happen at 1:30 this Sunday in the Common House at Duwamish Cohousing (6000 17th SW; here’s a map).
Alki Community Council to take over Liberty plaza maintenance $
One of the headlines from tonight’s Alki Community Council meeting: President Jule Sugarman announced that management of the maintenance fund for the Alki Statue of Liberty Plaza will move from Urban Sparks, which financially sponsored the Plaza Project Committee, to the ACC, with the Parks Department‘s blessing. “This does NOT mean we are raising money,” Sugarman stressed; instead, the council is creating a new committee — chaired by Plaza Project Committee co-chair Libby Carr — to oversee the extra maintenance, for which a $60,000-plus fund is already in place. Carr says that maintenance will include cleaning and staining the wood benches twice a year and washing and waxing the Statue of Liberty replica and its pedestal. Those jobs would be professionally done, but the new committee might rustle up volunteers for occasional work parties to do other kinds of cleanup, and would likely have regular meetings only a few times a year. Meantime, the additional bricks to be installed at the plaza are likely to be put in this spring, Carr said — along with the new time capsule — and replacements are in the works for the existing bricks that have had some deterioration problems. (Photo above left by David Hutchinson)
Followup: Heart On My Sleeve – next move, and how to help
Here on WSB last week, you met Heart On My Sleeve in this story – three men, working out of a Pigeon Point duplex, hoping to change the world for the better, with recycled-material fashion, design, and music: Navy veteran Johnathan Oliver, former UW football player Shelton Sampson (shown above), and musician Art B. They were hopeful their “big break” was just around the corner; in the week and a half since we met them, some new excitement has materialized, starting with Seattle Fashion Week next month. Johnathan wrote to say:
Seattle Fashion Week has invited us to show our line. They also want us to serve as visual graphic directors for the show. We will also have the opportunity to design a piece for Vitamin Water. They are one of the sponsors for the event. They will be providing us with the money to purchase the materials needed for the piece. We have so many great ideas and I’m sure we would be able to make quite a statement at this show. We feel that a successful show can and will catapult us in the local fashion scene as well as the global.
Johnathan later e-mailed to say fashion-industry insider BJ Coleman has agreed to come here for the show, if they can figure out how to get him here. And that’s not all. They’ve been asked to perform some of their songs at a Fashion Week promo event on March 26, plus:
We will be creating 10 pieces for the fashion show. Each piece will have a charity associated to it. Such charities as The American Heart Association, the glass-blowing program in Tacoma. We are also creating a piece for Fashion Week that will be auctioned off at the Community School of West Seattle to raise money to replace technologies in their preschool. The kids will actually be helping us construct the piece as well.
They’ve been getting by on something of a shoestring – so in order to make all this happen, they have a wish list that you might be able to help with – read on to see it, plus an easy way to help:Read More
A West Seattle student abroad asks for your help, to help others
Michelle Baker is a born-and-raised West Seattleite – attended Lafayette Elementary, Madison Middle School, and West Seattle High School – but right now she’s in Butare, Rwanda (map), as part of her International Studies major at Seattle University. Before she left, she held a Beads for Life fundraiser to help Ugandan women – the photo above shows Michelle and mom Julie at the fundraiser. Now that she’s in Africa, Michelle is writing about her experiences online – michellejbaker.blogspot.com. But her trip is about more than studying; Michelle — a longtime soccer player — and her friend Caitlin, from Colorado, are also spending time in Uganda and have written a proposal to carry out a dream to help women through sports, by starting a soccer team in Northern Uganda. They need support, including money. Read on to see what they want to do and why:Read More
Log House Museum needs help tomorrow: Free treats, too!
Andrea Mercado from the Log House Museum — where you can check out the history of West Seattle, noon-4 pm Thursdays-Sundays — just sent this note:
Stop in Sunday, March 15th, between 11-2 to help us move file cabinets, brochures, books and papers out from the Log House Museum upstairs. Besides being an enormous help to the Log House Museum and Southwest Seattle Historical Society, you will also get to see the inner sanctum of the museum (upstairs) which is not generally open to the public. (oooooooohhhhh)
A 105 year old log structure is always an adventure to maintain and a joy to work in, but the building cannot handle the weight of our modern-day conveniences.
For 30 minutes, an hour or two of your time… there will be goodies donated by the Alki Bakery and beverages to keep us all going.
The museum’s in the big beautiful historic house shown in the photo above, 61st/Stevens in Alki (map).
Be ready to fight West Seattle hunger with “Scouting for Food”
(Scouts from Troop 282 with donations from the 2008 “Scouting for Food”)
Heads-up on door-to-door visitors you DON’T need to be suspicious about – in fact, you’re going to want to welcome them warmly: The folks at West Seattle Boy Scout Troop 282 e-mailed with advance word of Scouting for Food, which will send Scouts into local neighborhoods the next two Saturdays:
Scouting for Food
March 14 and 21
For twenty years, the Boy Scouts have worked together with community food banks to collect food for the hungry during the annual Scouting for Food drive. To date, more than 23 million cans of food have been collected for local community food banks. The Boy Scouts of America teaches the value of community service in all of its programs and the importance of helping others. Doing a Good Turn Daily is a cornerstone of the Scouting program.
Scouts from West Seattle Troop 282 will walk our neighborhoods delivering door hangers on Saturday, March 14. The following Saturday, March 21, Scouts will follow-up to collect non-perishable food item donations and deliver them to the West Seattle Food Bank. Emphasis is on food most needed for nutrition such as peanut butter, baby formula, packaged meals and canned goods, especially tuna, soups, stews, meats, fruits and vegetables.
Please help support the hungry in our community. It is more important now than it has been for many decades. Watch for a door hanger on your door and get your donations out early on March 21st, so you can join our Scouts in Doing a Good Turn Daily.
A bonus — donations to West Seattle Food Bank (and also White Center Food Bank, which serves part of West Seattle) count extra this month and next because of the Feinstein Challenge (explained here). ADDED 5:09 PM: First word of this came from Troop 282 – thank you! – but we also asked a followup question about other troops participating; we’re told that other area participants will include Troop 284 and Cub Scout Packs 282, 284, 285, 793, and 799. (As always, we really appreciate being able to share news like this with the rest of West Seattle, so whatever you and/or your group are up to, editor@westseattleblog.com – any time!)
Benefit brunch for West Seattle’s only homeless-family helpers
We first showed you that photo back in October, in this story about Family Promise of West Seattle, the peninsula’s only agency helping homeless families, with a day center and arrangements for night lodging. Board member Donna Pierce e-mailed today to invite you to a benefit brunch:
West Seattle Blog readers are cordially invited to “Delivering on the Promise,” a brunch benefiting Family Promise of Seattle, this Saturday, March 7, from 10:30 AM ’til noon, at Fauntleroy Church. Brunch begins at 10:30, and a program follows at 11. Please come hear about Family Promise’s work in our community, coordinating a network of congregations and volunteers that provides fellowship, temporary housing and food for newly homeless families, while staff provides case management, advocacy and direction to help guests access the housing and employment resources they need to regain independence. Admission is free, and donations supporting the organization’s mission will be solicited during the program. RSVP 206-388-9170 or fundraiser@familypromiseofseattle.org
Calling all Delridgers! (Delridge-ians? Delridge-ites?)
Whatever term you want to use, this invitation’s for you: TEAM Delridge, latest push for neighborhood efforts in the King County Food and Fitness Initiative, invites you to a get-together at 6:30 pm March 23rd. Food for thought, from the official invitation:
Does any or all of the following apply to you:
___ I live in the Delridge neighborhood.
___ I learn in the Delridge neighborhood.
___ I work in the Delridge neighborhood.
___ I play in the Delridge neighborhood.
___ I care about the Delridge neighborhood.
Do you have ideas or thoughts on the accessibility of healthy food for your family or others’ families living, working, learning and playing in Delridge?
We’ve heard a thousand times before that Delridge needs a grocery store. Is that true? Would a farmers’ market be best? You tell us!
Join other community members just like yourself who are striving to eat healthier, practicing collective action and moving more!
Topics for discussion and prioritization:
What kinds of businesses, organizations, and programs will make a more vibrant Delridge?
What are our largest community concerns, and how can they be addressed?
For more information on the exciting initiative or to RSVP for the community meeting, please contact Phillippia Goldsmith at (206) 923-0917 x 116 or via e-mail at phillippiag@dnda.org
Be a ray of hope for “The Sunshine Fund,” to help survivors
Sarah Bonzer e-mailed today to ask if we’d share a request that she in turn is sharing on behalf of her friend and co-worker, Katie Hogan; both of them live in West Seattle – that’s a candid photo of Katie at left, sent after we asked Sarah for one to go with this story. Before reading Katie’s request, you should hear what Sarah has to say about her friend Katie:
Katie was diagnosed with advanced cancer three years ago and I’ll never forget the day she made the announcement in our conference room at work. You don’t wish something like this on anyone, let alone a woman in her thirties with a young daughter and husband who has survived his own bout with cancer. Katie is one of the gentlest, most caring, considerate and hard working individuals you’ll ever meet. My life is better for having known her during this time, if that is at all possible. Sadly, Katie likely won’t live a full life like the rest of us. Yet in her final years, she stays committed to organizations such as the one she describes below which have supported her during this journey.
The organization is called the Young Survival Coalition; its Seattle branch has less than $40 left in its “Sunshine Fund.” Sarah says even $10 would be a big help – but you don’t have to take her word for it; read Katie’s note, by clicking ahead:Read More
West Seattle YMCA Partners With Youth “victory party” tonight
As the saying goes, it takes a village to raise a child – and in the case of this story, it takes a village of fundraisers to rustle up the money for programs to help kids. The West Seattle Family YMCA (WSB sponsor) gathered fundraising volunteers at The Hall at Fauntleroy tonight for the Partners With Youth Campaign “victory celebration”: More than $202,000 raised, close to the $205K target (half of the total $410K goal, with the other half raised by the Y’s Board of Managers). This money goes to keep YMCA programs accessible to kids, teens, and families in West Seattle, Vashon, and South Park. Tonight’s event brought together volunteers to report their individual achievements – those who exceeded certain personal goals got T-shirts – the photo above shows Katie Taylor, director of the Y’s afterschool program at Madison, calling out goal-exceeders’ names. (The Y website offers online-donation opportunities, by the way.)
Happening today: Farmers’ Market; produce co-op; get a pet
WEST SEATTLE FARMERS’ MARKET: 10 am-2 pm today in The Junction, 44th/Alaska; you can see the newest “fresh sheet” here – with greens, prawns, and mutton, among the newer offerings.
DELRIDGE PRODUCE CO-OP INFO AT THE MARKET: Galena White‘s been working hard to find and organize volunteers to make the co-op dream happen, and today she’s planning a booth at the Farmers’ Market, so look for her there. She’s also set up a new online site for co-op-related communication; find it here, and if you’re on Facebook, be sure to friend her there too.
GOT ROOM IN YOUR HOME/HEART FOR ANOTHER PET? Bernadette Cassidy of The Wash Dog in Morgan Junction e-mailed (editor@westseattleblog.com) to share the news that the King County Animal Shelter will be there today, noon-4 pm, with adoptable dogs and cats. And if you adopt one, Bernadette’s got a bonus for you – a free self-serve wash.
Happening today: Rummage sale, book sale, Junction parking …
More highlights from the current edition of the West Seattle Weekend Lineup (jump here to the full Saturday list):
RAT CITY RUMMAGE: In White Center, the first-ever Rat City Rummage takes over the old skating rink, 10 am-6 pm, and we’re told vendor spaces are sold out, should be lots to browse and buy.
SANISLO USED-BOOK SALE: The 4th graders at Sanislo Elementary are having a Used Book Sale, 10 am-3 pm, to raise money to go to camp on Vashon. Never been to the school? Here’s a map.
JUNCTION PARKING REVIEW WALKING TOUR: Even if you didn’t RSVP, you’ll still be welcome to join in. Noon-2 pm, meet at Cupcake Royale (California/Alaska). Archived coverage of the parking review is here; by the way, the results of the Fremont parking review are being installed as we speak.
It’s the rectangle of grass on the northwest corner of Alaska/42nd, at the foot of one tall building now, with more in the works across Alaska. Tonight, you are invited to share the next step toward turning
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