White Center Now: The blog about White Center

Just in from WestSide Baby, which is headquartered in White Center but helps families in West Seattle and surrounding areas too:

WestSide Baby is opening on Thursday, April 16th from 7-9, for our monthly “After Hours” sorting frenzy. Grab a friend and join us for an evening of sorting donations, socializing and making a difference in the community.

It is very helpful for us to know if you are coming though so we can prepare with staff and projects. Please RSVP to Sarah@westsidebaby.org. Children under 14 must be accompanied by an adult and it is especially important for us to know if minors are coming so we can prepare appropriate jobs for them.

We also have an ongoing need for larger size diapers (Sizes 4-6) and Pull-ups (Sizes 3t and 4t).

Though the event is in West Seattle, White Center’s part of it too. DNDA is presenting the Gathering of Neighbors/Biz Expo tomorrow (Saturday 4/4) with the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce, and tonight we have the full participant list: To see who’ll be there, click here – on behalf of White Center Now and partner site West Seattle Blog, we’ll be there along with more than 70 other local businesses and organizations, including, from White Center, WestSide Baby and the White Center Community Development Association, as well as the White Center-based YWCA Employment and Training Program. Come by and say hi, 11 am-3 pm tomorrow, Chief Sealth HS at Boren (5950 Delridge; here’s a map); one other note — if you’re in West Seattle and you’re thinking about joining in this year’s West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day (May 9), sign up at our table tomorrow — the first day of registration — and get a one-day-only discount on the signup fees (which pay for mapmaking, posters, other fun stuff that gets WSCGSD on the regional radar). See you tomorrow!

Just got this from executive director Nancy Woodland at White Center-based WestSide Baby:

WestSide Baby is hosting a 3rd Thursday After Hours Sorting Frenzy

Join us between 7 and 9 to organize and sort toys, clothes, bottles and more. Open to ages 8+ but ages 8 to 14 must be accompanied by a volunteering adult.

WestSide Baby is at 10032 15th SW; here’s a map.

That’s just one of the cheery groups that joined in the WestSide Baby annual fundraising Valentine Tea this past weekend at South Seattle Community College. As reported earlier this afternoon on partner site West Seattle Blog (see the story here), the event made WestSide Baby history – the first sellout crowd, and the biggest total ever: more than $70,000. Even if you didn’t make it to the tea, you can help WestSide Baby any time – just go here.

Got time to spare Thursday night? Just in from Nancy Woodland of WestSide Baby, which helps families in the greater White Center/West Seattle area – they’re looking for “after-hours” help 7-9 pm tomorrow (Thursday 1/15):

WestSide Baby is inviting volunteers to join us to help sort through the many wonderful donations received during the snowy weeks in December. We have mounds of items to sort through so that we can get them distributed out into the community. Our last event like this in December was extremely successful with almost 20 volunteers appearing to help us wade through the donations. It is very helpful for us to know if you are coming though so we can prepare with staff and projects. Please RSVP to Sarah@westsidebaby.org. Children under 14 must be accompanied by an adult and it is especially important for us to know if minors are coming so we can prepare appropriate jobs for them. We also have an ongoing need for batteries (size C&D) and larger size diapers (Sizes 4-6) and Pull-ups (Sizes 3t and 4t). We have many diapers in smaller sizes though. The batteries are most often used for swings so we can get them back out into the community rather than waiting in our facility.

From Nancy Woodland at WestSide Baby:

The weather has impacted our operations this week to a near standstill.
This is especially concerning timing with orders waiting for children
expecting warm clothes and toys for Christmas. We need extra hands to help
us sort the many donations we’ve received (yeah!) and to fill orders for
pick up by our agency partners on Monday. We’ve been closed for most of
this week but will be open on Saturday from 10am to 3pm for volunteers,
donations and pick-ups. Although our parking lot can be treacherous we’re
inviting people to make their way to White Center to help out if they are
comfortable driving. Because of the volume, we’d love to have adult or
experienced volunteers only so that we can make the most of the time we’ll
have tomorrow before the snow hits again. Even an hour or two makes a huge
difference.

Because of this week’s unpredictability, please call our phone in the
morning or check our website if there is concerning weather between this
afternoon and tomorrow. Of course, today our voicemail outgoing message
isn’t working properly so we hope that will be a good tool for communication
tomorrow.

We also plan to be open Monday 9-3 (weather permitting) and possibly on
Tuesday too. Thanks so much to everyone who supports WestSide Baby!

P.S. Not related to WestSide Baby but this photo is just in, 16th SW looking south from SW Henderson:

Update on the post below this one – just got a quick message from WestSide Baby – 20 people showed up tonight to help at the sorting party. Thank you!!!!

They certainly can use donations of money and clothing/diapers/toys/furniture any time – BUT tomorrow night, what WestSide Baby needs most is your time – two hours for a festive sorting party. We were just over at WestSide Baby (talking to executive director Nancy Woodland, who explains the party – and more – in the video clip above, produced for WCN and partner site West Seattle Blog) and they have requests this week alone for items for almost 200 local kids — and that means lots of help is needed to go through all the items they stock, to sort them into the specific bundles to go out to those families. 7-9 pm tomorrow (December 4th), 10032 15th SW (here’s a map), behind White Center Chiropractic. If you get a sec, e-mail Sarah (sara@westsidebaby.org) to let her know you’ll be there. More in a bit.

What you see above is just part of the haul that the West Seattle chapter of CoolMom.org has collected for its first-ever Toy Swap and Sale, happening Saturday at the Camp Long Lodge in WS (map) — proceeds benefit White Center-based WestSide Baby as well as the West Seattle Food Bank and CoolMom (whose organizers say, “We have gotten some great items – bikes, trikes, and push toys; puzzles & games; barbies; baby gear, music, art, and other developmental activities; lots of brand names and much much more!”). The “swap” aspect of this involves donations of toys made over the past few weeks (each donor got a $5 sale credit for each bag of toys); tomorrow, it’s all about the sale, 9 am-1 pm. (By the way, you can help WestSide Baby any time with an online $ donation — right from this page.) Here’s where you’re going, courtesy of Google Street View: