A spring trash pickup is scheduled for this Sunday, April 27, to clean up litter from Jefferson Park. Meet at the Jefferson Park Community Center at 1 p.m.  Please bring gloves and your family and friends. Other supplies for picking up litter will be provided.
Please contact Lee Nathan at leenathan@gmail.com for more details.
November 16 brings a fundraising show to the Garden House, raising funds to benefit Mobility Builders, a local non-profit that provides wheelchairs to under-privileged children in developing countries. The bands Ache and Loud Motor will perform. Doors are at 6 p.m., and the $25 admission fee includes a few drinks and some snacks.
The Garden House is at 2336 15th Ave South.
For more information about the school, and to make an online donation to the China trip fund, visit the school’s website.
Volunteers are wanted this Saturday, October 5, at the Cheasty Greenspace/Mt. View work party, from 10 a.m. to 12 noon. Volunteers will be removing blackberry and ivy vines east of the Angeline Trail Head.
All you need to bring is yourself, your sturdy shoes, warm clothes, water to drink, and a treat to share. Volunteers should meet at 2809 S. Alaska Place 98108 starting at 9:45 a.m.
In other Greenspace news, the Cheasty/Mt. View group applied for an Opportunity Fund grant, but their proposal for a mountain bike path was not selected because of rules banning off-road bicycles in parks. The Seattle Board of Park Commissioners will meet next Thursday, October 10, to discuss and vote on an update to the Bicycle Use Policy that would allow the projects like the Greenspace project to happen.
Neighbors are invited to attend and express their opinions at the meeting starting at 6:30 p.m, October 10, at 100 Dexter Ave. N. in the Kenneth R. Bounds Park Board Room.
All are invited to help restore some of our local parks at the 8th Annual Green Seattle Day, Saturday, November 2 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Volunteers will plant native trees and shrubs in 17 city parks, including Beacon Hill’s Lewis Park and the Cheasty Greenspace at Mountain View.
Volunteers of all ages are welcome. Find out more and register to participate at the website: Lewis Park and Cheasty Greenspace.
Volunteers should dress in layers and wear clothing that can (and probably will) get dirty. Bring a water bottle, lunch and rain gear. Gloves and tools will be provided.
Tippe and Drague Alehouse (3315 Beacon Ave. S.) is hosting a fundraiser for the Denise Louie Education Center this Saturday, June 22, from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m.
The folks at Tippe and Drague tell us about it:
Come enjoy 16 rotating taps of regional craft beer, a great wine selection and local, sustainable and healthy bar food items while supporting our preschool neighbor next door, the Denise Louie Education Center (DLEC).
For over 35 years, DLEC has provided high-quality multicultural early learning and family support services so that Seattle kids will be ready to succeed in school and life. Most of the 300 children and families DLEC serves are low-income immigrants and refugees, and over 80% speak a language other than English at home. DLEC is in the process of cutting 5% of their budget due to automatic federal spending cuts known as Sequestration. Approved cuts include eliminating five Early Head Start slots and starting classes two weeks late. There is still $60,000 to be cut from the budget over the next four months and $130,000 to be cut from next year’s budget.
On Saturday, June 22nd from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m., Tippe and Drague will be donating all profits, collecting monetary donations and holding a silent auction to benefit DLEC and the over 300 low-income and immigrant children and families they serve in the Seattle area.
Owner Melissa adds, “We’re going to end the silent auction at 10 p.m. but the full fundraising day will end when we close.”
Save the date for the 8th Annual Beacon Bazaar, coming up on Saturday, June 8, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., in front of Beacon Hill International School at 2025 14th Ave. S. The Bazaar is an event with community vendors selling goods and food to benefit the Beacon Hill International School PTA. Items available will include crafts, homemade tamales and baked goods, clothing, toys, books, organic veggie starts, and more.
All are invited to attend. If you want to sell at the Bazaar, tables are $30. You can keep your earnings, or donate all or part to the PTA. Here’s the flyer for vendors (we had to grab it from the Google cache because of problems with the BHIS website, but it should still work for now). If the link doesn’t work or you need more information, contact Beacon Bazaar Coordinator Mike Almquist at 206-619-5278 or almy55@yahoo.com.
The event will happen rain or shine; if we get some of that liquid sunshine, the Bazaar will move to the BHIS gym.
Planting starts on Thursday, May 23 from 4-6:30 p.m. and continues on Friday, May 24 at the same time. On Saturday, May 25, the planting party takes place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Volunteers should bring a trowel and gloves; everything else will be provided. El Centro de la Raza is located at 2524 16th Ave. S.
This Thursday, April 25, Lifelong AIDS Alliance’s Dining Out For Life returns to raise money to fight illness and hunger in our community. During the event, when you dine at a participating restaurant on Beacon Hill or elsewhere, a portion of your bill will be donated to Lifelong.
Restaurants in the Beacon Hill/Columbia City/Mount Baker neighborhoods that are participating include:
Besides the benefit of contributing to your community, if you dine at one of these establishments you’ll also be entered to win two domestic airline tickets from Alaska Airlines. Tweet photos of yourself participating, and you’ll have a chance to win a Dining Out For Life prize package.
See the restaurant locations in this interactive map:
United Way of King County is currently recruiting volunteers to manage and operate free tax preparation sites in King County during the tax season in early 2013.
Volunteers will help clients complete their tax returns efficiently, to get all refunds and credits they are eligible for. Clients will also be able to sign up for public benefits, get help completing FAFSA (financial aid) applications, get their credit report, and learn about opportunities to open a savings account or invest in a savings bond.
Last year at El Centro de la Raza on North Beacon Hill, volunteers helped 604 households file returns, which resulted in $967,992 in refunds returned to the community.
United Way is still looking for volunteers at the El Centro de la Raza tax site. Each volunteer is asked to commit to training (provided by United Way) and a 4-hour weekly shift. Speakers of Chinese, Vietnamese, Spanish, Somali, Korean, Amharic, Cambodian and Russian are encouraged to volunteer. For more information or to register,