CONTENTS 1/19/2021
Happy Inauguration Day
Neighborhood Assn Membership
Snow Forecast
Straw Bales Drive
Tarps, Tools & Hands
Soup Brigade
Room On The Mealtrain
Today’s Ingredients
Donations To Families
Warm Wool Caps
From An Outreach Volunteer
Lost And Found Dog
Witch Hazel
Email Improving
Bellingham Folk Festival!
Radio Free Flip: Heart Like A Wheel
HAPPY INAUGURATION DAY
The USA has had an unbroken tradition of the peaceful transfer of power since the beginning. May it continue!
COLUMBIA NEIGHBORHOOD ASSN. CALL FOR 2021 MEMBERS AND BOARD POSITIONS
Due to my personal health issues and work challenges due to COVID, I will be resigning from the CNA Board, effective with the election at our first meeting on Feb. 23. It’s a new year and typically at our first meeting we have our membership drive. This year requires us to do things differently. We are going to have an in-person CNA Membership Drive on Saturday, Feb. 20th, 10am-2pm at the Columbia Share Shack. If you would like to become a member, there are other ways to join. If you would like to be a member, please fill out this form at: https://tinyurl.com/cnamembershipform, which provides a place to share your interests and a variety of payment options in case you can’t make the in-person Membership Drive. In this form, you will also be able to express interest in becoming a board member!!! We will be sure to invite you to our next board meeting later this month, provided you filled out the form in the next week. Thank you for your interest in making our neighborhood a great place to live.
Please email columbianeighborhoodassociation@protonmail.com if you have any questions.
Thank you,
Jill MacIntyre Witt
CNA President
Walnut Street
[And thank you Jill for your many years of service to our neighborhood and community!]
SNOW FORECAST
Cold weather is coming this weekend or even before. Campers and volunteers on the lawn at City Hall are doing all they can to fortify themselves. They need lots more tarps, pallets and straw bales. As yet our local government has offered no alternatives to get people inside. I am hoping the new administration will make FEMA and other disaster assistance available. But for now, it looks like it’s us, their fellow citizens.
STRAW BALES DRIVE
Wednesday Jan 20th at 3PM
Ahwren has a pickup truck she is bringing into town at 3pm, to Bellingham Farmers Coop on Meridian. She will buy straw bales to improve shelter at the encampment before the snow. You can help! Bales cost $10.89 each, including tax. Ahwren will load up bales and drive them to the City Hall Encampment. Contact me, Fl!p, before 2 PM if you’d like to donate so we know how many bales we can buy. Please call 360-671-4511 to let me know money is coming. You can drop off cash or checks, or use PayPal or Venmo to contribute. Thank you! ~ Ahwren Ayers 360-312-1244 HealingTherapiesConnection@gmail.com
TARPS, TOOLS & HANDS
Sounds like 8×10 or larger tarps are most needed, besides straw bales & pallets. On the ground, community members and neighbors living outside are focused on sheltering in place, preparing for future storms. We need more helping hands that know how to work safe outside. Bring tarps and some tools.
SOUP BRIGADE
ROOM ON THE MEAL-TRAIN
There’s room on the MealTrain sign-ups starting Thursday. I’ve got containers and ingredients if you will prepare them. I’ll coach you. I have recipes and pots. If you share making a meal with a couple friends it’s a lot less work, and you can phone or zoom when you panic, or even just for fun. We can still cook together. And feed hungry hearts and bodies.
https://www.mealtrain.com/trains/nnmwke
TODAY’S INGREDIENTS
4# carrots, (carrot cake anyone?), 2 heads of celery, 20# rice, 4# split peas, 8# lentils, three 4# bags of pasta (Ziti, penne), three 5# sacks and two 1# 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 60# of onions. 25 dozen eggs. Five jars of chicken soup base.
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
DONATIONS TO FAMILIES
“Please let whoever donated to the families with small children in a motel know that what they are investing in is so much more than these items! It builds faith that there are people on their side, people that follow through for Moms with young kids. The Opportunity Council gave them motel vouchers because they left domestic violence situations.”
…And they arrived with nothing. Kindness poured in and out our front door throughout today. And respect. New clothing. Personal care items. Diapers & wipes. Many of the donors were moms themselves. One donor told me she hadn’t gotten to do Christmas gifts with her family this year, and decided this was what she wanted to do with the money she hadn’t spent. Beautiful gift bags with hearts printed all over, filled with personal care items! Someone else left cash to buy them stuff, and instead we gave it to them directly so they could start exercising a little bit of control over their lives. The motel mothers could use some canned foods. They have a crock pot, microwave and mini fridge to work with. We can take donations of canned foods at our house. I think we may have gotten everything on their list today, but I’m not sure. I got a little confused a couple times. But it’s all been picked up and delivered. Thank you one and all!!!
WARM WOOL CAPS
Women keep bringing the most beautiful hand knitted hats and scarves to my door. Some even have hand-spun yarn. Thank you! Please keep knitting…
FROM AN OUTREACH VOLUNTEER
A big relief to get each being off the ground. More complicated then you can imagine, but less complicated then trying to survive living under nylon plastic with minimal sense of safety. Outreach volunteers continue to talk to who we meet, to ask if they want to get on a future village list. We are expecting the city to ask HomeNOW.org to do another village, unless BMAC is ready to do a no barrier shelter.
LOST AND FOUND DOG
I had almost simultaneous emails today, one from someone who lost a dog, and the other from someone who found one. Matching descriptions. Both included phone numbers. Sometimes things are really easy!
WITCH HAZEL
I got to show off my garden a bunch of times today in the lovely sunshine. It made me SO happy!!! You can still ask for a tour. I may be busy but I’m not too busy for something that brings me so much pleasure to share. Give me a shout to set up a time. The witch hazel is still blooming for a few more days and the camellia is just opening its first few buds….
EMAIL IMPROVING
I got great personal assistance from PogoZone today. We may have found a way around what appears to be a bug in Apple Mail. Conrad was really patient with me. I can at least read and write email again. Whew! And I may be able to clean up filing problems over the next while.
BELLINGHAM FOLK FESTIVAL!
January 22nd, 23rd and 24th
Here it comes! The schedule is now up. And I myself am on it, with Songs Of Connection. This promises to be a rollicking good time! The e-festival offers three days of inspiring workshops, performances, and jams for all ages and abilities. It’s a celebration of homemade music happening online and in your very own home. Don’t live in Bellingham? No problem! For the first time ever, attendance isn’t really restricted by your physical location.
Other benefits include but are not limited to:
- free parking!
- no lines!
- no uncomfortable chairs!
- the freedom to noodle!
- no audible coughing!
- using the bathroom whenever you want!
- your babies/cats/xylophones can come!
- no nasty glares for coming in late!
http://www.thebellinghamfolkfestival.com/schedule
http://www.thebellinghamfolkfestival.com/
RADIO FREE FLIP: HEART LIKE A WHEEL
Write by Anna and performed by Anna & Kate McGarrigle. Kate died a decade ago, but in these days of the year. She was 63. What an amazing song! I’ve heard that death comes in three phases. The first is when your breath stops. The second is when the last person who knew you, face to face, dies. The last is when your songs and stories are no longer shared. Kate has a long way to go yet.