West Seattle Helpline asking for a helping hand

| How to help | West Seattle news

Their mission is to help those in dire need of emergency assistance – and right now, they’re sending up a flare on their own behalf. Expenses have gone up for West Seattle Helpline, and in order to keep helping the number of families for whom they’ve been able to offer assistance, they have to raise $3,500 by month’s end. Board vice president Brooks Riendl explains:

I am issuing a challenge to our Board, Advisory Board and the West Seattle community to raise $3000 and I will match $500. Our Board President, Katie Plett has offered $250 in matching funds as well. … We have secured a total of $1850 in donations for this challenge to date and need help with the remaining $1650. Donations can be made through our website or by contacting Anna Fern at: (206) 932-2746.

Helpline programs also include Clothesline, which helps match families in need with donated clothing. While this is a cash-donation request from Helpline right now, you can also help by attending their annual fundraiser, the Taste of West Seattle, with dozens of local restaurants donating tasty treats – that’s coming up a week from tomorrow, Thursday 5/19, and you can buy your tickets online right now by going here.

HunterG May 11, 2011 (8:16 pm)

Is there anymore information you can offer about this? I would like to organize something through my workplace, but would need a little more info than “Expenses went up”.

TR – can you email me? Or I’ll shoot you an email tomorrow from work. Thanks!

Lord of the Hill May 11, 2011 (8:26 pm)

Done. :)

MG May 11, 2011 (9:16 pm)

A screed. And please don’t censor this TR. I read this blog because it’s both a great source of information (hence the awards) but also a really fascinating insight into ethnocentricity and ‘citizen journalism’. One of the recurrent themes here is how WS is, of course, the very best place in the entire world to live in, and how, gosh darn it, we just really care about people and that’s what makes us special. As a documentary filmmaker I can tell you that there isn’t a podunk hell hole anywhere that doesn’t say and feel exactly the same way. And when I see the hundred plus comments on how terrible the commute was this morning, and not a single comment on the real pain that many many families are suffering these days, it truly raises some fundamental questions, at least for me, about the nature of our ‘specialness” Are people, families, who are going through financial agony as human as the rest of us because they don’t have a long commute? Yeah, there are.

WSB May 11, 2011 (9:31 pm)

MG, I don’t have any hope this will get to 100 comments, but that’s no comment on humanity. There are a million other factors. Including the fact I posted this in early evening when comparatively few people are in front of their computer and published the commute story in the middle of prime time when 1,000 people surge through here per hour. Yet even a 100-comment story means 29,900 of the people who will eventually have read it won’t have commented. To me – it’s not the comments, but the responses and the actions. We have many non- or little-commented stories about “can you help?” in which I hear later that there was a great outpouring/response, and my failing is in not reporting enough of those followups (luckily the people or organizations featured in the stories do sometimes show up and provide their own followups). Comments don’t have a thing to do with it – TR

MG May 11, 2011 (9:20 pm)

Correction. One person – thank you, HunterG.

Cakeordeath May 11, 2011 (9:38 pm)

MG,

I often read and never comment on these stories, mainly because they get me thinking and then I either act on it or don’t. The comment has nothing to do with how much I care. And I do care. I think most of us care.

That said, I did some volunteer work for the Helpline and they were really great to work for. I witnessed first hand a very high level of integrity and dedication… I wish them the absolute best and am on board for supporting any sort of effort that springs from this. Hoping that is the case… If not, will still support them.

Thank you WS Helpline for all that you do!

coffee May 12, 2011 (5:22 am)

I give to this group all the time. No longer do I take my clothes to the other huge donation places, rather to the clothes line. Plus I take household items that are in good shape that I no longer need, sheets, towels, I do check first to make sure that they are really needed before I go down. I think this micro agency is great. They do some wonderful work with a very small budget and only 2 part-time paid staff members. Even the executive directors job is part-time, at 30 hours a week, (which I am sure she puts in way more than 30). It takes a very small amount of money to help this agency meet their needs. In addition, their needs have been greatly increased since more and more people are in need right now. Also, they only serve the people of West Seattle. Using my standard line, can you go without 1 latte a week? Thats 20.00 a month, and if 5 people do that someone could stay in their apartment, keep their lights on, etc..

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