White Center Now: The blog about White Center

Just announced – a monthly free lunch to help those in need in White Center, thanks to the efforts of multiple local community groups, and businesses – and a local student! Here’s the announcement shared by Mark Ufkes:

The White Center Homeless Summit community group, a coalition started by the White Center Chamber of Commerce and many local service entities and local businesses has been working for almost a year on a strategy to support the White Center homeless and chronic alcoholic populations to recovery. Participation includes many White Center organizations, churches, street ministries, business owners and residents who are working to reduce the negative impacts that can occur from White Center’s homeless on our business district and in our community. One outcome was to try a program called “White Center Friday Lunch in the Park,” patterned after a successful effort in Kent, where each Friday, free lunch is provided in a local park for Kent’s homeless, pulling them out of the business district for a few hours, and putting them in touch with people and programs that can support them to recovery.

This Friday, March 8, will be our first White Center Friday Free Lunch in the Park meal. It will begin at noon in front of the White Center Chamber of Commerce office in Steve Cox Park (corner of SW 102nd and 14th Ave. SW) behind McLendon, across from the Cross Church site. Volunteers will provide fresh tacos to the crowd, supplied by our White Center Taco Time. A big White Center thank you goes to Frank Tonkin and the entire Tonkin family, owners of Taco Time Northwest/Accord Inc., as they have agreed to provide hot meals for 40 homeless residents once a month for six months to try this program here in White Center. Additional critical support has been provided by Mac’s Triangle Pub, Grace Church, Union Gospel Mission, Mount View Presbyterian Church, Westside Church, Holy Family School, with essential community facilitation from Westside Baby. White Center businesses Proletariat Pizza and Uncle Mike’s BBQ have encouraged the discussions and provided positive direction and encouragement.

Lunch will be served by community volunteers until the food runs out. This project is implemented with the help of Alex Campbell, a Evergreen High School senior, as his required senior community service project. Alex helped with the homeless count this year, handed out over 200 flyers to local residents and businesses, and will be organizing and serving during the lunches this Spring. Alex plans to attend WSU in the fall to study business administration.

They are well-known in West Seattle, and now on their way to a permanent location in White Center: The young dancers of Gildenfire and their leader Jenna Lutton. We got the word from reader Megan Kelton-Rehkopf (who also shared the photo from their latest performance):

On Neighborhood Appreciation Day (Saturday), Jenna Lutton’s Gildenfire Dance held their annual performance for the residents at The Kenney [in West Seattle]. At the end of the performance, Jenna announced that Gildenfire has found a permanent home and she’s launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise $5500 for a dance floor and mirrors to transform the space into an amazing dance studio. The new home of Gildenfire will be in White Center, located behind McLendon’s.

The Gildenfire fundraising page on IndieGogo reveals that as of this writing, they’re already 80 percent of the way to the goal.

If you’re heading south today, consider lunch and/or dinner at the Empty Bowls benefit in Burien, helping food banks including White Center FB – full details here!

If you can give – consider stopping by 10 am-4 pm (except for the noon-1 pm break time) – this time of year has a higher demand and lower donation rate, so Puget Sound Blood Center is at Holy Family‘s Tice Hall (20th/Roxbury).

Change is in the works for White Center Arts, according to this announcement from Shelli Park, and this might be your chance to help:

White Center Arts is at an exciting crossroads. We are opening a temporary gallery in the Greenbridge development, utilizing an available new storefront. Our goal is to host gallery shows, artist workshops, arts events, and fundraisers. WCA is hoping that this will eventually turn into a permanent space, either in the same location, or through fundraising, fund a different space. We have been working towards this goal of opening a community gallery for three years. We are partnering with King County Housing Authority in the current space.

WCA is also closing out an era. After years of service, the founding chair of White Center for the Arts and the merged organization White Center Arts, is ready to step down. WCA is looking for a new leader to continue the vision of our role in bringing greater art access and visibility to White Center, and support for our local artists.

WCA is looking to fill two positions:

CHAIR: a person with the vision to guide the organization with our mission in mind. A connection with White Center is preferred, as this is a unique neighborhood, and practical understanding of the challenges would be very helpful in establishing relationships and partnerships. It is also desired that this person understand the importance of art and culture’s impact on community and economic development.

WCA’s board is dedicated to our mission. We have faced and overcome many challenges. We feel the excitement of this new path and want to share it with someone who is as passionate about arts in White Center as we are.

RECORDING SECRETARY: a person to record the minutes and discussion highlights of board meetings. The secretary will summarize and e-mail the notes to the board members shortly after meeting dates.

Please contact Shelli Park at crimsonpark@hotmail.com

Two days till a chance to shop for gifts while supporting the community group that supports your White Center Library: 11 am-3 pm this Saturday (December 8th), the White Center Library Guild Holiday Bazaar will include “cookies, breads, and gently used items” – plus creations by the Burien Knitters group (for the first time!) and entertainment by magician Jeff Evans at 2 pm. Find it in the meeting room at the library, 11220 16th SW.

Just a short distance away in Georgetown, you can have a great time for a great cause tomorrow (Tuesday) night in Georgetown, at the 5th annual Short and Sweet Auction on behalf of Open Arms Perinatal Services, which since 1997 “has provided community-based services to low income pregnant women and their families in the Puget Sound region” – with results including more breastfeeding, fewer C-sections, and fewer cases of low birthweight. Tomorrow’s event is billed as:

… a casual, fun — and brief — evening of fine wine, delicious appetizers and an exciting youth circus arts performance. Live auction highlights include tickets to a taping of The Daily Show in New York City, a stay at a beautiful apartment in Paris, France and a Stress-Busters Getaway including airfare, hotel and $1000 in spa treatments at any of 4,200 spas in the U.S. and Canada. We have many family offerings, jewelry, clothing, wines, theater tickets and adventure opportunities – perfect for holiday gift giving at all price levels. Free parking onsite. $20 advance admission; $25 at the door.

It starts at 6:30 pm Tuesday at SANCA (School of Acrobatics and New Circus Arts) in Georgetown. You can register and pay online at openarmsps.org.

From West Seattle’s Avalon Glassworks – their always-popular glass apples to raise money for White Center Food Bank are back:

Support White Center Food Bank with your purchase of a limited-edition glass apple. Support small business by shopping locally!

We open Friday at 10 am with a fresh crop of green apples (and a few red ones). When you purchase just one apple, we give enough cash to White Center Food Bank to purchase 200 pounds of food for the community.

Buy yours online here or call 206-937-6369, or visit our West Seattle gallery, 10 am-6 pm weekdays and 10 am- 5 pm weekends.

They’re at 2914 SW Avalon Way, in the Luna Park mini-business district just south of the West Seattle Bridge.

Just announced today: “White Center’s first ever 5k Walk & Run on 2/16! Proceeds go to the White Center CDA and YES Foundation. Price: $30, Seniors $25 (55+). Kids 10 and under free!” Here’s the official flyer, via Twitter. You can register online by going here – where you’ll find the full schedule and other details, too.

Mount View Elementary in White Center needs your help – and it’s really easy.

Shoshanna Cohen, the ELL Interventionist at Mount View, explains that the school “has an incredibly high Hispanic population and very limited books in Spanish for them to read,” so: “We entered a contest through Santillana where the grand prize is $5000 grant for Spanish books for the school. The entire contest is based on votes and you can vote every day.”

Here’s how:

Go to this webpage and click the lower-right link that says VOTAR/VOTE.

You’ll go to a page with the entries – look for the student in the Cat in the Hat-striped hat, and that’s for Mount View. You can watch their video – same one embedded above here – or just click “vote for this video.” It’s fast and easy – NO registration, NO signing up for anything.

Cohen adds, “I love my school and my students are amazing -there is so much research showing that by promoting the student’s first language, their growth in their second language (English) is astronomical.”

The competition runs through next weekend – so no time to waste, vote for Mount View today!

Just in from the White Center Food Bank:

Do you have time next week to pass out food to clients at the White Center Food Bank at 10829 8th Ave SW? We need volunteers on the following shifts:

Monday, November 19 (9:30 to 12:30)
Tuesday, November 20 (9:30-12:30, 12:30-3:30 & 3:30-6:30)
Wednesday, November 21 (12:30-3:30 & 4:00 to 8:00)
If you can help, contact Audrey Zemke at audrey@whitecenterfoodbank.org or 762-2848. Families and kids welcome.

The Food Bank also needs donations of the following foods or money to buy them:

Turkeys
Canned Pumpkin
Canned Sweet Potatoes or Yams
Pickles
Cake Mixes
Crackers

Donations are accepted Mondays through Fridays from 8:30 to 5:00 at 10829 8th Ave SW.

If you are in West Seattle: Turkeys can be dropped off on Sunday, November 18 at Fauntleroy UCC [9140 California SW] starting at 11 am. We will be onsite with our refrigerated van to accept donations.

Two event reminders:

DAY OF CARING FOOD DRIVE: As part of the United Way of King County Day of Caring, there’s a food drive for the White Center Food Bank today, 10 am-1 pm, at Westwood Village QFC in West Seattle (26th and Barton). You can contribute food or money!

WCCDA DINNER: As previewed here last week, trailblazing King County Councilmember Larry Gossett is the featured speaker at tonight’s White Center Community Development Association‘s 10th annual dinner/auction, 6-9 pm at South Seattle Community College‘s Brockey Center (south end of the campus at 6000 16th SW in West Seattle). Ticket info here.

Make plans to have Proletariat Pizza for dinner (etc.) this Tuesday, because you’ll not only be helping them celebrate their third anniversary – you’ll also be helping the White Center Food Bank. Proletariat’s proprietors posted on Facebook that they’ll donate 30 percent on Tuesday to WCFB. (Here’s the story we published on their first night, 9/18/09.)

Cleanups come in all sizes. The most important thing is who participates – and that means you. This invitation is just in from Lea at Neat Street (featured here on WCN back in June):

My business Neat Street is having a neighborhood clean-up event to be held on Saturday, September 8th from 10:00 a.m. to noon. Gloves, garbage bags, and litter grabbers will be provided. We will be picking up the litter and garbage along the sidewalks and streets in the White Center neighborhood. Join us to show some love to our amazing neighborhood! Meet us in the alleyway behind 9229A 17th Ave SW between 9:45 -10:00 a.m. to get your supplies!

This afternoon, we found Mike on duty behind the counter at Full Tilt Ice Cream in White Center – on the fourth anniversary of the shop’s grand opening. And once again on this birthday, Full Tilt is giving the gifts rather than receiving – making donations to White Center Food Bank based on your purchase/s. (For a trip into the past, here’s our June 2008 story from grand-opening day – White Center Now was launched shortly afterward, but wasn’t even in soft-launch yet, so the story was on our partner site West Seattle Blog.)

(crossposted from partner site West Seattle Blog, since WestSide Baby serves both areas)

They help thousands of local families … but they can’t do it without help from you … and tonight, White Center-headquartered WestSide Baby has a new call for volunteers “ages 8-108”:

WestSide Baby is increasing our Volunteer hours and we need your help!

The need is growing and our ability to respond to that is also growing. We are offering more volunteer opportunities than ever before and we hope you will consider helping out, either regularly or by dropping in when it’s convenient for you.You can tailor your volunteering to meet your schedule: once a week, once a month, several times a year, or more! WSB has monthly evening, weekend and daytime shifts. Check out the schedule on our WSB Volunteers page. WSB can also schedule special times for groups of 10-20 volunteers.

Onsite volunteers sort donations, fill orders, package diapers, check equipment and toys, and dismantle unusable car seats. Take-home jobs include laundry, mending clothing, pick up and drop off of items. We especially need committed regular volunteers for toys, donation collection (van or truck required) and car seat/equipment checking. Anyone ages 8-108 can volunteer. Children under 14 must be accompanied by an adult and youth 14-18 can volunteer on their own, with signed consent form.

To start volunteering, please go to http://www.westsidebaby.org/default/volunteer and fill out the volunteer application. Or contact Maria Groen, Outreach/Operations Manager at WestSide Baby, maria@westsidebaby.org, (206) 767-1662.

Maria also notes that “… our first “First Tuesday Frenzy” 5:30-7:30 pm volunteer time at WestSide Baby will be on June 5th, 10027 14th Ave SW.”

From the White Center Food Bank:

If you’ve been waiting to do a food drive for the White Center Food Bank until you heard we really needed help, now is the time. Food donations are down 100,000 pounds in the first 5 months of this year. We are continuing to see record numbers of families. Won’t you help? Contact Audrey Zemke at audrey@whitecenterfoodbank.org or Rick Jump at rick@whitecenterfoodbank.org or 762-2848 to help. Most needed foods are canned meat, canned fruit, cereal, peanut butter and pinto beans. We can give you a complete list of suggested items.

Looks like lots of participation for yesterday’s GiveBIG – White Center Food Bank posted this via Facebook:

Grand Total: $2943! In 2011, our total was $940. Thank you everyone for helping to triple our amount this year. Thanks to Caffe Delia, Dubsea, Cafe Rozella, Proletariat and Zippy’s along with all of yesterday’s individual donors. You are all great!

If we find/receive other reports, we’ll share those too. And please support local nonprofits YEAR-ROUND … there are many ways to do it, and they don’t all cost money – volunteer help and materials donations are appreciated too, depending on the nonprofit.

Today’s the day for the Seattle Foundation‘s one-day-only GiveBIG donate-a-thon. The foundation is offering a “stretch pool” of partial matching funds, to be distributed proportionately depending on how much each participating nonprofit raises on this single day, by 11:59 pm tonight. One BIG catch: You **must** donate through the nonprofit’s special page on the foundation’s website, NOT via the nonprofit’s own website. So we have gone through the foundation’s directory to find all those special pages for participating locally based or founded nonprofits (and a couple parent organizations). You can also use the special “go here” links below to find out more about any of these organizations – the links take you to pages on the Seattle Foundation website with background information and links to the organizations’ own sites, as well as the donation links to use for this one-day event. (P.S. Please let us know if we missed a WC-based organization – post a comment!)

NEW FUTURES – go here

SAFEFUTURES YOUTH CENTER – go here

SOUTHWEST YOUTH AND FAMILY SERVICES – go here

TECHNOLOGY ACCESS FOUNDATION – go here

THE VILLAGE OF HOPE – go here

WESTSIDE BABY – go here

WHITE CENTER COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION – go here

(Added 9 am – WCFB executive director Rick Jump at Dubsea)
WHITE CENTER FOOD BANK – go here – and note, WCFB has added events today, as previously reported here, including a portion of proceeds donated tonight if you dine at Proletariat Pizza or Zippy’s Giant Burgers in WC.

YES FOUNDATION OF WHITE CENTER – go here

YMCA OF GREATER SEATTLE – go here

YWCA OF SEATTLE – go here

Here’s their announcement about what they’re doing in connection with the Seattle Foundation‘s “Give BIG“ multi-organization donation drive on May 2nd:

May 2 is Give Big with the Seattle Foundation, and White Center Food Bank has set up several ways to make giving easier – and tastier. Give Big is a one day, online charitable giving event when your donation will be stretched by the Seattle Foundation. This year we will have board members and volunteers at several sites in the morning with laptops to make donating easier if you’re stopping for coffee on the way to work, and in the evening Proletariat Pizza will help you “dine out for hunger” by donating a portion of sales for the evening.

Here is how Give Big works:

All donations must be made on May 2 between 12:01 am and midnight via the Seattle Foundation’s website – this can be done from your home, one of our laptop stations or via mobile. Bookmark the site now: http://www.seattlefoundation.org/npos/Pages/WhiteCenterEmergencyFoodAssociation.aspx?bv=nposearch

WCFB Board members will be at Dubsea Coffee (9910 – 8th Ave SW), Caffe Delia (9622 – 16th Ave SW) and Cafe Rozella (9434 Delridge) in the morning between 7 and 10 am with laptops to make donating easier.

Proletariat Pizza (9622 – 16th Ave SW) will be donating 5% of sales to White Center Food Bank during the evening business hours. We will also have board members and a laptop on hand there if you’d like to make an extra donation in addition to your pizza purchase.

Note: we are listed as the White Center Emergency Food Association on the Seattle Foundation’s website. Only donations on May 2 count for the “stretch” dollars.

If any other restaurants would like to join in Dine Out for Hunger, please contact Ann Kendall at email:ann@whitecenterfoodbank.org or call 206-713-0031.

ADDED FRIDAY MORNING: WC Food Bank says Zippy’s Giant Burgers has joined “Dine Out for Hunger” too and will also donate 5 percent during dinnertime on May 2nd.