CONTENTS 1/18/2021
Email Down
Soup Brigade
Cold Weather Camp Needs
Pallet Delivery?
Today’s Ingredients
Oven Baked Rice Recipe
SwiftHaven Requests
Waterproof Footwear
From An Outreach Volunteer
Hot Potato
Humane Society Event
Tutoring Available Via Zoom
Foster A Fish?
Radio Free Fl!p: Mike Marker
NO EMAIL
If I haven’t answered, that’s why. Email has been spotty or down for several days, and the website was down yesterday, so there was no Update. With luck I’ll manage to get this post out tonight. If you have something urgent, you might want to text or phone me: 360-671-4511. I’m dreaming of going to bed by midnight or so, though it’s usually more like 2 AM, and I try to sleep in till 8:15.
SOUP BRIGADE
Breakfast is needed for 30, early Tuesday morning. Can someone undertake this? I can hand you ingredients. For that matter, does anyone have time to make a run on SmartFood for me? A neighbor jumped in to make a missing breakfast for 50 on less than 24 hours notice yesterday. What a relief!
https://www.mealtrain.com/trains/nnmwke
COLD WEATHER CAMP NEEDS
Straw bales
Firewood
Pallets
Emergency Blankets
Plywood
Phillips screwdrivers
Nails
2x4s
Tarps
Power Tools
Padlocks
Sandbags
Preparing for the weather at Lottie 210 Camp. Bring supplies & work is continous. Reach out directly if you’d like to come down to camp and do some hands on help!
PALLET DELIVERY?
If someone is willing to deliver them, we have a stack of pallets by our back gate. There are also some neighbors who have cardboard to donate if someone is able to come pick it up.
TODAY’S INGREDIENTS
10# carrots, (carrot cake anyone?), 3# potatoes, 2 heads of celery, 15# rice, 4# lentils, four 4# bags of pasta (Ziti, penne), one 5# sack and three 2# sacks of shredded cheddar. (Please come get the cheese!) Two loaves of bread – one is Texas toast. There’s a big tub of curry paste (wouldn’t that be great with lentils & onions?). About 12# of onions. 7 dozen eggs. Two jars of chicken soup base. Six huge cans of Chili, and cheese & onions to go with them, for those who would rather heat food that make it from scratch. (Someone may have reserved the chili, but I can’t get at my email. Maybe text me if that was you?).
Sign up below to keep a steady flow of meals, and then come pick up soup pots, restaurant pans, ingredients, bakery bags & individual containers from me. I’ll be glad to talk you through the process we’ve worked out.
https://www.mealtrain.com/trains/nnmwke
OVEN BAKED RICE RECIPE
I wrote my friend Chris, who is in charge of the kitchen at Guitar Camp, and asked for bulk recipes. He sent this, for a simple, quick way to make rice in the oven, baked in big restaurant steam table pans with lids. We have three of those pans and will get at least one more. The recipe has a place you can adjust numbers for how many you want to feed.
https://www.favfamilyrecipes.com/cook-rice-crowd-easy-oven-method/
SWIFTHAVEN REQUESTS
*Small folding TV tray type tables that can be folded and set aside.
*Regular donation of detergent for their brand-new laundry tent. Might someone volunteer to keep detergent flowing?
*Big wok
*Full length mirror
*One of the residents has a dog that needs a special diet. Is there someone who would take on providing special food? Pets are really important emotional support for many people undergoing homelessness.
WATERPROOF FOOTWEAR
From a nurse who has been volunteering at the City Hall Encampment: We’ve been doing the foot clinic and are always in need of larger size shoes that are somewhat waterproof. You can bring such shoes here. And of course, always more really thick, wool camping and hiking socks.
FROM AN OUTREACH VOLUNTEER
May we continue to listen to the voice and needs of each individual camping neighbor who is surviving daily with minimal resources.
May we encourage our mayor , executive , councils, staff, & faith leaders to reach out in person face to face, and meet & listen to our neighbors living outside, hear them share their perspective and their needs.
Outreach witness: Citizen basic shelter hand built that look like short huts made of wooden pallets covered in plastic have been built on the lawns and are providing safer shelter then their past collapsed tents or their collapsed bodies on the sidewalk. Day by day those that reside on our collective fields & lawns continue to work together with neighbors to build what meetings have not accomplished. Swift Haven village will be full soon.
Winter is here, bring shelter to your neighbors: plastic tarps, straw bales, firewood, food. Bring them the electronic resources to communicate both ways with our local council meeting. Bring us a way for a nurse to do direct outreach to those who need wound care and medication. Pause distractions from the physical work happening now outside during the calm before our next storm.
HOT POTATO
It seemed easy to just print this exchange.
To Fl!p: “My neighbor made a suggestion about our 2 households coordinating for something for the meal train. She suggested baked potatoes wrapped in foil with cheese and onions I think. I am not sure how quickly things are eaten and a baked potato sitting around for an hour might not be very appetizing. What do you think of this idea?”
Fl!p to Food Tent: I know another neighbor has done Twice Baked Potatoes, where they are baked whole, and then the insides are scraped out and mixed with cheese etc and put back in. Would that work better? Would 50 potatoes go out fast enough to still be warm?From Food Tent: I think twice baked would work better :). We have a cooler that we’re storing food in so as long as they are well wrapped I’d say they have a shelf life of 2 hours.
HUMANE SOCIETY EVENT
We are looking for artists and creative people to make and/or decorate birdhouses for our online auction. These decorative birdhouses can be any size and the medium of your choice. Donations will be accepted until March 10, 2021.
The virtual birdhouse auction will take place March 21-31, 2021. All proceeds from this event will benefit our Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. There are several ways you can help with this fundraiser:
- Build and decorate a birdhouse to donate.
- Build a birdhouse for others to decorate.
- Volunteer to decorate donated birdhouses.
- Purchase a birdhouse to donate (plain or pre-decorated!)
To sign up to make, decorate, or donate a birdhouse please contact Dana at events@whatcomhumane.org or 360-733-2080 x3014.
WHS birdhouse fundraiser
TUTORING AVAILABLE VIA ZOOM
Math: basic math, algebra, geometry, precalculus
Science: biology, chemistry
English
Spanish
General studies, study habits, time management
$15.00/hour
Hello! I am a junior at Bellingham High School and a part-time Running Start student at Whatcom Community College. I live in the Columbia neighborhood. I have experience teaching kids through 4-H, and I am offering tutoring for school subjects via Zoom or FaceTime. If you know a student who could use some extra support, either briefly or ongoing, please feel free to contact me! References available. My email address is Louisa2527@gmail.com
FOSTER A FISH?
Does anyone have interest in hobby saltwater fish or aquariums? A friend is about to leave to work remotely for a couple months, and two captive-bred clownfish and a feather duster need a temporary home (or possibly permanent to a good home). They’re healthy/disease-free and can come with a 20 gal aquarium set-up. It’s more upkeep than a goldfish for sure, but they are quite charming. If you are interested in testing the waters on a saltwater tank, this could be great, or if you have room in your tank for a few guests! Email Phaedra if you are interested – boothp@wwu.edu
RADIO FREE FL!P: MIKE MARKER
For those of you who knew him, I am sorry to bear the news that Mike died this weekend of some kind of sudden, massive heart failure. He was riding his bike when he went down. Medics came very quickly but were unable to save him. He left behind an amazing body of music. Here is Mike’s 12-string guitar take on Deep River Blues.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8b9GsEaLJk
Love/Fl!p 360-671-4511 2518 Cherry Street flip@columbianeighborhood.org
If you’re willing to share your phone with me, personally, I would love that, and would not share it further without your express permission. Nor would I ever exploit it. You might put mine in your phone so if I were to phone you, you’d know it was me.
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.