West Seattle, Washington
21 Wednesday
It’s been a subject of enough controversy in Ballard that it’s been delayed a few months – but today it’s finally official, according to our fellow community-news-site operators at MyBallard.com: The SHARE homeless shelter that’s been at West Seattle Church of the Nazarene for more than a year WILL move to Ballard as originally proposed; the move will happen May 30. The move wasn’t certain till the results of a Ballard church vote were announced today. Here’s the full story from MyBallard.com.
Thanks to Alki’s David Hutchinson for sharing photos (top and bottom) of the National Day of Prayer gathering tonight at the Statue of Liberty Plaza — first time this event has been held since the plaza’s construction and dedication last year. (Following sentence and photo added 11:27 pm) Thanks to Sandi for sharing this photo of the Holy Rosary Children’s Choir singing at the Day of Prayer gathering:
Holy Rosary was among 10 local churches that participated in this event presented by the West Seattle Ministerial Association, and attendees weren’t deterred by the steadily gathering clouds:
Gatherings were held across the country – here’s the event’s official coast-to-coast website.
Less than two months now till school lets out, and local families are continuing to plan their kids’ schedules for summer. One brand-new option: Local synagogue Kol HaNeshamah is offering its first-ever day camp. We decided to take a closer look:
By Keri DeTore
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
Synagogue Kol HaNeshamah, housed at Alki Congregational United Church of Christ, will be hosting Camp Kol — a two-week summer day camp for kids this August.
Tammy Kaiser, director of Education and Administration for Kol HaNeshamah, describes it this way: “We will concentrate on Tikkun Olam, which translates into ‘repair of the world,’ as well as Tzedakah which is ‘righteousness or social justice’ and usually takes the form of charity. Part of this will be teaching environmental conscientiousness, and West Seattle is a wonderful learning lab with its beaches and tidal pools.”
As reported two months ago, the homeless shelter that moved into West Seattle Church of the Nazarene at 42nd/Juneau in March of last year was supposed to move to Ballard — but its planned new temporary home in Ballard fell through. Now, according to this story posted tonight at seattlepi.com, the shelter’s West Seattle stay has just been extended again — to June 1st — because parent organization SHARE hasn’t found a new place for it. The article also says the Community of Christ Church in Highland Park recently “evicted” a shelter it had hosted for seven years.
That’s the only Overton Berry Ensemble, and a taste of what’s in store at Admiral Church this Sunday. Admiral Church (California/Hill; here’s a map) joined the WSB sponsor team this week to get the word out about its annual Jazz Sunday, coming up this weekend; as you can see on the lineup here, it starts with “jazz-flavored worship” at the 10:30 am service, featuring the Admiral Choir, vocalist Grace Holden, flutist Bernie Jacobs, bassist Jeff Davies, all under the leadership of church music director Keith Terhune. Then at 7 pm, it’s a free concert (donations will be accepted) with the Overton Berry Ensemble (and Grace Holden sings again). To get your complimentary ticket(s), call the church at 932-2928.
As registration rolls on for West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day (coming up Saturday 5/9 – be part of The Big Map and regional promotion! – get in on the fun at westseattlegaragesale.com, 11 days left to register), we just got word of another big church sale, starting this Friday, and they’re still looking for donations: St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church (next to West Seattle High School) has its rummage sale this Friday-Saturday, April 17-18, and again the following Friday-Saturday, 4/24-4/25, 9 am-3 pm all four days. Got something to donate? Call the church at 937-4545. (This Saturday — one day only — also features a big sale and car wash at Alki Community Center; call ACC at 684-7430 for the scoop.) Never mind the wintry weather (sunbreak as we type, actually) – it’s time for spring cleaning – and sale season!
As Easter Sunday worshipers entered Hope Lutheran Church in The Junction through those doors this morning, they went into the recently built lobby that literally bridges what was a gap between the church — celebrating its 90th anniversary this year — and Hope Lutheran School.
Not only is that space now a welcoming place for churchgoers, it also will be usable for public meetings with some more finishing touches. It’s part of Hope’s expansion/renovation construction project, which is mostly complete, 10 months after groundbreaking (WSB coverage here), though workers went back in during spring break earlier this month for more finishing touches. During that week, we toured the church and school with Bil Hood, shortly after reporting (March 28th story here) that Hope’s school has a new joint operating agreement with nearby Seattle Lutheran High School. Read on for more of what that’s about, more photos of Hope’s expansion/renovation work, and details on three chances this week for prospective families to take tours to learn more about the new Hope/Seattle Lutheran collaboration:Read More
Just in case you’ve missed it – here’s the full list. The morning starts with two “sunrise” services – multidenominational at Forest Lawn in High Point (map) at 6:30 am, the local UCC churches joining together on the beach at Alki/57th (map) at 7 am. Note that some churches are offering breakfasts and egg hunts as well as worship services.
FURLOUGH: This is another one of those money-saving furlough days for King County government. Here’s the list of what’s open and what’s closed.
GOOD FRIDAY SERVICES: Many are listed on our Holy Week/Easter services page; for other Easter-related activities, such as tomorrow’s big slate of egg hunts, go here.
Looking for an egg hunt? Holy Week/Easter Sunday service? Our Easter page (see it here) can now be reached from the EASTER tab on the WSB navigation bar, beneath the sunset header. Not too late to add something – editor@wsb.blackfin.biz – thanks!
We were just in The Junction at Hope Lutheran Church/School working on a followup to this weekend’s announcement of a joint operating agreement between Hope and neighboring Seattle Lutheran High School (more on that later), as well as touring Hope’s almost-finished expansion work, and happened onto this group in the church basement, assembling about 150 Easter baskets. Hope’s Human Care Ministries leader Mary Anne DeVry explained that they go to local seniors and also to new local arrivals including immigrant families working with a Lutheran program assisting refugees. The baskets contain treats and a few practical-but-fun items too, from scarves to stuffed animals. Mary Anne says the project started about a decade ago when someone offered the church a carload of discarded, empty Easter baskets and said “can you do something with them?” The answer – “we’ll figure something out.” Now, it’s a tradition. (Reminder, as mentioned yesterday, we’re collecting info now from all over West Seattle for our Easter services/brunch/egg hunts lists – editor@wsb.blackfin.biz – thanks!)
With two weeks to go till Easter, here at WSB we’re doing what we do for all major holidays – making a 
special page so you can find West Seattle-specific information all in one place. We’re gathering information from websites and phone calls but also wanted to issue an invitation: If you’re associated with a church and you have its Easter service information, please let us know so we can make sure it gets onto that page; if you’re associated 
with a restaurant and you’re having Easter brunch, same invitation applies. Best way to reach us is e-mail: editor@wsb.blackfin.biz – and if all the info is already on a page on your own website, just sending us that link is fine, you don’t have to retype it or cut-and-paste it. We hope to get the first version of this page up within the next 24 hours, but if you don’t see this till Monday afternoon or later — that’s OK, we’ll just keep adding info, as always. (Other Easter-related activities welcome too – we’ve already got various egg hunts listed on our Events page but let us know if you know of one that’s not there.) Thanks!!!! (Photo credits: Peeps from kimberlyfaye‘s Flickr page; beach group, WSB photo from local UCC churches’ 2008 sunrise service on Alki)
An arrest in Tennessee will be welcome news for the congregation of Gatewood’s Peace Lutheran Church. Pastor Erik Kindem e-mailed the other day to call our attention to this seattlepi.com story about a woman mourning her murdered son, unable to leave the Tukwila motel where he was killed because she had nowhere else to go. Kindem knew the family and officiated at 24-year-old Kevin Camacho‘s funeral a week ago, in addition to seeking help for the family. Now there’s word from Tennessee that the suspected killer is in custody, awaiting an extradition hearing so he can be returned here to face charges.
That’s the future site of ARK Memorial Park, just west and a little south of Arbor Heights Community Church, which owns the 8,000-square-foot parcel. Under and around that gazebo, a small but hardy group gathered Saturday afternoon for the ceremonial groundbreaking:
The young assistants are Isabella and Elliana Kimball, sisters of the park’s namesake, Alexandra Ramona Kimball, stillborn on the same day – March 28th – one year earlier. As Hal Kimball noted goodnaturedly during the downpour-graced groundbreaking, baby Alexandra’s initials are part of the double meaning in the park’s name:
AHCC says the park/playground will be for the entire community, not just for church families. As noted in our first story about the ARK Park plan last summer (see it here), this is a private project, not seeking city funding. So far they have raised more than $5,000, enough to begin the project’s first phase, but that’s just a start; next fundraising event is a spaghetti dinner at the church Fellowship Hall on April 18th (more info here). The timetable for construction depends on how the fundraising effort goes, but
From Bil Hood:
For the past 30 years Hope Lutheran School and Seattle Lutheran High School have operated as separate entities. This fall the schools will begin operating as Seattle Lutheran Schools.
As the first phase in pursuing a Joint Operating Agreement between Hope Lutheran School and Seattle Lutheran High School, the Administrative teams from both schools have worked to evaluate the resources and roles that can be shared between the two schools to further enhance the educational offering to the community and families, as well as better utilize staff strengths. The immediate benefit will be increased academic opportunities at both schools. … Listed below are some upcoming events that we will be holding to invite the community to (learn more).
School Tours will be held on April 15, 16, 17 (Wed.-Fri) from 8:30-10:00 in Hope’s lobby.
Tentative Schedule for the Tours:
8:30-8:45 Welcome
8:45-9:10 Joint schools presentation
9:10-9:20 Question and Answer time with administrators
9:20-9:45 Walking tours lead by parent volunteers
9:45-10:00 Drop in time for classroomsApril 19th, Hope Lutheran Church will be celebrating its 90th anniversary at the morning services (8 and 10:30) as well as a reception following the last service at Seattle Lutheran High School.
We are having a community Open House for Hope Church and School after 10:30 service on Sunday, April 26th. This is a good opportunity for people to see the campus and all we offer as a church and school.
Hope and Seattle Lutheran are in The Junction; more info can be found on the Hope website and the SLHS website. (Added 12:05 pm – We asked whether this would mean a name change for Hope; Bil says that’s not expected, at this point.)
Thanks to Diane for spotting this on the West Seattle-sorted CL listings that cycle through the WSB More page: A West Seattle church, looking for a donkey for Palm Sunday. We sent a note to the blind-box e-mail address to find out which church: It’s St. John the Baptist Episcopal, next to West Seattle High School – which in fact offered a well-attended “Blessing of the Animals” last October.
Rummage-sale season is off and … rummaging. Two big sales started this morning: West Side Presbyterian Church (above – we found quite a crowd there a little while ago) and Tibbetts United Methodist Church (tons of stuff there too as shown below), both just north of The Junction.
Tibbetts is selling till 4 pm today, 9 am-3 pm tomorrow; West Side goes till 5 pm today, 9 am-2 pm tomorrow. By the way – don’t forget to mark your calendar – the 5th annual West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day, presented again this year by WSB, is May 9th, registration details to come.
The big brick church at California/Othello (map) is in the market for its third new owner in less than three years. Then-Gatewood Baptist Church was sold in September 2006 to a developer as part of a $3.2 million package including the former church school to the east (now art/craft studios) and church-owned property across California that became a “micropermitted” townhouse cluster. The developer sold the church building to Seattle International Church six months later for $1.8 million; now, two years after that deal, it’s on the market for $2.1 million. It’s not the only church building for sale in West Seattle right now; Eastside Christian Assembly in the Triangle remains listed at $2.6 million.
Fellow neighborhood-news site My Ballard has been covering the controversy since a neighborhood there was told that a church-owned building would become the new site of the homeless shelter that’s spent the past year at West Seattle’s Church of the Nazarene (2008 photo at left; here’s our update from a week ago; here’s our story from 3/08). A short time ago, My Ballard published breaking news of a new development – the shelter’s overseers at SHARE are holding off on the potential Ballard move for at least 4 weeks, while saying they’re being allowed to stay in West Seattle another week. (As for what would happen during the interim three weeks, My Ballard is working to find out.)
SEATTLE STYLE SALON: After a move from North Delridge up to 7350 35th SW (map), Seattle Style Salon has just opened in the former Carosello Coffee (among other names; it closed a year and a half ago) space in Olympic Heights. Owner Denise showed off her salon’s unique furnishings (photo left) when we dropped by the other day, and also noted that she’s hiring more staff (here’s her CL listing).
COFFEE AT THE HEIGHTS UPDATE: Across the street from Seattle Style Salon, work on this new coffee shop continues, slower than its owners originally hoped (as unfortunately seems to be the case for so many hard-working entrepreneurs). Co-owner Paul tells us the flooring’s going in this weekend, and the counters will follow, so they’re getting closer.
WESTSIDE DERMATOLOGY RE-WELCOMES AMY NELSON: This week, Westside Dermatology rejoined us as a sponsor, and wanted to share the news that certified physician assistant Amy Nelson (photo right) is coming back on Monday, after a few months of maternity leave following the arrival of her twins, Dylan (6 lbs, 13 ounces) and Sasha (6 pounds even), who join 2-year-old big brother Elijah.
CHURCH’S NEW WEBSITE: Pastor Erik Kindem from Peace Lutheran in Gatewood shares the news that his church’s previous website has been upgraded to this brand-new look.
According to our fellow neighborhood-news-site operators at MyBallard.com, when the Church of the Nazarene (42nd/Juneau) agreement with SHARE expires at the end of this month, the group’s small shelter for homeless men will move from that West Seattle church to a building in Ballard. See the My Ballard story here. As we noted in original coverage of the shelter’s arrival a year ago, the church has hosted other shelters, so we’ll be checking to see if another one is taking this one’s place.
That’s a look inside the new activity center at West Seattle Christian Church, dedicated a week ago and celebrated with an open house that drew visitors even during the Super Bowl (that’s when we dropped by). It’ll be the home of the West Seattle Movies on the Wall Winter Series (3/4, 3/11, 3/18; movies listed here) and it’s available for rentals for community events – you can call the church at 206-932-2098 and ask for Kelly to find out more. Meantime, there’s an open house at West Seattle Christian today, too – this time, for its preschool, 1-3 pm; if you can’t make it to the open house, the preschool has registration packets available to be picked up at the office (4400 42nd Ave SW; here’s a map) or by requesting one: preschool@westseattlechristian.org.
WEST SEATTLE FARMERS’ MARKET: 10 am till 2 pm today. Here’s the latest Ripe and Ready fresh list; new highlights include sea-salt caramels and sausage!
SUPER BOWL PARTIES: Four are in the West Seattle Weekend Lineup for today (here’s a direct link) – Puerto Vallarta, Redline, Rocksport, and Shadowland.
WEST SEATTLE CHRISTIAN CHURCH OPEN HOUSE: One year after groundbreaking (WSB coverage here), the Junction church is showing off its new activity center today – you’re invited to an open house 2-4 pm. It’s not just a facility for church uses – it’s available for community events too (like the Winter Movies on the Wall series next month), so they’re hoping folks will stop by to envision the possibilities. South of the church on 42nd south of Genesee (map).
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