White Center Now: The blog about White Center

Two weeks ago, we brought you Eliza Junkerman‘s request for musical instruments to be donated to White Center Heights Elementary. Tonight, a followup – she says the donation drive was a success!

We have had an amazing turnout and some extremely generous people from West Seattle, White Center and beyond.

I just wanted to give you a quick recap of what we have collected so far (or have set a time to pick up):

26 recorders
1 flute
1 piccolo
2 oboes
1 Cello
4 guitars
1 set of Congo drums
1 Clarinet
1 Alto Saxophone
1 Violin
1 Trombone

This is really way more than we could have ever expected! Thank you to everyone who helped – spreading the word, donating, and just supporting!!

White Center Heights will be holding an Assembly to honor the donors and talk about what encompasses a community, on October 30th from 1:20-1:55. All donors are invited to attend!!

Thank you so much for your help!

Crime/safety concerns? This is the meeting not to miss – one week from tonight. Here’s the draft agenda just made public today:

The White Center-South Delridge Community Safety Coalition Meeting
Thursday, October 22, 6-8 pm,
St. James Place, 9421 18th Avenue SW

6:00-6:10 Welcome, introductions
6:10-6:25 Police Reports – KCSO and SPD
6:25-6:50 Collaborative Actions (formerly Crime & Nuisance Hotspots)
7:00-7:40 Guest Trainer: Nancy Amidei, “Influencing legislative change: WE can make a difference!
7:40-7:50 Announcements
7:50-8:00 Open Forum

WHO/QUIEN

Champion is a white male toy poodle with lightly tinted brown ears lost on Thursday, October 8th. He is young but not a puppy. Last seen wearing a blue collar with leash. Champion is very friendly. His elderly owner is devasted and hopes you can help. She is offering $100 dollar reward. No questions asked.

Perdido! Perro [macho] tipo toy poodle color blanco con las orejas ten~idas con cafe claro. El pelo lo tiene ligeramente chinito. Desaparecio Jueves, 8 de Octobre. Llevaba un collar azul con correa. Es joven y pero no cachorro. Se llama CHAMPION. Es compan~ero de una sen~ora mayor de edad que esta devastada por su perdida. Espera que pueda ayudar a recuperarlo. Ofrece una recompensa de $100 dolares en efectivo sin hacer preguntas.

WHERE/LUGAR
Last seen on 7th ave SW and SW Roxbury Street.
Ultima vez visto en la avenida 7 y calle Roxbury

CONTACT/COMUNICARSE CON
Ana 206-920-8616 o anaalvarez@yahoo.com

Got a note from local writer Brian Barr. He lives in White Center, just two blocks away from the former home of local poet legend Richard Hugo. While there’s the Hugo House in another part of the area, in White Center, Barr was sad to discover, there’s little evidence of his existence. Read what he wrote on his own website, and see if you’d like to join his quest to change that.

CoolMom – an environmentally minded organization in the West Seattle/White Center area – made that video to help get the word out about an event at Seattle Center on Saturday 10/24, with the bigger turnout the better – and their message:

We Need You to Take the Pledge! On October 24, from 2 to 5 pm – 350.org International Day of Climate Action – pledge 3 things you can do in your home and community for greener living, for your children, and for the planet. Join individuals, moms, dads, kids, organizations and whole communities that care about the environment and show your support for taking action to affect global warming. In the Alki room and at the Seattle Center Fountain, celebrate your pledge, learn from exhibitors and speakers and see what actions your neighbors in the Greater Seattle area are doing via a live video feed stream – all in the name of obtaining a safe level of carbon dioxide (350 parts per million)in our atmosphere by reducing each person’s carbon footprint. Don’t miss your millisecond of fame… At 3:00 pm on the Seattle Center Fountain Lawn we will be forming the numbers 3 -5-0 formed by attendees of the event and taken at 3:50 pm to showcase that Seattle is serious about climate change.

Just published on White Center for the Arts’ Facebook page – who/what you’ll see during next Saturday’s Art Walk, 5-9 pm October 17th: At Salvadorean Bakery, photography by Raina Anderson; at Cafe Rozella, paintings by Robert Houk, Jr.; at Proletariat Pizza, mixed media by Amanda Helmick; at D’Zul, tattoo and airbrush urban art; at Full Tilt Ice Cream, Onion Carillo and Jodi Luna Robinson; at Big Al Brewing all month, photography by Julio Castro.

Two notes re: King County government – First, Monday is the next “furlough day,” so most offices will be closed. More details here about what’s open and what’s not. Second, Wednesday is when King County Elections plans to mail ballots for the November 3rd election – so voting will start as soon as the end of the week. Election info is online now.

Ken Gollesrud sent this invite:

Everyone is invited to this bilingual free event with refreshments. Los Flacos will be joined by two dancers performing traditional Latin American Dances. Los Flacos does a great job of explaining the music and dances as they perform.

Evento del Mes de la Herencia Hispana: Con Los Flacos! / Hispanic Heritage Month Event: Performed by Los Flacos! at the South Park Branch
Date: Saturday, October 10, 2009
Time: 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm PDT

From Kristina:

Hope For Robin Car Wash Fundraiser!

October 10th & 11th, 11am – 3pm at Vision Collision in Burien
(801 SW 154th Street)

We will also have baked goodies, coffee, tea, and cocoa available for a donation. Please come out and support our worthy cause and get your rig washed. If you have any questions or would like to volunteer to wash cars, please contact Kristina Todd at mctodd1976@yahoo.com.

Here is Robin’s story – hope to see everyone this weekend at Vision Collision:

Robin Hoof has been a teacher and swim coach with the Highline School District for 20 years. At Evergreen High School she is a French teacher, and a swim coach for the boys and girls teams at Highline High School.

In April 2007, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. After undergoing chemo and a mastectomy she was considered in remission. In early 2009 she noticed a lump in her neck and was diagnosed for the second time in February. She again underwent chemo and then in the Spring she took her students to Europe. When she got back from that trip, she noticed she had a rather bad cough. Then in August she was admitted to Swedish Hospital where she continued chemo treatments, but her health was rapidly declining. Due to her compromised immune system, the doctors gave her the last chemo treatment on September 18th and told her and her mother, “any day now.” That day has come and gone.

Alternative forms of treatment are being explored by her family, as those closest to her refuse to give up. Robin’s words to her mother at Swedish were, “I’m not going to let this get me mom.” She’sin the fight of her life, and willing to beat this disease.

A Facebook page has been created in her honor titled simply, “Hope for Robin”. It is dedicated to giving updates as they come in as well as any and all charity functions for her. The charities include:

A local AVON rep giving 30% of TOTAL sales to her cause. A site has been built for the specific purpose. It’s a live site and tracks the sales thus far. Our total sales goal is $5,000. Visit:

http://mfogerty.avonrepresentative.com/online_event/view.php?rep_spnsr_evnt_id=8631

Shop and help!

Car washes to be held at different times through out the year by the Driscoll family at Vision Collision.

And the big Kahuna …a charity climb in her honor to the summit of Rainier Summer ’10.

Many have rallied around Robin by way of well wishes, donations, and offerings of volunteer work for her. But it’s not enough. More people are needed. Her medical bills are through the roof already, and as a person who’s touched as many people as she has, don’t we owe it to her? Isn’t it our job to give back. And giving Robin hope, is the best gift any human being can give to another.

Because ONE person can make a difference! Be a part of the Army of HOPE!

Like most school districts, Highline has no classes today – it’s an “in-service” day for teachers.

White Center for the Arts has announced it’s set the date for its next Third Saturday Art Walk – October 17, 5-9 pm, more details to come. WCFTA is on Twitter, too – @WCFTA.

Chris Stevens Surf Monkeys

Rock Cafe Rozella

Saturday October 10th

7pm-10pm

Admission is FREE

Via the White Center CDA site, we discover a donation drive is under way for Samoan tsunami victims, with an event October 24th at Evergreen High School, 9 am-1 pm, sponsored by World Vision. They’re collecting items for relief operations, as listed in the flyer you see above – you can find out more about how to help even sooner, at worldvision.org.

Eliza e-mailed to say she’s organizing a music-instrument-donation drive for White Center Heights Elementary – her mom works there and, as Eliza puts it, the school “just got a really amazing music teacher” but has more students interested in taking the music class than they have instruments. Eliza explains, “The school doesn’t have the budget to buy new instruments and the parents can’t afford to rent them or buy them for the kids.” So, she says, “If you have any old/used/formerly loved instruments you could donate that would be so much appreciated!! I will pick them up, I will come to you, I would just like to get these kids a chance to learn a skill they might otherwise miss out on. Please feel free to email me at egjunkerman@yahoo.com or give me a call, 206.818.7376.”

Four weeks till Election Day, but voting starts a lot sooner, and if you want to be part of this election but aren’t registered yet, Monday is the deadline to do it by mail — this King County page has all the info you need on getting registered.

That’s a photo from “Psycho Beach Party,” in its first weekend at Burien Little Theatre. The folks at BLT e-mailed WCN to say that since part of North Highline is becoming part of Burien, they thought it a good idea to start expanding their horizons. So here’s their invitation to you to come see what their website calls “‘Gidget’ meets ‘The Three Faces of Eve’ …” Find out more here; there are shows tonight and tomorrow afternoon ($7 matinee!), and the run continues weekends through November 1st.

Thanks to Evergreen’s Alfred Johnson for the update:

It’s Homecoming Time!

This Saturday, 1:30pm @ Highline Stadium, Evergreen High School celebrates Homecoming 2009 with the Homecoming Football game against the Mt. Si Wildcats.

All Alumni and friends of Evergreen High School are encouraged to come on out to support the team and meet up with old friends and make new ones.

EHS Booster club members will be around to serve Hot Chocolate and man the Alumni Registry; there will be EHS paraphernalia available for sale also.

The team’s coming off a win over Tyee last week. Good luck, EHS!

From Sgt. John Urquhart at King County Sheriff’s Office:

A 41 year-old woman shot her 55 year-old boyfriend at least twice with a handgun last night (October 1st). He was taken to Harborview Hospital with non life- threatening injuries.

The incident occurred about 10:30 PM in the 800 block of SW 117th in unincorporated King County, just to the north of Burien.

The pair live with the man’s brother and the woman’s 15 year-old son, both of whom were home at the time of the shooting.

The son called 9-1-1 and everyone except the suspect made their way out of the house as deputies arrived.

The woman refused to come out of the house or communicate with deputies. Eventually the Sheriff’s Office SWAT Team entered the residence and took the woman into custody just before 2:00 AM. No one was injured.

The suspect was booked into the King County Jail for Investigation of Assault 1st Degree. A small caliber handgun was recovered inside the house.

Seattle Magazine just published a little article about neighborhood-news websites. While we are always honored to see our bigger site West Seattle Blog mentioned, we were pleasantly surprised to see White Center Now included! There were no interviews conducted for this story, totally the writer’s observations, so we didn’t know this was coming till we saw a link go by a few minutes ago via Twitter. Here’s the page mentioning WCN. (Our “best of” list would include a few more, but we’re also glad to see the magazine mention quirky Blogging Georgetown and longtime Tacoma staple Exit 133.) Thanks to the growing number of people who are reading this site and even more importantly, sending us information to share.

Just in:

PRUDENTIAL GLOBAL VOLUNTEER DAY! FOOD DRIVE

Prudential West Seattle is conducting a food drive for the West Seattle and White Center Food Banks. Food and Cash contributions may be made at the West Seattle office at 4700 42nd Avenue, Suite 600, or through your Prudential Agent. Look for our collection teams on October 3rd from 10am to 2pm at all three of the local Safeway Stores [Roxbury, Jefferson Square, Admiral], the Morgan Street Thriftway and Albertsons in White Center! Please call us at 206-932-4500 if you have questions or would like a donation pick-up! YOUR DONATIONS WILL BE GREATLY APPRECIATED!