West Seattle, Washington
23 Thursday
We’ve been so busy spotlighting other ways to help, we haven’t had a chance to mention the South Park Arts AID auction until now – but it’s not too late; you still have a full day left to bid!
Last month, the reality of our situation began to sink in, and the pandemic was hitting artists especially hard. For so many, their livelihood relies on human interaction, and the government support was unreliable or nonexistent. South Park Arts wanted to help. The tight-knit community had weathered many storms together, and this was no different. The obvious solution was to buy lots of art. This auction features those pieces. So when you buy this work, you’re supporting not only the artist but you’re refilling the reserves of an art organization to provide for future assistance.
What – an amazing online art auction of painting, photography, collage, home goods, watercolor, letterpress, sculpture, stained glass, even body armor. Yes, body armor.
Who – featuring talented SPArtsAID recipients
When – Through Monday, May 11th at 7:30 PM
Where – from the comfort of your home
How – Go to www.auctria.com/auction/SPArtsAid to bid on the pieces.
Why – Because we could all use some beauty and community right now.
Tonight’s the night – we’re now less than 2 hours away from the West Seattle Food Bank “Instruments of Change” event to help WSFB continue helping neighbors in need. Here’s the reminder:
There’s still time to register and join us for the first-ever virtual Instruments of Change!
Join us tonight from 5:30 – 6:15 pm. This short virtual event celebrates our community and the merger between the West Seattle Food Bank and the West Seattle Helpline and raises funds to support our programs to keep our neighbors safe, fed, housed, and healthy. While short, this online event will include fun games, an exciting auction, and a compelling program.
For more information and to register, visit westseattlefoodbank.ejoinme.org/IOC
WSB is among this year’s community co-sponsors.
(Photo courtesy Alki UCC)
That’s what generous community members donated in the most-recent in-person food drive outside Alki UCC – and you have another chance to help tomorrow:
Thanks to our community’s continuing generosity, Alki UCC’s next In-Person, Socially Distanced Food Drive is set for this Sunday, May 10 from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. We will be collecting donations outside our building at 6115 SW Hinds.
Contributions of non-perishable food and other items will be distributed via the White Center Food Bank; top requests include Canned Meat/Soup/Fruit (pop‐top cans preferred), Rice, Noodles, Peanut Butter, Oats, Toilet Paper, Diapers, Similac Formula, Cleaning Supplies, Hand Sanitizer, and Baby Wipes.
The drive will benefit our vulnerable neighbors in need, those who have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.
The food drives continue every other Sunday (May 24, June 7, etc) until further notice. Tell your friends!
Information at alkiucc.org.
12:05 PM: Procrastinating on those Mother’s Day flowers? An update from the Lafayette Elementary PTA benefit-bouquet sale:
We have 20 bouquets left to sell! Call or text Jenny King at (206) 637-1004 to place your order – $30 each, pay here. For every bouquet sold, $5 will be donated back to school.
Your flower bouquets will be ready for pickup Today (May 9, 5-7pm) or Sunday morning (May 10, 8:30-9:30am). Pick-up location: 4224 Beach Drive SW, Seattle. NO CONTACT PICKUP.
2:05 PM: All gone!
Two updates from the West Seattle Food Bank today: First, WSFB sent photos of a special event today:
The Seattle Police Officers’ Guild is doing “Food Bank Fridays.” This Friday they dropped off over 1,500 pounds of food to the West Seattle Food Bank.
City Councilmember Lisa Herbold volunteers there on Fridays, too – she’s at right in this photo:.
Tomorrow, it’s your turn to help – register today (free!) for the live online edition of Instruments of Change, the annual celebration of WSFB, which this year in turn is celebrating its merger with West Seattle Helpline. The live online event will start at 5:30 pm Saturday, on YouTube; the online auction has already begun.
Haven’t lined up your Mother’s Day flowers yet? From the Lafayette Elementary PTA, another opportunity to buy them and help both the growers and students:
Treat the special someone in your life to a beautiful Mother’s Day flower bouquet from local farmer Chao Chang Gardens in Snohomish. In addition to helping a local flower grower, a portion of your purchase will support Lafeyette Elementary PTA. For every bouquet sold, $5 will be donated back to school.
Your flower bouquets will be ready for pickup Saturday evening (May 9, 5-7 pm) thru Sunday morning (May 10, 8:30-9:30 am). Pick up location: 4224 Beach Drive SW, Seattle.
NO-CONTACT PICKUP. PLACE YOUR ORDER BY THURSDAY, MAY 7, 4:30 PM.
(WSB photo)
Another school that had to cancel its annual auction has taken it online, so everybody can bid – here’s the announcement from the Pathfinder K-8 PTSA:
The Pathfinder K-8 PTSA is pleased to announce its first-ever online auction!
We are offering some great items and packages, many generously donated by local West Seattle businesses, along with art pieces made by individual classrooms. We are excited to try out this new format and pleased that it will allow the entire community to participate – no tickets required.
Due to schools being closed and ongoing restrictions on large gatherings, our auction gala was rescheduled and then cancelled entirely. The funds we planned to raise with this year’s auction are needed more than ever for next year’s PTSA budget to support our school and community. The money helps support everything from teacher classroom funds and academic support to the garden program and community events. We hope you’ll join us in generously supporting our school from the comfort of home.
The COVID-19 response interrupted plans for West Seattle mobile blood drives, and compounding that with the bridge shutdown, it’s been challenging for local would-be donors to be able to help. Now, there’s a way! Combat Arts Academy (5050 Delridge Way SW) is hosting “pop-up blood drives” starting today. CAA’s Sonia Sillan sent this word from Bloodworks Northwest:
Combat Arts Academy Gym in West Seattle will be hosting a new Pop-Up Donor Center, providing donors a convenient, local location to donate blood during statewide stay-at-home orders. The governors of both Washington and Oregon recognize the crucial role that Bloodworks donors fill in sustaining community health, so leaving home to donate blood is a crucial and safe activity exempt from both states’ stay-at-home orders. Local, state, and national leaders are unanimous – donating blood remains a critical and safe activity for community health.
Thankfully, the number of new coronavirus cases in our region has been declining recently, which means that soon, hospitals will once again be able to begin performing elective surgeries which were cancelled or delayed during the first weeks of the COVID-19 outbreak in a successful effort to stabilize the blood supply. The resumption of these surgeries will increase the demand on our blood supply – in addition to the cancer, trauma, transplant, and critical surgery patients we always support – and to meet that challenge, we need all our donors to step up. So pre-book your next donation to make sure patients get the fighting chance they deserve.
All donations at this Pop-Up Donor Center and our other Donor Centers are by appointment only to provide the safest donation environment and adhere to all social distancing guidelines. Additionally, no walk-ins, guests, or people under age 16 are permitted onsite. Your one-hour donation appointment is a safe and essential action to support local hospitals.
Various dates and times are available; you can make an appointment by going here. (Thanks to the readers who tipped us about this just before we heard from Sonia at CAA!)
We’re continuing to feature fundraisers for a variety of causes – including local PTA/PTSAs whose annual fundraising events were canceled by COVID-19. Today, an opportunity to support the Alki Elementary PTA and flower farmers, by ordering a Mother’s Day bouquet! (The big day is just a week from today.) They’re available for pickup or West Seattle delivery – order by Friday!
(P.S. Any other Mother’s Day offers, whether nonprofit or business? Let us know!)
When the COVID-19 pandemic started spreading in our state, one of the many things it interrupted was Girl Scouts’ annual cookie sales. But there are now two ways you can get them:
ONLINE: Suzanne sent word of this. You can order cookies from Girl Scouts of Western Washington by going here – you can even specify if you’d like the proceeds to go to a specific zip code. Suzanne is also interested in figuring out how to get cookies to West Seattle first responders – if you’d like to help out with that, contact her at (corrected) szkrom (at) gmail (dot) com.
RETAIL: Bartell Drugs is helping Girl Scouts of WW sell some of the unsold cookies by carrying them in stores. The West Seattle-headquartered chain announced this week that “Thin Mints, Samoas, Tagalongs, Lemon-Ups, Trefoils, S’mores, Do-Si-Dos and gluten-free Toffee-tastic cookies will be sold at neighborhood Bartell’s locations.” There are two stores in West Seattle – Admiral on 42nd just north of Admiral Way, and The Junction (Jefferson Square), plus one in White Center, at 15th/Roxbury.
The first-ever Arbor Heights Virtual Auction is happening now! From the Arbor Heights Elementary PTA:.
Our original auction was set for March 13, then postponed to May 8, and now moved online.
While we wish we could be gathering together at the Hall at Fauntleroy for our annual dinner and auction, we kick off our first-ever Arbor Heights Virtual Auction!
Choose your token, dust off your top hats, get to your computer, tablet, or smartphone and join us (now) until Friday, May 8 at 10 p.m. for Arboropoly, a week of online bidding on fun and fabulous items and experiences to support the Arbor Heights Elementary school community.
Now that we have gone virtual, we can share this experience with our extended West Seattle community of supporters through our online auction link, helping to further our efforts in raising essential funds for our students and staff.
For additional information, please visit the Arbor Heights PTA website or email our auction co-chairs at arborheightsauction@gmail.com.
The need is greater than ever – for helping prevent hunger and homelessness. The West Seattle Food Bank does both. If you can help, you’re invited to register for the WSFB’s virtual “Instruments of Change,” now a little more than one week away – here’s a reminder:
Every year we celebrate our community and raise money to support our neighbors through our annual Instruments of Change Dinner/Auction. While we cannot gather together in person this year, we are adapting this event for the virtual world!
Join us on Saturday, May 9th at 5:30pm for our virtual Instruments of Change. We will celebrate our community, the merge between the West Seattle Food Bank and West Seattle Helpline, and raise funds to support our neighbors. This interactive event will include exciting auction items, fun activities, and a compelling program about the West Seattle Food Bank services.
You can join for free — just register here! And for those who want to get a head start, the event’s online auction will be open at 10:00 am on Monday, 5/4. All who register and attend are automatically entered into a drawing to win 2 round-trip tickets on Alaska Airlines!
We want this to be a party, so invite your friends!
Can’t wait to spend time with you celebrating and supporting our community!
WSB is an Instruments of Change co-sponsor.
We’ve learned a lot about local nonprofits and their scope during the coronavirus crisis. If you are fortunate enough to be able to assist, rather than needing assistance, here’s another way to do that. From Vicki Quinn, president of St Vincent de Paul‘s Holy Rosary Conference, and Bob Bucci, president of SVdP’s Our Lady of Guadalupe Conference:
During these weeks of enforced isolation, have you wanted to help the thousands of our neighbors here in West Seattle who have been laid off, face an uncertain future and are unable to pay the rent, utilities or even put enough food on the table for their kids?
The St. Vincent de Paul Society has been helping our neighbors here in West Seattle, from the Admiral District down to White Center, for the last 60 years. We reach out to our neighbors through our 65 dedicated local volunteers; pre-pandemic we would always visit with our neighbors in need in their homes to make sure we did not overlook any need that they might have forgotten in their anxiety and stress. These days we try to deliver the same message of compassion and care by phone.
Even before the Covid-19 crisis, the priority for St Vincent de Paul in West Seattle was to keep our neighbors in their homes, to stop evictions and do this by helping pay their rent.
In March 2020, the SVdP Helpline received a staggering 1.079 requests for rent help – 40% more than in February 2020, and a 47% increase over March of last year. Many callers in West Seattle have never called any organization for help before. When we talk to them, our responsibility is to let them feel the compassion and love of our entire community – to let them know that they are not alone and that their community cares deeply about their situation.
At the same time as we have been hit by this wave of need, our income has been hit because church services can no longer be held and therefore donations are down sharply. So, we ask you to please help your neighbor by following this link to make an online donation. Please be sure to select the “Where needed most” box and where you’re asked for the name of the specific conference or program please type in “West Seattle.”
Alternatively, please send a check payable to St. Vincent de Paul Society, write West Seattle in the Memo line and mail it to St. Vincent de Paul of Seattle/King County, 5950 Fourth Avenue South | Seattle WA 98108.
To learn more about SVdP after receiving this, we asked about referrals from 211, the phone number people can call for help and resources. The reply: “St. Vincent de Paul of Seattle | King County has been the largest 2-1-1 referral source for many years, receiving 12,000 to 25,000 referrals annually, more than any of the 1,700 social service agencies in the county. Of course, today those numbers are off the charts.”
Another fundraising auction that had to go online because of the coronavirus crisis is happening right now – here’s the announcement from Holy Rosary School:
Due to COVID-19, Holy Rosary School’s annual auction has moved ONLINE. The great news is you don’t need a ticket to participate. EVERYONE IS INVITED! Over 125 items will be up for bid between today and Saturday evening. Closings are staggered, starting at 6:30 pm on Saturday.
In addition to merchandise, getaways and services, Holy Rosary School has two funds available for straight donations. The Holy Rosary Fund A Need will go towards providing scholarships for those students in our community whose families are facing financial hardships due to COVID-19. The Fund A School will assist Holy Family Bilingual School, located only 4 miles from Holy Rosary. Holy Family has been awarded a $1,000,000 building grant from Shea Homes Charities, but they need to raise 5% of these funds in order to secure the grant. More than ever, we need to come together as a community and support each other.
Please consider bidding on items or donating to one of the school funds. If bidding, please read all restrictions thoroughly. Winning bidders will be notified to pick up their items when the Stay at Home has been lifted or shipping is available at the winning bidder’s cost. Thank you in advance for your support.
For additional information, visit the Holy Rosary School website.
(Photo courtesy Alki UCC, April 12th)
That’s part of what was donated outside Alki UCC on Easter Sunday two weeks ago, and they’ve sent a reminder that you have another chance this Sunday:
Thanks to our community’s generosity, Alki United Church of Christ (Alki UCC) will once again be accepting donations outside our building for an In-Person, Socially-Distanced Food Drive this Sunday, April 26 from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm.
Contributions of non-perishable food and other items will be distributed via the White Center Food Bank; top requests include Canned Meat/Soup/Fruit (pop‐top cans preferred), Rice, Noodles, Peanut Butter, Oats, Toilet Paper, Diapers, Similac Formula, Cleaning Supplies, Hand Sanitizer, and Baby Wipes.
The drive will benefit our vulnerable neighbors in need, those who have been disproportionately impacted by COVID 19. The food drives will continue every other Sunday (May 10 and 24) until further notice. Check alkiucc.org for updates.
The church is at 6115 SW Hinds.
Got your own mask yet? Making them is suddenly a booming business. Some are making and selling them to raise money for nonprofits – like the family members our area’s State Sen. Joe Nguyen emailed to tell us about:
My awesome mother, who is a retired seamstress, has been making masks for the community and using it to raise donations for nonprofits that serve West Seattle and beyond.
In the past 2 weeks we’ve been able to raise over $4,500 and made nearly 1k masks.
Funds have gone to:
– White Center Food bank
– West Seattle Food bank
– El Centro De La Raza COVID relief fund
– Southeast Asian Coalition
The fine folks at Bakery Nouveau ordered masks and not only did they make a generation donation of funds they included baked goods to help keep the operations going!
Here’s the form, should folks want to get a mask and donate to a good cause.
In the photos sent by Sen. Nguyen are his mom Neo Nguyen as well as Lauryn Nguyen, a junior at West Seattle High School, and Alex Nguyen, a WSHS graduate; he says, “their mother Anna Nguyen has been organizing all of this as well.”
Two months into the COVID-19 outbreak in our region, health-care workers’ need for PPE (personal protective equipment) remains great. The Seattle Mask Brigade – a volunteer effort – asked us to remind you how you can help with what they’re doing = “collecting donated masks from around the greater Seattle area and delivering them to hospitals and nursing homes that are running out”:
Most donations are just a few masks (less than 20) that people have lying around in their emergency kit, but they all add up! So far we have coordinated deliveries of over 25,000 donated masks to hospitals, nursing homes, clinics, shelters, food banks, and more. We usually distribute masks within a day of receiving them.
Our small group has helped folks in over a dozen cities around the country launch their own mask brigades, from Los Angeles to New York to Louisville.
Our website is seattlemaskbrigade.org. There’s a form on our website where people can sign up to donate N95 masks, surgical masks, homemade cloth masks, and nitrile gloves (we will accept opened/unsealed boxes of masks). Our volunteers pick them up from donors’ porches within a day or two. We also have a form where health-care workers can request masks.
The need for masks is critical. Even with PPE arriving from the government, we are still receiving urgent requests and we need more donations to be able fulfill them. In the past week donations have been decreasing, but requests for masks have not. Recently we’ve received a lot of requests for homemade cloth masks that can be reused.
Questions? Email seattlemaskbrigade@gmail.com
That’s West Seattle music superstar Eddie Vedder as seen tonight during the “One World Together: At Home” coronavirus-crisis benefit, soloing “River Cross” from Pearl Jam‘s new album “Gigaton.” So far, organizers say, the broadcast/webcast has raised $128 million for causes including the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund.
(BHHSNWRE photo: Tay Krull and Rebecca King)
PPE goes from head to toe. Closer to the latter end are shoe-covering “booties,” recently collected and donated by Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Northwest Real Estate (WSB sponsor), which has also launched another community-service drive, as they explain:
The brokers from both West Seattle and Burien Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Northwest Real Estate offices pulled together their on-hand inventory of foot coverings commonly used at open houses and in homes for sale.
The booties were dropped off to an offsite location and one broker then delivered them to their destination. The shoe coverings were distributed at various locations within the Multicare Health System; the Ambulatory Pharmacy teams were the primary recipients of the booties. This was something that came together fast to help fill an urgent need. We learned of the need on a Wednesday and by Friday we had all the booties collected.
We are still able to collect and deliver donations, so if people would like to donate their unused foot coverings they can contact Tay Krull at TayKrull@BHHSNWRE.com.
They’re supporting WestSide Baby, too, with an awareness campaign:
We started our awareness campaign with the intent to support WestSide Baby and the incredible service they provide for children in need. It’s so important in times like these that our amazing charities that provide necessary services are still supported and not forgotten. Through awareness we are hoping to help fill the diaper needs for WestSide Baby.
WestSide Baby has a button on the front page of their website right now – “Give a Gift Today” – and we are encouraging our Realtors and our community to donate directly through their website to make the best and fastest impact. You can donate at WestSideBaby.org. We plan to continue to draw attention and make donations through the “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” order.
When Gov. Inslee activated the National Guard in our state to help with the COVID-19 response, the plan was for members to help out at food banks. We checked with the West Seattle Food Bank at the time and they were not yet sure if anyone would be assigned – but on Monday, they arrived! The photos and update are from WSFB development director Judi Yazzolino:
Our 2 National Guardsmen started yesterday. We so needed them and so grateful. 2Lt. Akana and SSG Roberts.
You can help WSFB too – donate money and/or register for the May 9th virtual version of the “Instruments of Change” benefit!
As you’ve heard us point out multiple times … the coronavirus crisis’s many ripple effects include a double punch for social-service nonprofits: Demand is higher than ever, while at the same time, the event ban has canceled fundraisers that provide a big part of their budget. Some are morphing those fundraisers into virtual events, like the West Seattle Food Bank‘s “Instruments of Change” – and you’re invited!
With the health and safety of our neighbors in mind, we have changed our Instruments of Change Dinner/Auction benefit to an online event.
We are excited to be celebrating our wonderful community and raising funds to help our neighbors through an online Instruments of Change on May 9th at 5:30 pm. This virtual event will include a silent and live auction, fun activities, and a compelling program.
Join the fun for free! Register today to spend a short time celebrating our community, the merge between the West Seattle Food Bank and West Seattle Helpline, and to raise funds to help our neighbors stay safe, fed, housed, and healthy. Plus, everyone who registers and attends is automatically entered into a drawing to win 2 round-trip tickets on Alaska Airlines!
Thank you all! We are so grateful to be part of such a caring community, especially during these challenging times. We can’t wait to see you all (virtually) on May 9th for Instruments of Change.
As we’ve been in years past with the in-person event, WSB is a co-sponsor.
(Photo courtesy WSJA)
When the coronavirus crisis eases and businesses are allowed to reopen, how many will be able to? That question is doubly important since the closure of the West Seattle Bridge means our community will have to be more self-reliant than ever. To help small local independent businesses hang on, the West Seattle Junction Association soft-launched the Small Business Relief Fund this past week. As explained on the WSJA website:
Love your favorite merchants? You can support yours through the Junction Small Business Relief Fund. Here you can support your favorite by donating to one or many businesses. Enter the name of the small business, then pick the dollar amount. 100% of the funds will be distributed directly to the business; the Junction will pay the credit-card processing fees.
If you want your donation to benefit a non-Junction business, that’s OK too, says WSJA executive director Lora Radford. The fund is off to a promising start and every additional donation helps give another small business a fighting chance. There are four ways to donate – all explained here.
(WSB photo, last month)
Since we first reported a week and a half ago on West Seattle’s strong>Nucor Steel making face shields with 3-D printers, the effort has scaled up in a big way. Here’s an update Nucor sent us to share with you:
After the initial deliveries, the massive scope of the shortage of appropriate personal-safety equipment became more apparent.
To scale up production beyond its initial capability of 100 face shields per week, Nucor Seattle turned to the community, collaborating with the West Seattle Blog to help elevate the effort in the West Seattle neighborhood, where Nucor Seattle’s mill has operated for more than 100 years. The resulting response included several area high schools, technical schools, and residents, who have loaned idle equipment or are using personal equipment to print components and donate supplies for assembly at the steel mill.
Nucor now estimates its capacity at around 100 face shields per day and growing.
School partners include: Franklin Pierce School District, West Sound Tech, Seattle Christian, the
Chehalis School District, and the Tacoma School District.
The first production of about 20 face shields was donated April 2nd to Providence Mount St. Vincent, a long-term-care facility located around a mile from Nucor Seattle’s mill and with which Nucor Seattle has partnered for the last decade.
Since last week, around 500 shields have been delivered to area hospitals, clinics, and care facilities. The team at Nucor Seattle has so far focused on immediate support for the public health response:
• Donation of excess Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to local area medical centers, including hundreds of N95 dust masks and nitrile gloves.
• Organizing on-site additive manufacturing (3D printing) capabilities and expanding efforts to include teammates, local schools, and community resident-owned equipment to help address critical shortages in PPE.
Nucor Seattle engineers specializing in additive manufacturing have worked around-the-clock to research needs and test designs. Currently, the effort is focused on producing National Institutes of Health (NIH) approved face shields for medical workers and frontline caregivers. Nucor is now printing holders for these face shields and has purchased and received donated plastic and straps under the guidelines issued by the NIH. Nucor is also researching and designing various forms of respirator components that can be fitted with household media such as coffee and vacuum filters.
“Our teammates are working hard to design, optimize and produce materials approved by the National Institutes of Health, as well as reaching out to local medical centers and caregivers to learn how we can best support them on the frontlines of this public health crisis,” said Patrick Jablonski, Environmental Manager. “When our community learned of this effort, they stepped up to help and we have gone from 100 face shields in a week to about 100 face shields per day. We are proud to be able to use our resources to contribute to solutions but we are even more humbled by the response and immediacy with which our neighbors acted to help. We are all in this together.”
More than 300 people work at Nucor in West Seattle, which describes itself as “the biggest recycler in Washington State, using recycled scrap to produce materials used in building projects.”
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