CONTENTS 12/28/2020
Writing May Have Helped
City Hall Encampment Immediate Needs
SwiftHaven
Lundquist Woods!
Coronavirus Masks With Valves
Donating Apple Devices
Found Mittens
Handyperson Needed
Cecil Sharp House Tuesday Zoom
Radio Free Fl!p: Tony Rice
WRITING MAY HAVE HELPED
I can’t say for sure, but please don’t stop. Write with your ideas, everything you can think of, towards solutions for homelessness. There is a new emergency Tiny Homes encampment for 25 residents under construction at Civic Field with some City support, and another such under discussion, which might be able to include a legal vehicle parking lot for camping. Cars are far more weatherproof than tents. It will take multiple solutions to support all our current citizens who have lost their homes. Please help to let our elected officials know we support them to make this issue a priority. Be kind, be warm, be persistent.
mayorsoffice@cob.org
ccmail@cob.org
ssidhu@co.whatcom.wa.us
council@co.whatcom.wa.us
CITY HALL ENCAMPMENT IMMEDIATE NEEDS
The need of this week and next to be: Mylar aluminum emergency sheet-blankets and closed cell camping pads the waterproof kind. Householders please hold other items at your homes until other items are requested because outreach volunteers have very limited storage space in their vehicles. But both those items could be brought to our house, 2518 Cherry Street. Fl!p & Zeke. Thank you!!!
SWIFTHAVEN
The new tiny home encampment at Civic Field has a dozen volunteers out in the rain and cold all day this week and next, building the kitchen, and the pallets to put the tiny homes on, and other infrastructure.
Today Zeke and I got to deliver hot soup as an afternoon snack for those workers. The soup donation from a neighbor was over-the-top in kindness!!! The cardboard box had been swathed in holiday wrapping paper. There was a veggie tray and satsumas, and apple slices, as well as soup. I felt like we were delivering pure love. SwiftHaven is getting there: a tent-kitchen has been raised on a platform. Two refrigerators are in place, plugged in and running. A freezer is due later today. Two big gas burners are set up outside for cooking. Five port-a-potties for 25 people seems pretty good. They’re figuring out how to level pallet bases for tents on the sloping parking lot blacktop, and for the tiny homes when those arrive. There’s a spigot and some electricity. The mood is both excited and determined. There are up to a dozen people working to create a new community.
They are still seeking a big BBQ grill that works on propane, and that works! Does anyone have one to donate, or sell cheap?
Villager requests: hair brush and detangle spray, camping mats, pillows, blankets, lanterns, patio & camping chairs (a place to sit down!). Batteries: double and triple A. Donations can be taken down to Unity Village in Fairhaven for now because there isn’t storage yet at SwiftHaven. Please label all donations with a location label to indicate where the donation goes (Unity, SwiftHaven, 210 Camp at city hall, or outreach).
INGREDIENTS FOR CREATIVITY
Consider cooking! I’m not certain of the #10 ham has been claimed. I’d hate to see it go to waste. The huge turkey is being turned into a wonderful turkey dinner on Wednesday! We have big restaurant roasting trays. We’ve got 20 quart soup pots. We’ve got noodles, rice, lentils, onions (always), bacon, soup bases, grated cheese, canned tuna, canned beans, canned fruit for dessert baking, and more. We have an offer of a dozen frozen bananas if anyone wants to make muffins out of them. And we have containers with lids for delivery. If you don’t cook, we’ve got lots of cans of pork&beans, soups, and beef-a-roni that you could heat up and deliver during one of the afternoon snack times.
LUNDQUIST WOODS!
Pat & Bob Lundquist are arranging to bequeath their amazing gardens to us all as parkland! They don’t have children and would like to see their home and beautiful half acre garden at the west end of Jefferson be preserved for public use. Probably like Big Rock Garden, it would be fenced but open to the public and maintained by volunteers. Details are being worked out with the City. Is that wonderful? If you haven’t been down to look at their holiday lights, do it this week. You can see the huge sparkling tree from outside the fence, and it’s worth the walk to go view the lights. It’s a tradition for a lot of Columbia neighbors to go stand outside the fence and enjoy every year. What WONDERFUL news!!!
https://www.bellinghamherald.com/news/local/article248006535.html
CORONAVIRUS: MASKS WITH VALVES
Masks with valves do not protect others. They expel unfiltered exhalations. They are not appropriate for use in the pandemic.
https://www.bellinghamherald.com/news/coronavirus/article247157551.html#storylink=readmore_inline
DONATING APPLE DEVICES
A reader has stepped forward to offer phone set up on Apple devices being donated to the encampment, but adds this caution: A donated Apple device cannot be reused by a new user unless the previous owner has deleted their personal information and erased all contents and settings. It us useless to accept a donated device that cannot be reused. Only the person donating the device will know the passcode and Apple ID password required for these actions. So, if someone offers to donate an Apple device, give them the following information:
Thank you for offering to donate an Apple iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. Before you donate your Apple device you must delete your personal information and erase all contents and settings. Because only you know the required passcode and Apple ID password, the device cannot be reused until you follow these steps.
Please read and follow these directions:
What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201351
Thank you. Love/Fl!p
FOUND MITTENS
Somebody’s cute white & deep red knitted mittens were dropped on the ground in front of our house. They’re drying out on a rock out in front, on Elizabeth St – same block as Franklin Academy. I hope they make it home. Siri Hope Adams
HANDYPERSON NEEDED
I need some jobs done around the house & would like to keep it in the neighborhood. Any handy-person recommendations? Suzanne Paola suzannep@wwu.edu 360-441-9900
CECIL SHARP HOUSE TUESDAY ZOOM
A world-class dedicated folk arts centre, Cecil Sharp House is at the heart of English folk music. This venerable folk club in London has been meeting every Tuesday over Zoom during the pandemic, which means we can listen in with them at noon our time. Videos of previous sessions are available on their YouTube channel.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvqDn8d3uUq1a3Wk87Q9GMsW87L6qdFqJ
If you’d like to attend, drop us a line at Sharp’s in Isolation
isolation@sharpsfolkclub.co.uk
RADIO FREE Fl!P: TONY RICE
Tony has left this world at age 69, leaving behind amazing music and a couple generations of inspired musicians. I’m giving you two songs. You can find more pretty easily. The first just seemed appropriate to send him off. The second is a song written by another musician I love dearly, Bob Franke.
Tony Rice & Ricky Skaggs: “The Soul of Man Never Dies”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSc1205qlX8
Hard Love
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aD4EkDCCyzw
Love/Fl!p 360-671-4511 2518 Cherry Street flip@columbianeighborhood.org
I would love it if you’d add my phone to your contacts, so if I need to call you’ll know it’s me; and if you’d share your own number with me, in case I need to reach you.
If you want to ask me to post something, just email me. If it’s urgent, phone. If it’s a real emergency, call 911.