White Center Now: The blog about White Center

… which is actually in West Seattle, as you likely know. 6 pm, it’s a gala fundraising dinner and live auction, at Brockey Center on the SSCC campus (6000 16th SW). The theme: “Celebrating Our Global Village.” Online registration is closed, but the WCCDA website has full details on who to call to see if there are still tickets available!

You may have heard the story of Jayme Miller, a White Center woman who’s learning to walk again after being struck suddenly by a rare neurological problem, transverse myelitis, leaving her paralyzed. Her friend Sydni Smith says Jayme is battling day by day and has even walked with a cane – “Every time she was told she might not be able to regain a function, she willed herself right through that obstacle.” She’s been home from the hospital and rehab for a month now, and is planning to be on hand tomorrow night at Rocksport in West Seattle as friends throw her a party with a silent auction to raise money to help with her medical bills – which quickly climbed into hundreds of thousands of dollars. You can drop by “Walk on, Jayme!” at Rocksport between 7:30 and 9:30 to bid on a wide range of items donated by local artists and businesses (and you’re welcome to stay for karaoke and dancing, with host DJ Tony B). If you can’t make it to the party, you can donate right now – via PayPal (which works if you have a credit card – you don’t have to be a PayPal accountholder), click “Send Money” and send it to WalkOnJayme@gmail.com. There’s a sharable Facebook event page for this too – find it here.

Sara found this and shared it with us, to pass along to you: Local scientists are recruiting folks in White Center (and a few other areas) to volunteer to host a seismograph that would use the Internet to transmit earthquake data. Read more about it here.

Just received this – it’s coming up Saturday in Greenbridge:

The family of an Evergreen High School student lost everything in an apartment fire last month. A classmate decided to get involved and her Girl Scout Troop 1775 is sponsoring a Pancake Breakfast at the Southwest Boys & Girls Club in White Center from 8-11 am on Saturday, August 7th.

9800 8th Ave SW Suite 105
Adults: $5.00
Kids under 10: $2.50
8-11 am, Saturday August 7, 2010

All proceeds will go to help the family. The girls are also collecting sheets, blankets, dishes, pots and pans, utensils and other household items on behalf of the family. Cash donations are also being accepted.

You can contact Liz at 206.240.6994 if you have questions. Please spread the word and invite your friends!

Last year, West Seattle, this year, SODO! The annual Eat Local Now! dinner is coming up September 30th and organizers are casting a wide net for help. They’ll be meeting August 5th at Big Al Brewing in White Center, and inviting you to join in – here’s the invitation just posted on partner site West Seattle Blog.

A big volunteer effort this afternoon unloaded hundreds of packages of diapers into storage for WestSide Baby in White Center, after the first successful installment of the “Stuff the Bus” donation drive. Executive director Nancy Woodland said they’d brought in more than 27,000 diapers – and there’s another installment coming up, August 7 at Burien Town Square.

White Center-based WestSide Baby needs you – tomorrow, while the first leg of its two-prong Stuff the Bus diaper drive is under way at the West Seattle Farmers’ Market 10 am-2 pm, you can have breakfast at the White Center Eagles and help by bringing a diaper donation! Get $2 off by bringing a package of diapers, 9 am-noon Sunday, 10452 15th SW, you don’t have to be a member.

Get down to the White Center Eagles‘ HQ before 7 pm and you can be part of this – help save lives, and raise some money too. Here’s our earlier preview.

From the good folks at the West Seattle-based Beer Church:

BEERS for B00BIES. A benefit for breast_cancer research.

Hello Seattle! Are you ready to Rock and Roll!

Beer Church wants to remind you that this Saturday we are hosting a fundraiser for Team Tracy and the Susan G. Komen Foundation. Please come out and help us support this wonderful cause. The weather will be great and the beer will be even better.

The event takes place at Big Al Brewing from 5:00 – 9:00 p.m. (address and map below).

Live music from Four on the Floor – classic rock from the 70s and beyond.

Big Al Brewing will generously donate a portion of the beer sales to the cause – $1 per pint and $2 per pitcher.
In addition to their considerable talents, Four on the Floor will donate T-shirts and tank tops. Make a donation, get a shirt.

We’ll be grilling up hot dogs/sausages. Make a donation, eat a dog.

This is an all ages venue. It’s an outdoor venue. Bring a lawn chair if you like and don’t forget the sunscreen. Consider earplugs if you’re noise sensitive. More event details on Facebook.

From Nancy @ White Center-headquartered WestSide Baby – they’re putting out the call for help:

WestSide Baby Sorting Frenzy Volunteer Opportunity Today!

We will open today, Monday July 5th (12-3pm) for a special volunteer opportunity for adults or children over age 8 (with adult along). Have the day off and want to do something worthwhile? WestSide Baby has been fortunate to receive many of your donations of clothing items. Now we need a little help sorting through the donations to prepare them for distribution. If you can read the size tags, look for dirt and holes and inspect clothes for holes, we’d love your help to attack the pile of clothes in this picture taken this morning. We have empty shelves of many sizes but we know those gems are actually hidden in this pile.

If you can call or e-mail to let us know you are coming that would be great! If not, just show up at we’ll welcome you and give you instructions on how to make a difference TODAY.

WestSide Baby
10032 15th Ave. SW

Cool deal. 2-7 pm on Tuesday, July 13th, at the White Center Eagles‘ HQ, donate blood and get rewarded with a pint of beer or a spaghetti dinner – with the spaghetti being served on site 5-7 pm the same day. (Or just show up for dinner; it’s only $5.) They’re also signing up organ donors, AND collecting other donations including diapers for WestSide Baby. The big 8th/Roxbury crash on Friday afternoon reminded us all how important donated blood is – so do your part if you can, and be there.

From one of the many fab nonprofits in WC – a great way to spend the night before Father’s Day!

Guys’ Night Out
Benefitting WestSide Baby

When was the last time you had an excuse to either have a night out with just your
friends OR to set something fun up for the guy in your life and his cronies? When
was the last time you said to your partner, “I’m sending out you for the night to
play poker, pool and horseshoes with good food and great drinks.” without being the
hero of the house? What a great Father’s Day prelude! ACT TODAY!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Date:
Saturday June 19
5:30 PM – 10 PM

Goal:
To raise funds to support WestSide Baby Programs.

Location:
10452 15th Ave. SW

Questions:
E-mail Kemp at kemp_garcia@hotmail.com
Call us at (206) 767-1662

From Full Tilt Ice Cream‘s Facebook page: “MOUNT VIEW ELEMENTARY SCHOOL NEEDS YOUR HELP!!! The funding for their library has been cut this year. No new books. Get down to Barnes and Noble this Friday between 6:30 and 8 pm and buy something. A percentage of the sales will go to the school. Make sure to pick up the voucher from the kids that will be manning the booth there, or come get one at FT.” (Barnes and Noble is close to White Center – Westwood Village in south West Seattle.)

With a Bartell Drugs location at 15th/Roxbury, you’ve got a chance to participate in this:

Bartell Drugs launches its “Stock the Pantry” food drive for Northwest Harvest by accepting nonperishable food items and cash donations at all 57 Bartell Drug locations from June 1 to June 13.

This two-week food drive, now in its second year, is especially important to help Northwest Harvest replenish food stocks during summer months–when families that normally depend on free or reduced-price school meals may struggle to provide those meals at home.

Last year the two-week drive generated more than 16,767 pounds of food donations as well as cash contributions for food banks in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties. The company also donated 1,500 reusable bags for use by food bank clients.

Two big events in White Center today:

*Evergreen Community Aquatic Center‘s official ribboncutting, with King County Executive Dow Constantine scheduled to be on hand, 10:30 am, followed by a free community swim till 1 pm. The pool – reopened thanks to the work of WhiteWater Aquatics and community support, after county budget cuts closed it last fall – is at 606 SW 116th (map)… West Seattle Montessori School and West Seattle Academy are raising money with a plant sale today, and you’ll find more than plants: Student performers, Master Gardener Q/A opportunities, even an espresso bar. 11215 15th SW (map), 9 am-2 pm, full details on the school website.

Today is the final day of the annual Feinstein Challenge – and that means any help you provide to the White Center Food Bank, today, counts for extra, as part of the match that’s involved. So think about contributing some cash, or dropping off some food, or checking in to see if there’s anything else they need. Donation links and lots of info can be found at whitecenterfoodbank.org. (And while you’re at the WC Food Bank site, don’t miss the “blog” section – lots of interesting tidbits about programs and ongoing efforts “behind the scenes.”)

Sites close to White Center are part of the lineup for Duwamish Alive! next Saturday – one day full of work parties to help our recovering river and its watershed. Roxhill Bog and South Park sites are part of the list – see it here, including links you can use to sign up and pitch in – just four hours next Saturday can make a big difference.

The latest update from White Center Community Development Association, as Spring Clean approaches (just a month and a half away) on May 15:

The White Center community is gearing up for its annual Spring Clean, an event that brings together volunteer youth and elders, business owners and residents, retirees and students to work, clean and improve the community’s physical environment.

“White Center is people-powered. Events like Spring Clean showcase our collective action for positive neighborhood revitalization that truly defines our diverse community,” said Aileen Balahadia, Executive Director of the White Center Community Development Association. The White Center CDA is a catalyst for a healthy community and new prosperity in White Center- so it’s a better place to visit, shop, and live.

Asked why she participates in the Spring Clean event, White Center resident Keysha Bryant said: “You must be the change you wish to see in your community, to help build and keep it a clean safe place for our children and everyone who lives here.”

In 2009, more than 350 volunteers turned out for the Spring Clean event. We painted one block-long mural previously plagued with graffiti, cleaned and painted art on 21 trash cans for the business district, removed invasive plant species at six parks, and hauled away two tons of garbage. Volunteers covered 70 neighborhood blocks, picking up litter and completing 19 individual beautification projects developed by local residents and groups.

The White Center CDA thanks our sponsors for their contributions to this year’s event: BECU, The Home Depot, King County Housing Authority, King County Parks and Recreation, Seattle Public Utilities, The Triangle Pub and the White Center Chamber of Commerce.

Volunteers are needed! To sign up as a volunteer, contact Nhan Nguyen, Neighborhood Revitalization Program Manager at (206) 694-1082 or at whitecenterspringclean@gmail.com, and fill out the attached registration form. To register online, visit http://www.wccda.org/home/wccda/644 and you will see the link to register at the bottom of the page. Volunteers will receive a complimentary t-shirt, light breakfast, refreshments, and lunch. For event information or to sign up as a volunteer, refer to additional information on the program’s website www.wccda.org.

They desperately need boys’ clothes sizes 8 and/or 10. But they’re also celebrating a different type of donation. That’s all part of this story from our partner site West Seattle Blog.

From Shelli at White Center for the Arts – a call for help, at a critical time for what is literally the organization’s DREAM:

White Center for the Arts must make a decision this weekend as to whether or not to continue pursuing the very fabulous space at 9640A 16th Ave SW for DREAM Community Gallery. We have the deposit money, and some grant money coming. However, it is not enough to responsibly continue with the project at this time without having $28,000 more. The landlord is understandably tired of waiting, and wants to move on. We have seen a vision of the future, and this space is what is needed, and desired, by many of the artists in the area.

DREAM: Community Gallery has a solid business plan. We have a great person, Lance McIntosh, who is managing the project, and who has crunched the numbers. We have a solid team of volunteers who will help with the build-out, and plenty of artists who are ready to exhibit, and performers ready to bring their art to you. We will be providing a resource library, a computer that is free to use, free wi-fi, and art materials for those who want to use them while they are at the gallery. In the gallery, as a way of avoiding having to apply for the endless parade of grants, we will have a small coffee bar. There will be plenty of comfy seating, and snacks. This space will be the central point from which White Center for the Arts conducts its arts programming.

We are a community organization. We are reaching out right now to the community for a show of support. Please support this beautiful project with a tax-deductible donation of any size.

We are also looking for arts/business-minded people to sit on the Board of Directors. We need a solid infrastructure directed by people from the community.

WCFTA is here with a vision of healthy community, and a goal of being a part of a healthy White Center. We are partnering with other organizations in the area to help realize this vision. Will you be a part of this?

If you have any questions, want to volunteer ( a list of opportunities is ready to be put up on the site), and/or want to donate, please contact me:

Shelli Park
crimsonpark@whitecenterforthearts.org