West Seattle, Washington
25 Saturday
Just noticed this comment from a local elementary-school principal came in Monday afternoon on this week-old post, so in case you missed it:
Is anyone interested in painting halls in a school? Arbor Heights Elementary School desperately needs a few coats of paint in the hallways. We want to color-code each hall and brighten up the interior. Call me (the principal, Carol) at 252-9250. Thanks!
So says the West Seattle Food Bank‘s executive director Fran Yeatts (who you met in this WSB video report last month, if you didn’t already know her in person) — it was the subject line of this e-mail to WSB:
West Seattle is such an admirable community. I say this because of the wonderful responsiveness of our neighbors, businesses and individuals alike, who brought us holiday food and cash donations. With your help we were able to provide food to hundreds of families for Thanksgiving. On behalf of all the infants, children, teens, adults and seniors who rely on the West Seattle Food Bank to make ends meet, we extend our most sincere thanks.
And now – to the Christmas/Hanukkah/New Year’s/Kwanzaa/Solstice season. You can give $ online to the West Seattle Food Bank any time by going here. And here’s what else you can do to help:Read More
Tonight is opening night for WSB sponsor ArtsWest‘s holiday production, “O. Henry’s The Gifts of the Magi.” And ArtsWest is asking audience members — and anyone who stops by ArtsWest while the play is running now through December 23 (checking out the art gallery, visiting the box office, whatever) — to bring their own “gifts”: ArtsWest is collecting donations of new books, new toys, new clothing, and diaper packages, all to be donated to WestSide Baby. As ArtsWest executive director Alan Harrison says in an AW press release: “‘Love thy neighbor’ is the credo of the season. O. Henry’s story about Della with the gorgeous hair and Jim with his grandfather’s priceless pocket watch is most famous for its ironic twist, but more than that, it tells us that love is the greatest gift of all. If we can help our neighbors at WestSide Baby by finding a way to supply their children with clothing, a book, or even a new toy, then we’ll all have a loving holiday indeed.” (ArtsWest photo by Matt Durham)
(Monday photo near 26th/Andover by Chris Monsos) The water has receded, but in some places it’s bound to have left damage behind. So Kaydee is wondering:
With all the flooding this week, I feel very fortunate to have not experienced any flood damage but I would like to help neighbors in need. Are there any groups of volunteers organizing this weekend to help neighbors or restore damage to parks caused by this flood?
P.S. To make it easier to find WSB coverage of the flooding and aftermath, we have retagged our reports in a new “December 2007 flooding” category (much like the “December ’06 windstorm” archive).
A reader who wants to be anonymous sent this intriguing request for recommendations:
I’m planning a volunteer event for my company—and I’m a West Seattle resident so I’d like to consider ideas from fellow West Seattle residents.
It’s an annual day of service in Seattle or a surrounding community. We’ll have about 300 people volunteering for a full day on a Saturday. In the past we’ve done everything from landscaping, painting buildings, stocking shelves, restoring a school… to getting in the mud and repairing a creekbed in South King County.
In order to be eligible, the non-profit has to have a 501c3 number or be associated with a 501c3. Any suggestions you or your readers have are much appreciated, either in West Seattle or in the greater Seattle area. We’re hoping to volunteer at an organization where we can make the biggest difference in one day, an organization that really needs our help.
As always, please add your recommendation as a comment on this post; you can find previous RRRs, and responses, archived here.
When we discuss community problems and challenges here on WSB, obviously we are all looking for solutions, and full of hope for the future. Hate to be cliche about it, but as that old song goes, “… children are our future.” Even if you’re not a parent or teacher – you can take action to boost our chances of a bright future, by helping more kids realize their full potential, and here’s one way: Be a tutor, 2 hours a week. Erica Ellis, volunteer coordinator for the Youth Tutoring Program, sent this alert:
The Youth Tutoring Program is looking for tutors in West Seattle!
YTP is a non-profit tutoring program that provides one-on-one academic support to students living in low-income housing. We operate five tutoring centers throughout the city. We are in great need of volunteer tutors at our High Point tutoring center located on 35th Ave. SW in West Seattle.
Tutors commit to one evening per week for two hours and work with one student at a time on homework, math and language arts skills. Available sessions are Monday through Thursday from 5:30-7:30 pm.
Many of our students cannot get the homework help they need at home and depend on our tutors for academic support!
Make a difference in the life of a child in your neighborhood. Apply today at www.ytpseattle.org or call 206-328-5659.
As part of Hometown Holidays in The Junction this weekend, 
there’s a Warm Clothes Drive under way for area families. As Susan Melrose, executive director of the West Seattle Junction Association, explains: “We are looking for all types of warm clothes to keep all members of our community warm through the winter. Clean out your children’s closet and hand-be-down piles looking for all types of winter clothes including jackets, pajamas, boots, long underwear, sweaters, socks, and more. We will collect these items at Hometown Holidays Headquarters (44th Ave SW and Alaska) all weekend long. WestSide Baby will pick up the loot on Sunday (December 2) at 5 pm. And if you don’t have these items, you can help this organization by bringing diapers too.”
West Seattle holiday gifts ‘n’ stuff with an extra punch – plus a request for ideas from you:
POINSETTIAS TO HELP STUDENTS: Today’s the deadline to get orders in for the Chief Sealth High School Band fundraising poinsettia sale; full details in our original post – we just checked and they DO have some left!
BOOKS FOR WESTSIDE BABY: This Saturday, during Hometown Holidays weekend, Square 1 Books in Jefferson Square is having a unique sale — as described on the Square One blog, “Purchase any children’s book from us Dec. 1-2 for 15 percent off and we will donate the book to WestSide Baby. The books will be distributed to families in need in December.”
CALENDARS FOR CANINES: Wendy Hughes-Jelen, from the High Point K-9 Club and other endeavors, has created the 2008 IGGY Ambassadors Calendar, which she describes further: “Entitled ‘Personal images of the dogs we love, photographed by members of IGGY Ambassadors — Emerald City (Italian Greyhounds of the Northwest)’, it is a large and elegant calendar, something to be treasured by ALL dog lovers.” 16% of the price of each calendar (what’s left after printing costs & the lulu.com publisher’s fee) goes to “help pay for vet bills and other costs associated with the very active Northwest Italian greyhound rescue community.” You can preview the calendar here; you can order it here.
NOW, A QUESTION FOR YOU: This came in as a WSB Reader Recommendation Request but relates to the topic of “gifts that keep on giving” — Adam e-mailed, “In lieu of giving presents, my wife and I have donated money which we might normally spend on presents to some of the many worthwhile charities. We are searching for recommendations for legitimate local charities for Iraq veterans and their families. Any reader suggestions?”
One week from Saturday, one of West Seattle’s biggest events of the holiday season will start — Hometown Holidays in The Junction. We brought you details in this report last weekend; you can also read the full Hometown Holidays press release at the end of this post. First, here’s your chance to be part of it — we received this from Erica Karlovits, president of JuNO (Junction Neighborhood Association):
For folks living in the Junction and interested in getting involved with JuNO, we have a great opportunity for involvement:
Hometown Holidays is coming . . . The Junction comes to life on the first Saturday in December. Events include the Dickens Carolers, the Annual Tree Lighting, Santa photos for you and for your pet, and great deals in local shops. Plus events at the West Seattle Farmers’ Market!
Volunteers are needed to staff the refreshment and information table during the Hometown Holidays event on December 1 and 2. JuNO has agreed to take on this responsibility and is inviting anyone that is interested in joining to contact wsjuno@yahoo.com – This is a great opportunity to support your community, meet neighbors and take part in a great event.
Please let me know if you are interesting in meeting your JuNO neighbors and volunteering at this event.
Thank you!
Erica Karlovits
Junction Neighborhood Organization
For even more details on Hometown Holidays plans, here’s the West Seattle Junction Association‘s full press release:Read More
We were lucky to grow up with some opportunities to travel, around the U.S. as well as to a few other countries. Nothing too fancy, but still — as you know if you have been able to travel — it changes your perspective on your own slice of the world, in so many ways, that carry on throughout your life and enhance your ability to “think global/act local,” among other benefits. With that preface, here’s a chance to help some West Seattle teenagers gain that perspective as they prepare for the journey into adulthood: At West Seattle High School, the Travel Club is looking for partners and supporters to help make sure everyone who wants to join a 10-day student trip to Italy and Greece next spring can go. A nicely written press release appeared in the WSB inbox – so we’re sharing that, and the information that follows it about how you can help, including fundraising events that are just a few weeks away:Read More
“TOAST TO THE ANIMALS” TONIGHT AT BEVERIDGE PLACE PUB: This puts the “fun” in “fundraiser” — a benefit for Furry Faces Foundation. Their announcement is livelier than any rewrite we could do:
“Raise your glasses and ring in the Holiday Cheer for rescued animals,” say Terri and Gary, owners of the Beveridge Place Pub, “as we are delighted to announce another Wine Tasting Fun-Raiser, benefiting Furry Faces Foundation, a.k.a., F3. And, if you like a particular wine (s), you may purchase a bottle or two or more … right then and there.” “For a mere $15 you get to taste 4-6 lovely wines, savor light appetizers, mingle with your neighbors, and help defray the cost of spaying ‘n’ neutering rescued animals,” raves Lora Vickrey, F3 treasurer and Hotwire Coffeehouse owner [also WSB sponsor], “plus, we will be previewing our soon to be infamous, nefarious game of kismet, called …. Box-a-Rama! Be there, or be square.”
That’s 4:30 pm-7 pm tonight (here’s a map to Beveridge Place Pub).
GET YOUR DOG GROOMED ON TURKEY DAY: Across California Ave from Beveridge Place and a bit north, The Wash Dog is taking appointments for grooming on Thanksgiving morning. We heard from Wash Dog owner Bernadette Cassidy after our post seeking info on West Seattle businesses open Thanksgiving. We’re building that list now; meanwhile, you can call Bernadette to snag one of those holiday appointments at 206-935-4546.
YOGA WITH YOUR DOG? Wendy Hughes-Jelen from the High Point K9 Club is trying to organize a “yoga with your dog” class or workshop. Wendy had a great time taking a class in Bellevue that’s taught by an instructor who lives in West Seattle, Brenda Bryan. Wendy is working with Brenda and the High Point Community Center to get West Seattle dog yoga going, but she needs at least 4 people/dog pairs to rev this up; e-mail her at wendyhj (at) greenspacesrealestate.com if you want to get in on it. (Read more about “yoga with your dog” at Brenda’s website.)
THANKSGIVING #1: Bless everyone who has to work on holidays. We know it’s no picnic. Again this year, we are compiling a list of who’s open on The Big Holidays in two categories: coffee shops and grocery stores. We have started our Thanksgiving list already but we are asking for your help, if you own or work at a West Seattle business in one of those categories — let us know whether you’re closed or open on Thanksgiving, and if open, what hours. Post a comment here or e-mail WSB directly. Thank you!
THANKSGIVING #2: We’ve talked here before about the free community Thanksgiving feast that will be hosted noon-3 pm Thursday by Tuxedos & Tennis Shoes on their home turf at The Hall @ Fauntleroy. According to the West Seattle Helpline website, while there are enough volunteers to serve the dinner, they need some things you could drop off at The Hall (map) before 11 am Thanksgiving morning: a pie, new socks, winter hats, or gloves.
CHRISTMAS ETC.: Once you get those outdoor decorations up (the weekend forecast doesn’t look too conducive) keep WSB in mind if you have an extra-festive display — let us know where you’re at so we can come by for pix/video, or send us your own pix/video for posting, so we can all share the season’s sights; a special Holidays page is one of two new features we’re adding to WSB this weekend.
A free early Thanksgiving dinner tonight … another chance for you to drop off donations to brighten somebody else’s Thanksgiving … bazaars, music, more … among 35 West Seattle events for today, tomorrow, and/or Sunday:Read More
… get an extra turkey for the West Seattle Food Bank. We checked with WSFB today to see what they really need for last-minute donations before Thanksgiving, and they said it’s all about turkeys. Frozen OR fresh. Bring one (or more) to the Food Bank tomorrow (Friday) 9 am to 3 pm, or Monday 11 am-3 pm. The Food Bank is in the West Seattle Community Resource Building at 35th & Morgan (map). See our most recent updates on who they help and how you can help here (with video) and here.
That’s the summertime scene at West Seattle Stadium, during the West Seattle Relay for Life. The next one happens in June 2008, but the people who organize it are working on it already, and inviting the community to their next meeting, tomorrow night (Wednesday), 7:30 pm @ Fauntleroy Children’s Center. Organizers describe WS Relay for Life as “a fun-filled overnight event designed to bring together those who have been touched by cancer in our community.” The event includes the lighting of luminaria (in the white bags you see in the photo above). If you can’t attend tomorrow night’s meeting (they meet each month, same time, same location, second Wednesday), you can find out more about Relay for Life by calling Karee at 206-674-4105 or Melissa at 206-281-3738.
The Farmers’ Market folks didn’t send the usual big long list this week – just this short list of what’s “new and notable” at tomorrow’s WSFM (10 am-2 pm) in The Junction:
Italian Broccoli
Celery
Jerusalem Artichokes
Radicchio
Dozens of winter squashes
Brussels Sprouts
Fresh Chicken, Duck, Lamb and Goat
Also remember handmade holiday ornaments to benefit the West Seattle Hi-Yu Festival (see and read about them here) — $25 each, cash/check only, at the West Seattle Kiwanis booth at the market’s northeast corner.
One week ago tonight, West Seattle bicyclist Peter McKay was shot while riding on Delridge, not far from his home. No one is under arrest yet, but local groups are doing what they can to change that: Read here and here about Seattle International Randonneurs and the Bicycle Alliance of Washington raising more than $5,000 so far to give somebody the impetus to bring the culprits in. (If you want to donate, all three of the links in the preceding line will send you to the right place.)
If you missed it in the comments on this post – “k” says there’s a community meeting tonight regarding the Westcrest Park concerns. 7 pm @ Sonrise Evangelical Free Church at 610 SW Roxbury (map).
-A citywide challenge to gather 6 tons of toys for Toys for Tots by next Monday is under way now. Organizers tell us there are four dropoff locations in West Seattle: Curious Kidstuff, Seattle Lutheran High School, and the two Radio Shack stores, and the drive is being organized by a West Seattle-based PR firm (Janet Wainwright Public Relations, which, data point, otherwise focuses on Northwest publicity campaigns for 13 major movie studios).
-Several major events happening tonight in WS; they’re all on the WSB Events page but we wanted to give them one more shoutout: The monthly West Seattle Art Walk; the rescheduled International Baccalaureate informational night at Chief Sealth HS; opening night for “The Crucible” at West Seattle HS; and for development-watchers, the Southwest Design Review Board is back in action tonight, 6:30 pm at the Southwest Precinct, taking a look at this Junction project.
-Mini-update on Westcrest Park concerns: Reader e-mail says two squad cars and one uniformed officer, patroling on foot, were spotted at the park, so it may be getting some of the attention concerned citizens asked for.
-If you see this post after 2 pm today, you should be able to watch the King County Ferry District public hearing live via KCTV (here’s the link). P.S. Ferry District board members (aka KC Councilmembers) are just listening/discussing today; they vote next Tuesday morning.
OK, so last night’s election results suggest nobody’s in much of a mood to give government more money. However, as we have reported here previously, this is the time of year when local governments are deciding what to do with the money they already have (or are slated to get) – and Seattle Public Library supporters have an urgent call for library users to help make sure the library’s needs are “on the books” if you will:Read More
Two weeks have zoomed by since we brought you the West Seattle Food Bank’s request for your help this holiday season. Lots of great response so far – and room for more – literally … take a look inside the WSFB cooler; we did, during a visit to interview WSFB executive director Fran Yeatts, who narrates:
Frozen turkeys and other Thanksgiving-dinner donations will help the most people if you get them to the Food Bank by the end of next week. Meantime, Fran also told us something you probably don’t know about the people the WSFB serves:Read More
Pic from the torch rally on Alki this afternoon — featuring a symbolic Olympic Torch that’s making its way around the world to raise awareness about what activists want China, host of the next Olympics, to do to help end the genocide in Darfur (detailed explanation here about why it goes on; info here on how to take action):
9:30 PM UPDATE: Info about the man in our photo, thanks to Ruth from Save Darfur/Washington State:
His name is Marial Nhiel – he is from Yirol, Sudan, and is 27 years old. He arrived in Seattle as a refugee in August 2007. Marial’s leg was deliberately shot off by a Northern Sudanese soldier when he was a seven year old boy. He is married with twin children, age 5 years, one boy and one girl, who are currently living in Kenya. He was brought to us by Maury Clark, a local Sudanese advocate. Marial was here to carry the torch for his countrymen and women, to show his support for their safety.
Just two days ago, we told you about the fundraising deadline today for matching funds to make Ercolini Park (48th/Alaska; photo above from last summer) a true park when construction work begins shortly — and we have word from Bill Barna that, thanks to one last big donation — $2,800 from Wanda Pommer — they made it! Bill and everyone at Friends of Ercolini Park send out a huge thanks to everyone who helped them reach the goal and says the big thing now is to make good on commitments of volunteer time (also vital in the “matching funds” process); as Bill explains, “It is also important to remember that all the volunteer hours that were pledged have actually been assigned a dollar value. If the volunteers don’t make good on their contributions some of the park features may suffer. So, PLEASE, everyone who committed time … make good on your pledge.”
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