Category: Corona Virus

CONTENTS 02/25/2021
New Format
Columbia Neighborhood
  Recycling
  Covid Symptom Study
Soup Brigade
  Cooks
  From The Out-Reachers
  New Tiny Home Village!
  Bellingham Community Meal
  Needs
Vaccination For Fl!p
Music
  Fairhaven College Live Concerts Online
  Quarantine Happy Hour
  Radio Free Fl!p: Mississippi John Hurt
  Bonus: Welcome To The World

I’m still covering all three beats: First my neighborhood, then homelessness, then music. Just keep scrolling!

NEIGHBORHOOD

RECYCLING

I’m happy to announce that there is no change to the SSC curbside recycling program, as a result of the near seamless transition from Northwest Recycling to Lautenbach Recycling. Our advice is still:  Clean – Dry – Empty, properly sorted and secured – everyone keep on doing the great job you have been for decades!

http://ssc-inc.com/recycling_residential.php#prepare

http://www.ssc-inc.com/weather_delays.php#tips

Thanks in advance for not parking in alleys on collection day, and not building things in alleys (gardens, fences, walls, etc) that restrict our drivers from getting in and out to serve you and your neighbors.
Sincerely,
Rodd Pemble
Recycling/Safety Manager
Sanitary Service Company Inc

COVID SYMPTOM STUDY

Help slow the spread of COVID-19. I have been using this app to report daily for many months. It provides a huge amount of data for researchers. The more of us that use it, the better it works. My app has been telling me we need just 37 more people in Whatcom County to sign up in order to get the most accurate picture of where we stand. This is my personal invitation. I would love you to join me!

https://covid.joinzoe.com/us-2

SOUP BRIGADE

COOKS

I’m looking for cooks again, two per day, each making dinners, starting on Wednesday March 3. I am so relieved to have cooks till then! Thank you to all those who have stepped forward.

The goal is to cook for 25 or 30 people, or split with a friend and cook half that many. I have ingredients, containers, pots & pans to loan. And I get very cool ingredients. Talk to me!

I also have two ways to deliver: 5 PM drop-off at SwiftHaven (or we can probably find someone to pick up from you and drop off if needed). The other way is to have our evening out-reacher come by and pick up your meals from your house when she gets off work. She will know the day before what time she can come pick up. She generally gets off work between 7 and 9 PM.

To join, you sign up with me directly. My favorite channel is email because I can file those and look back when I can’t keep track of it all. I will also happily accept texts. And love talking on the phone, but it really helps to have a follow up by either email or text to confirm.

Thank you again!

flip@openaccess.org 360-671-4511

FROM THE OUT-REACHERS

I asked the Out-Reachers tonight about the glorious homemade cookies that have been flowing through the last couple weeks. Here’s a response from a retired nurse: “Pretty much everyone is undernourished and many malnourished. They need calories. Lots and lots. Especially in the cold. Not at the expense of healthy food, of course, but in addition.” So, YES!

The encampment at Geri Field is growing again. Here’s one Out-Reacher’s take: “I personally have talked to several people who have been kicked out of apartments, either from family or significant-other arguments, but not hearing of evictions.”

NEW TINY HOME VILLAGE!

A new tiny home village has been approved for the site of the old Clean Green off Lakeway & Woburn. It will be somewhat larger and will be run by Road2Home and the Low Income Housing Institute. Here’s a City weblink: https://cob.org/project/tiny-house-village-project. Here’s an article with more details.

https://www.bellinghamherald.com/news/local/article249489500.html?ac_cid=DM392952&ac_bid=-445625698

BELLINGHAM COMMUNITY MEAL

This coming Saturday at Assumption Gym on Cornwall. The Bellingham Community Meal provides hot lunches in to-go containers for all who need them. Bellingham Community Meal has been in existence for decades and provides a warm, nutritious meal to anyone who needs it. The BCM takes place at the Assumption Gym on the last Saturday of the month from January through October. During Covid, the meal pickup time is 12:30-2:30pm. This Saturday is the last Saturday in February, so we will have hundreds of warm, take-out meals ready.

NEEDS

We need baby wipes and sani-wipes. Cases of them (really truly cases). And AA, AAA & D batteries. Someone incredibly kind brought us enough to get us through this week. But we’ll need more again. If anyone can make a Costco run for these tomorrow, I can fund it. People have been lovely generous!

VACCINATION FOR FL!P

Zeke and I get our vaccines Saturday if all goes well. I didn’t intend to do that till the teachers and grocery workers had theirs. But I got my arm twisted by too many friends and neighbors. I really am seeing way too many people a day in the process of drop off and pick-up of ingredients, tents, winter clothing, hand warmers, etc. There has been a spate of home-baked cookies flowing through lately. Amazing cooks! I’m not good at distancing. It’s hard to remember to chase people back to the foot of the stairs when I am so glad to see you. A lovely friend got on the phone and stayed right with me through multiple tries till I had appointments for both me and Zeke. I still feel weird about it, but also kinda relieved. If this blog didn’t have a built-in, many hour lag, I would have sent you all a link!

MUSIC

FAIRHAVEN COLLEGE LIVE CONCERTS ONLINE

Log on every Thursday at 7:00 PM when the link goes live.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/298533994557015/

QUARANTINE HAPPY HOUR

5:30 every single evening
I haven’t reminded you lately of this amazing event! Daily live happy hour music from a different person or musical household every day to keep us connected and supported during the quarantine. The scheduled performer will play an hour of live music for you starting at 5:30PM Pacific Time. Virtual tip jars will be in effect and 100% of the tips go to the performer of the day. Get the quarantini fixings out and enjoy the music!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/quarantinehappyhourmusic

RADIO FREE FL!P: MISSISSIPPI JOHN HURT

You Go To Walk That Lonesome Valley

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85BvT5X6WSo

BONUS: WELCOME TO THE WORLD

From John McCutcheon & Si Kahn, in honor of a brand new life in this sweet old world! Welcome to the world, Phoebe!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuVHfFQdVjw

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. I’d also suggest adding flip@openaccess.org to your contacts because that helps keep my emails from going to your junk mail.

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.

CONTENTS 02/24/2021
Columbia Neighborhood
  Meeting Report
  City Social Media
  Childcare Survey
  Open Starting Today
  Mossy Mentors
Guitar Humidifiers
Homeless Crisis Sales Tax
Soup Brigade
  Crossroads Of Kindness
  Tv Tables Needed
Village Harmony
Radio Free Fl!p: More Rev Davis

COLUMBIA NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION

I enjoyed the Town Hall this evening. Thanks to our neighborhood association board, and to our elected officials who came willing to answer questions, not dodge them. This was also the last meeting chaired by outgoing association president Jill MacIntyre Witt. Jill has been a wonder! Generous, well-organized, thoughtful, passionate, and committed. We have been SO lucky! Thank you Jill!!! Our new president will be Deb Valentine. Contact Deb at <dj.val88@gmail.com> about CNA Membership with your name, address, and how to contact you, and she’ll send you the options of how to join or renew in the time of Covid.

CITY SOCIAL MEDIA

All City social media accounts are listed here: https://cob.org/gov/public/social-media-guidelines

CHILDCARE SURVEY

Hi Columbia Neighbors!,
I hope you’re well! As you likely have seen or heard, United Way is working with Western to conduct a child care study to better understand the need for child care across Whatcom County. As you know, the lack of child care has significant impact on children and families and their economic mobility. 

We are really trying to get broad participation so we can hear from a diverse set of community members from all corners of the county. Those invested in the neighborhoods are key groups that we want to hear from. 

Would you be willing to take this survey and help United Way and Western? They survey is only open for 3 weeks, so we are really hoping to get surveys taken soon.  Here is the link to get to the survey: https://www.unitedwaywhatcom.org/#announcement.

Thank you, ~ Troy Nutter, North Street Resident and member of the Board for United Way of Whatcom County.

OPEN STARTING TODAY

Fountain Community Church will be opening a safe place for middle school aged students. The hope will be to be open in the middle of February thru the end of the school year, Tuesday-Thursday, 2-4pm. FCC is working with the Health Department to make sure that safety protocols are followed. It will be a monitored space with internet access. it could be a great connect space for small groups, or just a place to go just for a change. If you have questions or concerns, please email: rickq2000@yahoo.com.

MOSSY MENTORS

I wanted to let neighbors know about a wonderful outdoor program for 3-5 year olds happening on Tuesdays at Lake Padden. We’ve been sending our 4 year old for the last 6 weeks and he LOVES it! The women mentors are GREAT! Highly recommended. Feel free to contact them directly (see below), or get in touch with me if you want to ask questions. Clara (206) 406-0889 or coolskypie@yahoo.com 

MOSSY MENTORS!
Tuesdays: 9:30am – 1:30pm
$30-$50 per day (Minimum 1 month sign up, $120 – $200 for 4 sessions)
Participants must have transportation, outdoor appropriate gear, snacks.

Who Are The Mentors…? We are passionate about guiding children to connect with their senses & inner knowing about their own experience & the world around them. We aim to create a safe space to integrate the rapid changes of the times we are all living in. Through time spent in nature, imaginative play, practicing wilderness skills, circle time & discussion, trust building exercises, & being present with what arises we will do all that we can to support and guide your children as we learn and adapt alongside them.
Yin Dwyer & Katie Robison,  mossymentors@gmail.com (805)234-7339

GUITAR HUMIDIFIERS

We may be done for this year with the low humidity that can crack guitars and such, but there’s still a chance of snow. I asked Windworks, the music store right across from the RE-Store, to order in my favorite humidifiers, and they just got in a new shipment. I got one more today. Windworks even got refills! The brand is Oasis.

HOMELESS CRISIS SALES TAX

Public meeting on March 8.
This article appeared today in the Bellingham Herald, by Robert Mittendorf

https://www.bellinghamherald.com/news/local/article249440435.html?ac_cid=DM392125&ac_bid=-457651342

Bellingham would collect a new sales tax to ease the homeless crisis by building low-income housing and funding mental health services, under a measure being drafted for consideration in March.

City Councilman Dan Hammill proposed the measure, which would add one-tenth of 1% to Bellingham’s sales tax.

That’s a penny in tax on a $10 purchase.

“What we would be doing is creating another Bellingham Home Fund for affordable housing,” Hammill told The Bellingham Herald in an interview Monday, Feb. 22.

“Voters see the value in this,” Hammill said at a City Council committee session where he introduced the measure.

“They see the solution to homelessness is building housing and providing services for those that need it,” he said.

Such a tax could bring in $3 million a year, Deputy Finance Director Forrest Longman told The Herald in an email.

Current sales tax rate in Bellingham is 8.7%, the same as in Ferndale, Lynden and Mount Vernon, according to the state Department of Revenue.

Seattle’s sales tax rate is 10.1%.

Cities can enact a sales tax for low-income housing under a law that passed the Democratic-controlled Legislature along partisan lines and was signed by Gov. Jay Inslee in 2020.

Hammill’s proposed tax would supplement the Bellingham Home Fund, which is a property tax that collects 36 cents for every $1,000 of assessed value and directs it toward low-income housing.

It raises about $4 million annually, the city said in 2018 when the measure passed with 67% of the vote.

It costs the owner of a $500,000 home $180 a year.

“If we don’t address the fundamental systemic problems squarely, we’ll just keep treating the symptoms,” Hammill told The Herald.

Hammill’s proposal came at the end of a City Council committee session on Monday in which city officials discussed efforts to find housing for the city’s poorest residents — especially those who are homeless and living in motels, temporary shelters or in tents.

“This is not my preferred method. I would prefer the federal government do their job in providing us with funds that we need to address this national issue,” Hammill said during the meeting.

“These are the tools we are left with to address huge failed policy at the federal level. This is the option that we have,” he said.

Council members voted unanimously to have an ordinance authorizing the tax measure ready for consideration at its March 8 meeting.

Under an expedited timeline, it could take effect by March 22, Hammill said.

SOUP BRIGADE

To volunteer to cook a meal, please sign up with me directly – flip@openaccess.org or text 360-671-4511. You can also phone, but it helps me to a have a written record. I’ll be delighted to hand you ingredients and to-go containers. You can also borrow from the pot-and-pan lending library.

CROSSROADS OF KINDNESS

Today three different people went shopping for me! I was blown away by the generosity. LED lanterns for folks without electricity. TP. A mountain of batteries! Food ingredients: my grand-twins got to watch me stagger past their zoom with 20# of cheese in my arms. And we have bacon, and butter, and canned tuna, and canned cream of mushroom soup. Beans, lentils, rice, tomato powder & dried veggie flakes. I have 6 cans of garbanzo beans that no one has adopted yet! Fresh carrots, celery & onions. I have both bread & butter, and with just a few cloves of garlic you could have garlic bread! I forgot to get more chocolate chips, but I have raisins & oatmeal aplenty. It’s been amazing watching the cookie ingredients flow out, and the fresh-baked cookies flow in, and then right back out, leaving the house fragrant with love. I’m now booking cooks into next week, which is deeply reassuring. I’d still love to set you up with a date. Thank you all so much!

TV TABLES NEEDED

Those little folding tables or trays for sitting on the couch eating dinner (TV dinners?) while watching TV? They fold up against the wall, out of the way, in tiny homes. You could bring them here, or to SwiftHaven. Thank you!

VILLAGE HARMONY Annual February Winter Singing Weekend this coming Saturday & Sunday, February 27-28 Join Village Harmony this weekend as we replace our customary in-person 3-day wintertime event with a special online musical extravaganza. We are pleased to present you with a feast of song, a table of delights for you to pick and choose among, with twenty-four separate classes spread out over two days. Master teachers will be beaming in live from the US and Quebec as well as from Norway, Sweden, Corsica, Bosnia, Georgia, South Africa, New Zealand and Iran.

Register for the weekend HERE

RADIO FREE FL!P: MORE REV DAVIS Glory Halleloo! Have you ever heard such guitar? The Reverend Gary Davis inspired a generation of guitarists. He was the real thing. Notice the fade-out at the end. He probably kept going another 10 minutes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=972Dx71AtFA 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. I’d also suggest adding flip@openaccess.org to your contacts because that helps keep my emails from going to your junk mail. 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.

CONTENTS 02/23/2021
Columbia Neighborhood
   Town Hall Tonight
   Share Shack Report
   Reliable Source For N95 Masks
   Window Prowler
   More Free Glass
   Looking For Short Or Longterm Rental
Soup Brigade
   Needs
   Ingredients
Radio Free Fl!p: 12 Gates To The City

COLUMBIA NEIGHBORHOOD TOWN HALL

Online – Zoom Call
Today, Tuesday, 2/23.   6:30-8pm

Join us for a Neighborhood Town Hall and hear updates and action items from our City Council – Hannah Stone, Mayor – Seth Fleetwood, Whatcom PUD Commissioner – Christine Grant and State Legislator – Alicia Rule

The Town Hall focus is local to statewide updates and actions we can take.

AGENDA
1) Welcome and CNA Announcements
2) CNA Treasurer’s and MNAC Report
3) Get to Know Your Neighbors Activity
4) Neighborhood Town Hall
5) Membership Drive
6) Board Elections

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88332968863…
Meeting ID: 883 3296 8863
Passcode: 088987

SHARE SHACK REPORT

What generous neighbors we have! The Columbia Neighborhood Association collected 251 pounds of food on Saturday, February 20, at the Share Shack. It was delivered this morning to the Food Bank. Thank you to all the neighbors who took the time to bring their extra food. The Food Bank staff were very appreciative.

We are still processing CNA membership fees. So far $109 has come in for the six organizations (Food Bank, Homes NOW, the Mission, NW Youth Services, Whatcom Community Foundation, and Whatcom Human Rights Task Force.) If you have any questions, you may email CNA at columbianeighborhoodassociation@protonmail.com.
Thank you!  ~ Deb Valentine

RELIABLE SOURCE FOR N95 MASKS

I recently read in the NY Times that while many folks cannot find N95 masks for sale (they aren’t available on Amazon because of all the knock-offs and to save them for medical workers), the small American companies that stepped up to mass-produce them are going bankrupt with warehouses full of N95’s because they can’t get them to market. With Amazon marketplace unavailable and no existing links to hospitals, no one knows they exist.  If you wish to purchase N95 masks AND support a small American mask manufacturing company, please point your cursor toward the following : Demetech.com, PrestigeAmeriTech.com, ProtectiveHealthGear.com, Alg-Health.com, or UnitedStatesMask.com. 

Prior to reading the NY Times article, I ordered a box of Aura 3M N95 masks from a company called PacMedPro.com. While PacMedPro is a great company, they are not a mask manufacturer (they sell 3M brand masks). Nonetheless, they arrived in 2 days, they are super comfy, and an added bonus, keep my glasses from fogging.  I double-checked that they match CDC guidelines for legitimate masks.

Cheers, Rachel Budelsky (Rachel is married to a medical doctor. I figure she’s likely to be accurate on this one. ~ Fl!p)

WINDOW PROWLER

At 4:30am this morning, a male came onto our porch on Eldridge Ave near toddler park. He was using his phone as a flash light to look through our windows. He then went to our driveway and used his flashlight to look into our basement and shine them on other windows he could easily access. I posted the videos to the Columbia facebook group. Did any other neighbors had activity like this? Thanks, Kacie Emerick  kaciebemerick@gmail.com

MORE FREE GLASS

Temp/Plate Glass	Temp/Plate Glass
3″ x 22.75″	13
30″ x 12″	2
30″ x 14″	6
14″ x 8.75″	75
16″ x 8.75″	80

~ Eric Mastor bubbazoo61@gmail.com

LOOKING FOR SHORT OR LONGTERM RENTAL

A friend of mine, Lisa Tenney, is in need of immediate housing. She is moving out of a very long term rental situation on the outskirts of the Columbia neighborhood due to high mold toxicity. She is looking for a clean, dry place: A 1 or 2 bedroom house or apartment for her and her daughter (and sometimes older daughter as well) that will accept a small, sweet, old dog and cat. Must have good natural light, enough room for a piano, and a bathtub. She is looking for something around $1,300 or less. Lisa is a great caretaker with great references. She is a doula, LMP, and chocolatier. Please contact her at wwoman6@hotmail.com if you know of anything! Thanks!

Kelsey Maloney  maloney.kt@gmail.com (formerly of Elizabeth and Elm Street)

SOUP BRIGADE

Wow! What generosity!! Seven more rolling suitcases came in today. And I got to see some dear old friends delivering gifts. And I wasn’t allowed to hug them! Someday… And I keep making new friends.

A bunch of cooks volunteered today. Thank you SO much! We’re good through next Tuesday, except needing one more cook for Saturday. It sure eased my mind! I know there was a lot more. I can’t think. I’m going to try to go to bed early tonight!

NEEDS

• I need someone to make a Costco run. Is anyone going?
• Does anyone have a power strip that takes those little computer plugs?
• Two women are tent camping downtown. Both need shoes. One 10 1/2-11, one 11-12. If men’s, a bit smaller.

INGREDIENTS

Butter, butter, butter! Please use it! Three kinds of cheese. Eggs. Bacon. Pasta. Rice. Beans of many cultures, including garbanzo (cece) beans! Celery, carrots, onions. Tomato powder & veggie flakes. Several loaves of bread (garlic bread?) Barley. Split peas. Tuna. Really big cans of cream of mushroom soup.

RADIO FREE FL!P: TWELVE GATES TO THE CITY

Reverend Gary Davis, filmed by fellow musicians in Seattle, so we get to see how he does it, if we can figure out exactly how to focus. More songs. If I Had My Way. Candyman. More.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgkrw66PMXg

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. I’d also suggest adding flip@openaccess.org to your contacts because that helps keep my emails from going to your junk mail.

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.

CONTENTS 2/22/2021
Neighborhood
   Columbia Neighborhood Town Hall
   Bunny Has A New Home
   Lost Cat Is Home
   Send Me More News!
Soup Brigade
   Bellingham Community Meal
   Cooks Needed
   No Meal Train
   Cooking Guidance From An  Outreacher
   Shelving!
   Ingredients
   Outreacher On Cleanups
Radio Free Fl!p: PJ’s Lullaby   

COLUMBIA NEIGHBORHOOD TOWN HALL

Online – Zoom Call
Tuesday, 2/23.   6:30-8pm

Join us for a Neighborhood Town Hall and hear updates and action items from our City Council – Hannah Stone, Mayor – Seth Fleetwood, Whatcom PUD Commissioner – Christine Grant and State Legislator – Alicia Rule

The Town Hall focus is local to statewide updates and actions we can take.

AGENDA
1) Welcome and CNA Announcements
2) CNA Treasurer’s and MNAC Report
3) Get to Know Your Neighbors Activity
4) Neighborhood Town Hall
5) Membership Drive
6) Board Elections
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88332968863…
Meeting ID: 883 3296 8863
Passcode: 088987

BUNNY HAS A NEW HOME

And he is already there!

LOST CAT IS HOME

Kim the cat showed up at the pound, and is safely home. Whew!

NEED MORE NEWS!

OK neighborhood, I want a report on the Share Shack event yesterday. And what else is going on that I’ve missed by staying home. Our first batch of yellow crocuses are in full bloom! The first primroses are twinkling magenta out front. The star magnolias are showing off their sweet pet-able pussy-willow buds (be gentle!). The hellebores have revived after the freeze. Tulips & daffodils are poking their leaves up. And our camellia sasanqua tree is in full bloom. And all my lovely sword ferns got scorched in the freeze. But they will unfurl fresh leaves soon enough. I think it’s supposed to be time to plant peas but I haven’t yet. The days are definitely getting longer now, in all the world except the southern hemisphere…

SOUP BRIGADE

BELLINGHAM COMMUNITY MEAL

This Saturday is the Bellingham Community Meal. Hot lunches in to-go containers are provided for all who need them. Bellingham Community Meal has been in existence for decades and provides a warm, nutritious meal to anyone who needs it. The BCM takes place at the Assumption Gym on the last Saturday of the month from January through October. During Covid, the meal pickup time is 12:30-2:30pm. This Saturday is the last Saturday in February, so we will have hundreds of warm, take-out meals ready. Last month was steak, potatoes and roasted Brussel sprouts.

COOKS NEEDED

I’m low on cooks after Thursday, and run out completely for Friday. Email, text or phone me to figure out a day to cook dinner for 25, or even for 10 or 15. Every bit helps!

flip@openaccess.org, 360-671-4511. Thank you!!!

NO MEAL TRAIN

I am not currently encouraging cooks to sign up for the Camp 210 meal train for Geri Fields. There have been too many recent instances where volunteers have had unsafe encounters there. You can sign up with me directly, by email or text or phone. You will either deliver your meals to SwiftHaven or a volunteer will pick up from your house. Experienced outreachers will get your meals distributed one to one with folks who need them, including at Geri.

COOKING GUIDANCE FROM AN OUTREACHER

Butter is magic! When biscuits, muffins or cornbread are dry, no one eats them. The trick is to drench baked goods with butter the minute they come out of the oven. Those sleeping on the ground need calories and want flavor because they’re burning energy to stay warm. We will provide lots of butter and cheese (and bacon) to increase the fat/calorie content of meals this winter. Feel free to ask me for extra.

SHELVING!

My life got so much better today! I now have a big, solid wooden shelf in my front hall, and it is stuffed with ingredients, and don’t have to move a bunch of boxes to get to them! Thank you one and all!!! And the rest of the shelves  are just waiting for set up, and then we can bring in ALL the sleeping bags and ground pads.

INGREDIENTS

I gave away almost all the cheese and bacon, but I hope to have more by later tomorrow. I’ve got butter, eggs, oatmeal, raisins… How about oatmeal cookies? 40 pounds of pasta, huge tin of tuna, big cans of cream of mushroom soup. Pretty easy to make a simple tuna noodle casserole. Lentils. There haven’t been many lentil dishes lately. We’re still working our way through that 50# bag of onions. Carrots & celery. I’ve got two beautiful jars of pesto. Doesn’t someone want to do something amazing (and easy) with them? Rice! I can’t think of the last time someone made a primarily rice-based dish. Think of all the cultures where rice is the foundation. I also have a bunch of tomato powder, which stirs up in to tomato paste with just a little water. Also dried veggie flakes. And of course, all the take-out containers, pots & pans….

OUTREACHER ON CLEANUPS

May we consider advocating for when city cleanups occur, that more time is allowed for camper and city parks volunteers, & citizens to assist in packing up and relocating their living and outdoor survival supplies.

RADIO FREE FL!P: PJ’S LULLABY

Martin Hayes & Dennis Cahill. I’m dreaming of an early bedtime tonight. Wishing you a gentle unwinding in this lovely tune.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaMqChG81p4&list=RDaaMqChG81p4&start_radio=1

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. I’d also suggest adding flip@openaccess.org to your contacts because that helps keep my emails from going to your junk mail.

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.

CONTENTS 02/21/2021
New Format
  Columbia Neighborhood Town Hall
  House Fire Fund
  Bunny Love!
  Found Wedding Ring
  Glass Shelving
Soup Brigade
   Needed
   Thank You!
Ingredients
Cooks Needed
  Community Conversations
    Crisis Intervention Training
      Homeless In Whatcom County
   Indoor Tiny Homes
Music
   Jim And Susie Malcolm
   Susan Ellenton
Halfway Birthday
Radio Free Fl!p: Brownie Mcghee

REORGANIZATION

I’m going to try something different. This list started as a Columbia neighborhood email list, which I ran for 15 years or so, with a couple thousand people on it by a year ago. I also had a music list which I ran in various forms for over 40 years, with a thousand people or so. Mostly two different groups. At the beginning of the pandemic a year ago, I began posting what I could learn from trusted sources, trying to to shed more light and less panic. And then my emails started bouncing. I was emailing to too many people, too often, with too many links. I tripped all the triggers for being tagged as a spammer. Subscribers would contact their service providers saying they wanted to receive my posts, but the big companies said no. Some kind and generous folks then built me a blog that could send the emails, and we combined my lists and ran them through the blog. That seemed to work reasonably well except for a lag time of several hours. Neighbors don’t seem to mind getting the music posts, and there are far fewer of them since there are far fewer concerts.

Since November, our local homeless emergency has come to the forefront, and then some! But I had an email from a neighbor today explaining that she could no longer bear to read my emails and wishes I would split my list. I have worried about that! I don’t think I can handle two blogs, but what I am going to try is to put the neighborhood posts first. All of them. Because more than half of my subscribers are neighbors. I will run the Soup Brigade posts after, and then the music. You can scroll past the parts you don’t want, or notice all that goes on in our amazing neighborhood!

And end with a song…

COLUMBIA NEIGHBORHOOD TOWN HALL

Online – Zoom Call
Tuesday, 2/23.  6:30-8pm

Join us for a Neighborhood Town Hall and hear updates and action items from our City Council – Hannah Stone, Mayor – Seth Fleetwood, Whatcom PUD Commissioner – Christine Grant and State Legislator – Alicia Rule

The Town Hall focus is local to statewide updates and actions we can take.

AGENDA
1) Welcome and CNA Announcements
2) CNA Treasurer’s and MNAC Report
3) Get to Know Your Neighbors Activity
4) Neighborhood Town Hall
5) Membership Drive
6) Board Elections
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88332968863…
Meeting ID: 883 3296 8863
Passcode: 088987

HOUSE FIRE FUND

Whoops! I forgot to include a link in yesterday’s thank you from Yoav’s neighbors.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-yoav-recover-from-his-housefire/

BUNNY LOVE!

Winnie is the sweetest bunny! Do you know anyone who would like him?  Unfortunately we cannot take him with us and the person who was going to take him no longer can. Text for photos. He’s adorable  Jenny 360-630-9363

FOUND WEDDING RING

Found a man’s wedding band ring on a walk near corner of Victor and Washington today 2/20. Probably a size 11-12. There are some very distinguishing parts of it. Let me know if you think it’s yours. 💗 ~ Kate Ferry, Williams Street. Kateferry02@gmail.com

GLASS SHELVING

We have tons of glass shelving from the old JC Penny downtown.  There are over 200 pieces and we’re ready to let them go for free.  Here’s a list of the sizes.  Some are tempered and others are plate glass:

Plate Glass Pieces        Number of Panes
3″ x 22.75″                             18
12″ x 12″                                14
30″ x 12″                                 2
30″ x 14″                                 6
30″ x 18″                                 5
14″ x 8.75″                             75
16″ x 8.75″                             80
36″ x 8.75″                             13
49″ x 12″                                18
Eric Mastor, Utter Street.   bubbazoo61@gmail.com

SOUP BRIGADE

NEEDED

* Propane parts, tanks, propane. With Texas in crisis, the cost of propane has doubled and availability of parts has plummeted. Our unsheltered neighbors depend on propane for all forms of heat. If you have spare parts, or spare green bottles or bigger bottles to share, this is a good moment.
* Still more hand & toe warmers. We’ve gotten a bunch in, which is great! But especially with the propane shortage, we’re going to need more.
* Men’s jeans, work pants, cargo shorts: size 32, 34, 36.
* Men’s Shoes: size 8.5, 10, 11, 12 & half sizes. Waterproof.
* Women’s bras: size 34, 36, 38 B & C.
* Extra large contractor-weight garbage bags.
* Large & extra large men’s gloves. Not cotton.
* Fruit Snacks, those things like gummy bears (not fruit leather). We’re not focused on healthy, here. We do healthy with hot meals!

THANK YOU!

We have, or have been offered, shelving! This is going to be SO great!!! As soon as shelving is up, I can start picking up or having delivered sleeping bags & ground pads & blankets. We received a huge box of mylar blankets today! And some low-sugar high-electrolyte powder packets for our outreachers to carry in their packs for emergencies. The first batch of sleeping bags is at the store. The next is due soon. We’ll pick them up as soon as we have shelving set up for them.

INGREDIENTS

We’ve got beans! Canned black beans and garbanzos, dried pintos, black beans, white beans, lentils (orange, ivory, and I think green/brown), split peas. And bacon and onions to make them oh so nice! I’ve got grains: white rice, brown rice, barley, oatmeal. I’ve got pasta. I’ve got shredded cheddar, sharp and mild. And mozzarella. Real butter. One more bag of chocolate chips if you want to make some cookies. I’ve got cornmeal for loaded muffins. Fresh celery & carrots. Freeze-dried veggie flakes and tomato powder. Canned tomato chunks. I’ve got way too many eggs! Come get these eggs and do some baking: muffins, cookies, strata…

COOKS NEEDED

I’m low on cooks after tomorrow, and run out completely after Wednesday. Email, text or phone me to figure out a day to cook dinner for 25, or even for 10 or 15. Every bit helps!

flip@openaccess.org, 360-671-4511. Thank you!!!

NAMI WHATCOM

Is hosting 2 upcoming community conversations online

CRISIS INTERVENTION TRAINING
Thursday  2/25/2021  6-8pm

Renee Balodis-Cox, LHMC, MA, MS A certified trainer in Edgework methodology, will teach effective ways to approach and respond to those in crisis, particularly those suffering from mental illness and drug abuse. You will learn strategies for safe, positive, and helpful responses to situations that can be dangerous. We hope the training gives you more confidence and compassion in dealing with those in crisis. CEU s available online

register online  here

HOMELESS IN WHATCOM COUNTY
Monday 3/1/2021  6-8pm

Hear from a panel of frontline providers, ask questions

register online  here

INDOOR TINY HOMES

https://minnesotareformer.com/2021/02/18/indoor-tiny-house-village-for-homeless-people-set-to-open-next-month-minneapolis/?fbclid=IwAR22Xrn3TCzPPU4M7pTC28DfNE6HkEgGFOQTIGzx9otabmpczOVo1umnzQE

MUSIC

Nancy’s Farm presents:
JIM AND SUSIE MALCOLM

Live in concert by Zoom from Scotland
Harmonies, banter, images, slideshows…
Sunday Feb 21, 2021 @ 2pm PST
Traditional and contemporary Scottish folk songs with guitar and harmonica,  including some old favorites and selections from their forthcoming album
Suggested donation $15
To register please email: susie@jimmalcolm.com
(please mention you are registering for the Bellingham WA concert.)
Zoom codes and donation links will be sent to all who register.
If we can’t be in the same room
then let’s be in the same Zoom

SUSAN ELLENTON

It’s almost a year since my new album Learning to Listen went to press, immediately followed by the double whammy of Covid and my frozen shoulder adventure. Now, Learning to Listen is number nine (can you believe it?!) on the North American folk radio charts and it’s time to celebrate!

Monday, February 22 at 4:30 Pacific time, we’ll be live streaming from our living room to yours. That’s the first set. I’ll be singing piano songs from the new album, telling stories and harmonizing with Robert because, that’s what we do!

Then, Thursday, February 25 the 2nd set starts at 7:30 Pacific time. We’ll build our set list for the second set from your requests!

These concerts will stream on Youtube as part of the 2021 Folk Alliance Unlocked conference. Follow these links anytime to YouTube and click on the video to set a timely reminder to be automatically sent to you.

Here’s the links:
Monday Feb 22nd at 4:30 Pacific Time    https://youtu.be/40wIFF080to
Thursday Feb 25th at 7:30 Pacific Time   https://youtu.be/N3uD4AFD-ZQ Come share the love! We’ll save the comfiest chair for you!
to hear Learning to Listen, the new album, visit

www.singfornoreason.com

HALFWAY BIRTHDAY

I wrote this to a friend who turned 50 today. There’s a lovely ritual I was taught, especially for this year of life: Pick up a pack of 50 tea lights (or be gifted with a set from a friend.) Do your research, journaling, note-taking before you begin. It could take weeks or months to prepare. When you’re ready, alone or with beloved witnesses, lay out your candles in a spiral. Light the center candle, and as you do, say an event or memory, or sing a song from the first year of your life. Continue year by year to the present. If you missed your fiftieth year, you can always choose to do it later.

RADIO FREE FL!P: BROWNIE MCGHEE

I’m pretty sure this footage was recorded in Seattle when I was a teenager. Folk musicians I knew brought amazing players to town, and recorded them with a musician’s eye. You can actually see what he’s doing with his hands! And Brownie is telling stories from his life and from his heart. Three songs tonight, recorded live in the 60s.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIu3v2GFSqo

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. I’d also suggest adding flip@openaccess.org to your contacts because that helps keep my emails from going to your junk mail.

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.

CONTENTS 2/20/2021
   Finding Swifthaven
   Your Gifts
   Needed
   What A Tiny Home Has Meant
Columbia Neighborhood Association
   Canned Food & Membership Drive
   Quarterly Meeting
This Neighborhood Rocks!
Input Opportunity
Yofi Is Home
Lost Cat
Radio Free Fl!p: They’re Calling Me Home

FINDING SWIFTHAVEN

We had a confusing event last night, which led to a great resolution. To begin with, I got this email from one of yesterday’s cooks:

When we went to deliver the food, we were met by an unmasked young man in front of the food tent who insisted on getting quite close to us in the guise of helping us to carry our stuff.  I am now feeling quite conflicted about preparing food if those receiving it cannot be bothered to protect others from potentially serious infection.

Oh! That’s TERRIBLE!!! Were you at the lower parking lot with lots of tents, or at the tiny house village up the hill from there? We have stopped asking volunteers to deliver meals to the tent encampment because of other incidents like this. Your safety is very, very important to me. Love/Fl!p

And then I contacted SwiftHaven, in an absolute panic. I think my greatest fear in this project is not having enough cooks to sustain delivering hot meals. We couldn’t tell where the incident happened. But we all put our heads together and came up with a plan. They found  a cell phone for Heather J, who has undertaken the task of receiving from cooks. And someone agreed to add her to their unlimited “family plan” at only $20 a month. And I sent that person $120 by PayPal to pay for 6 months of service for Heather. Now that she’s living at the tiny home village no one is likely to steal her phone. So cooks will be able to phone her before they leave home with their hot meals to coordinate delivery. WHEW!!!! 

This morning I got this back from my cooks, about last night:

We were at the tent place. D___ put the address he thought we were supposed to go to into his GPS. We didn’t see anything when we got to the spot on the GPS and kept driving some way and came to the tent village. Sorry about the mixup.

So, despite the mixup, these cooks helped us take a really big step in improving our ability to coordinate. I’m SO glad they let me know!

I still need to figure out how to make the destination MUCH clearer in my directions to SwiftHaven for cooks. There are tiny homes rather than tents, with a big chain link fence. I will work on refining my directions, and always include Heather J’s phone number.

The SwiftHaven folks do not wear masks inside their fence, because they were all tested for Covid before they moved in, and they decided together that within their fence was “home.” They are figuring out how to be family for each other. But they are quite responsible towards people from outside.

Sometimes we all still forget masks. I have people come to my own door at least a couple times a week who have forgotten their masks. I have gotten in my car and driven several blocks from home before realizing I forgot my own mask. I finally stored some spares in the car. We’re still all learning to live in this new world.

I talk through the glass in my front door, and offer others a mask. And ask them (and all of you) to please talk with me from the foot of our steps, for my safety. If someone forgets these days, you can ask them politely to mask up. I am 70, in a vulnerable age group, with immune deficiencies. But I have the privilege of staying home. So far, I think it makes sense for me to wait until school teachers and grocery workers and other front-line workers who don’t have the choice to stay home, have gotten their vaccines. In the meantime, I’d love your help talking with me from below our bottom step, because I keep forgetting to ask.

YOUR GIFTS

In this COVID winter, it seems to me that this is an extraordinarily hard year to be homeless, with fewer resources than any year in recent memory. A good time to bring people together to help. I have been just blown away at the kindness that flows through our door. And now some folks have figured out that they can order online and send donations directly to our house. And in most cases, I have no idea who sent it!!! So I am listing some of the amazing arrivals here, with deep gratitude:

Two big boxes of hand warmers (I actually know who sent these and wrote immediately to say thank you); two big boxes of toe warmers; two boxes of AAA batteries; six mylar emergency “sleeping bags;” 8 pairs of wonderful leather men’s large gloves!!! More gloves. Fleece gloves. All big enough. And wool socks!

People continue to show up with wonderful rolling luggage. I think we’ve had 8 so far, and 3 good backpacks as well. A friend sent a delivery of TP, AAA batteries, and dog kibble directly to one of the Out-Reacher’s homes. Folks showed up this week with boxes and boxes of canned & dry goods for cooks to transform. And shelving!!!  At least three sets of shelves have been offered.

People have donated money as well. I’m buying really good supplies on sale, at deep discount because they’re in bulk. And I have finally realized I can contribute to gasoline for the Out-Reachers. You would not believe how many miles they are driving a week this winter! And none of them are wealthy. Caring for others should not cut into their ability to care for their own families. Thank you for leaving me flexibility to notice needs and help, not just those without shelter, but the helpers as well. We are the Hands Of God.

NEEDED

* 32, 34, 36 jeans, sweats, carharts – no dress pants. And cargo shorts for next summer, we can take them now! We need lots.
* Men’s Shoes, 10, 11, 12 & half sizes. Waterproof.
* One pair men’s boots 8-8.5 for a large woman
* Women’s bras: 34, 36, 38 B & C cup
* More fruit snacks. Please no more granola bars or instant noodles/oatmeal/cocoa powder now that the warming shelter has closed. Many neighbors without shelter have no access to hot water. We’re sharing what we already have with folks in RVs and motels, but we have plenty for now. Fruit Snacks are like gummy candy rather than like fruit leather. They stay soft in cold weather and can be chewed by people who haven’t been able to afford dentistry, sometimes for a long time.
* Waist-high shelves for my front entry. Really sturdy. I’d get less exercise unstacking and re-stacking boxes, but my back would appreciate that.
* D cell batteries – about 8 total.
* Picnic table for SwiftHaven
* Someone to do a SmartFood run, again! (This makes me really happy because so many people have been picking up ingredients, pots & pans from the lending library, and containers. There has been some amazing food going out lately.)
* More cooks to sign up for next week! Email or text or phone me. Contact info is at the end of every email I send. We can discuss ingredients together.

WHAT A TINY HOME HAS MEANT

I found this video of interviews with tiny home residents in Toronto very touching.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdbmLKaGleg

COLUMBIA NEIGHBORHOOD CANNED FOOD & MEMBERSHIP DRIVE

Saturday 2/20  10am-2pm

Help out others! Drive by the Share Shack to donate canned goods that will be delivered to The Food Bank. ALSO, we will have our annual CNA Membership Drive AT the Share Shack (Corner of W. Connecticut and Henry St) where 40% of your membership will be donated to one of the following organizations of your choice: Whatcom Human Rights Task Force, Whatcom Community Foundation, Homes Now, The Mission, Northwest Youth Services or The Food Bank. $10 individual membership, $15 for family membership. You can drive up and we will have COVID safe measures for paying for your membership (cash, check, venmo options) and for letting us know where you want your donation to go! If you can’t make it to the membership drive, please fill out this form and someone will be in touch with you: https://docs.google.com/…/1M1UiLSCUMfy29LQRGgO…/edit 

DATE CORRECTION!

COLUMBIA NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION QUARTERLY MEETING

Online – Zoom Call
Tuesday, 2/23   6:30-8pm

Join us for a Neighborhood Town Hall and hear updates and action items from our City Council – Hannah Stone, Mayor – Seth Fleetwood, Whatcom PUD Commissioner – Christine Grant and State Legislator – Alicia Rule

The Town Hall focus is local to statewide updates and actions we can take.

AGENDA
1) Welcome and CNA Announcements
2) CNA Treasurer’s and MNAC Report
3) Get to Know Your Neighbors Activity
4) Neighborhood Town Hall
5) Membership Drive
6) Board Elections

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88332968863..Z
Meeting ID: 883 3296 8863
Passcode: 088987

THANK YOU / THIS NEIGHBORHOOD ROCKS!

Earlier this week I suggested the idea of starting a GoFundMe page to help support our neighbor, Yoav Yanich, who lost his house and life partner to a house fire. At the time, I thought it might be a long shot, but boy howdy has this neighborhood surpassed even my wildest hopes! Nothing can replace what Yoav has lost, but this overwhelming show of neighborly love must certainly bring some joy. Thank you from the bottom of my heart! Also, a HUGE thank you to Katie Jorgensen for setting up and managing the account!)  Feeling so much gratitude right now . . . ~ Lysa Rivera (Victor Street)

INPUT OPPORTUNITY

Democracy is not a spectator sport! I think a key part of creating affordable housing is publicly owned land. This should be interesting to follow. There’s a place for us to offer input.

https://cob.org/services/planning/development/multifamily-zoning

YOFI IS HOME

Miracle of miracles! Yofi has been found! A man, Ken, from Kenmore called me asking if I was the owner of a dog. He was going to read the license # and I asked him what he looked like. He said, kind of like a small german shepherd.

I said, That’s it! It’s Yofi! He looked at the collar and he said “Yofi!” I thanked him with all my heart and then some and took down his #. He said Yofi was fine and he was playing with his small poodle. More thanks. Then I called Linda and she answered sadly. I told her. She was in ecstasy. After our call she was going to call Ken and get directions and drive down and scoop up Yofi in her living arms. His name is “Yofi”.  My son David named him. It’s Hebrew. It means “wonderful, lovely.” Amazing Grace!  ~ Esther Faber

LOST CAT

Our friends live on Northwest right across from Goods. Their kitty Kim is missing. She has no collar and no chip 🙁 Get in touch with Tom & Kirah Loeffler @ 360.812.1383. Thank you! ~ Julea Ivancovich  (360) 820-3581

https://bellingham.craigslist.org/pet/d/bellingham-lost-cat/7280042656.html

RADIO FREE FL!P: THEY’RE CALLING ME HOME

Rhiannon Giddens. This is just stunning!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3siE2xbVD34

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. I’d also suggest adding flip@openaccess.org to your contacts because that helps keep my emails from going to your junk mail.

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.

CONTENTS 2/18/2021
Seeking Shelving
Why Housing Is Hard: Fungibility
Soup Brigade
Apples?
Canned Food & Membership Drive
Date Correction: Quarterly Meeting
Large-Scale Community Vaccination
Vaccine Finders
Diamond Jim’s Reopening!
Missing Dog
Monthly Rental Sought
Small Things
Radio Free Fl!p: A Little Help From My Friends

SEEKING SHELVING

I’m looking for some big metal garage shelves to store homeless supplies on. (Or maybe a bunk bed frame with no mattresses?) The sleeping bags are coming!!! It will take some time to get each bag situated one-on-one with someone who really needs it. Same with the closed-cell-foam ground pads I’m ordering. So I need a safe way to store them off the floor. I’ve been pouncing on great supplies available right now, while they are on sale! I’d like to buy used shelving or bunk beds. Bookshelves won’t be deep enough. I’ve been watching Craigslist but have found nothing local yet. I’d be delighted to have help searching. Thank you! Love/Fl!p

WHY HOUSING IS HARD: FUNGIBILITY

I was so impressed with this that I requested permission to reprint it here. I’m grateful to have a better understanding of another part of the challenges we face

You can’t just reallocate funds, they’re not that flexible. If you’re going to ask for taxes to be collected you have to say what those taxes are going to be collected for. Once you’ve stated that you’re going to spend the money on something, you can’t just decide after you’ve collected the money, to spend it on something else. I would love it if it worked that way, but I also like the idea of the checks and balances, because it only takes one person to make it all go horribly wrong if we don’t have these tools in place. In simplistic terms if you were to give your preteen five dollars to go to the store and buy milk and they came home with candy, you’d be upset. Well taxes are the same way. Housing Authorities across the country have been trying to create some flexibility in their financial accounting for emergencies and they’ve had some success and some disappointments over the years.

Putting up housing, especially in the downtown area, is an extremely expensive thing, because there is land acquisition, receiving bids from the architecture firms and the contractors. This entire process has to follow federal, state and city laws, laws like the Davis–Bacon Act of 1931, Just to name one. If you’re using taxes from Federal collection, state collection, and/or city collection, they each have their own requirements attached before you’re allowed to tap into that money. The Samish Commons development went about it a little backwards because the Housing Authority acquired the land first, due to the city taking the property in eminent domain. The whole process of acquiring the land and then handing it over to the Housing Authority took about four years. The Housing Authority had to established designation qualifications for the property in order to acquire funding. Because the Housing Authority works with tax dollars they can’t just acquire property and sit on it; there has to be a plan put into place first.

Every penny of tax dollars comes with rules attached. If we want to make real change we need to start going through some of those rules and figuring out if they are helping or hindering the process. Housing Authorities across the nation have fought to have some fungibility, so that they could be a bit more independent. But since the Bush administration, the clamp down on what can and can’t be used by tax dollars has gotten less flexible and not more. It took our Housing Authority here in town about three years to get funding to replace the elevators in the towers because that’s how long it took to go through the red tape on the federal end. Our Housing Authority here can’t make a move without getting OK from the feds at some point along the process, because every Housing Authority property is wrapped up in tax credits and or the section 8 program which are two federal programs that help us achieve low income housing in the first place. The federal government audits the Housing Authority every year, to ensure that they are doing best practices, and to double check that the tax dollars are being spent on the things that were promised. Each Housing Authority gets a rating from the federal government and if a Housing Authority isn’t doing best practices they get put into a category called “troubled.” If they can’t pull themselves out of that category, the feds can come in and shut them down.

I know when you’re standing outside the process it can look like things should be easier, and I agree to some point it should be just a little easier than it is. However, I’ll take these rules and these complications because they are proof that the program is doing what it supposed to be doing. I can point to a lot of properties around town that demonstrate that the program works, because year after year we continue to chip away at the lack of low income housing in our town. I do wish that available low income housing could keep up with the pace of homelessness and the demand of low income housing, but I’ll take what we can get over nothing at all. The Housing Authority is only one small part of an overall network, working on these problems. It does have its place, but by no means can solve every issue which is why we need interconnected systems working together because nothing is going to be a one size fits all. There is no simple quick answer. I wish there was. ~ BJ Plaskett

SOUP BRIGADE

I’ve got pasta & lentils & beans & rice
Cornmeal & barley & bacon & cheese
Butter & onions to make it all nice
Containers to hold it as snug as you please
One could make soup that’s delightful to taste
If one doesn’t, ingredients all go to waste

APPLES?

Hi Neighbors –

The “apple sauce guy” piping up one more time:

You haven’t heard much of the apple detail of this soup brigade operation, because the apple supply had literally dried up. Or found a way of self mushing. It’s a natural, seasonal thing and I don’t blame the homegrown apples. They all were delicious, my, my, my, to the very end…

Well, I morphed into a passable casserole cook. That too is enjoyable and makes me believe to warm as much and stick even more urgently to the ribs, while our long term planning, our stake in it as a community need to find focus, consensus, along with all the questions that need to be asked and answers need to be thought of and courage need to be figured out…

However, back to sauce: since I still have this great loaner mashing equipment that I promised to give back in March…anybody wanting me to turn their bottom of the apple crate into one more round of tummy smiles? Give me a shout. ~ Max Eberhard pappenspiel@gmail.com

COLUMBIA NEIGHBORHOOD CANNED FOOD & MEMBERSHIP DRIVE

Saturday 2/20  from 10am-2pm

Help out others and drive by the Share Shack and donate canned goods that will be delivered to The Food Bank. ALSO, we will have our annual CNA Membership Drive AT the Share Shack (Corner of W. Connecticut and Henry St) where 40% of your membership will be donated to one of the following organizations of your choice: Whatcom Human Rights Task Force, Whatcom Community Foundation, Homes Now, The Mission, Northwest Youth Services or The Food Bank. $10 individual membership, $15 for family membership. You can drive up and we will have COVID safe measures for paying for your membership (cash, check, venmo options) and for letting us know where you want your donation to go! If you can’t make it to the membership drive, please fill out this form and someone will be in touch with you: https://docs.google.com/…/1M1UiLSCUMfy29LQRGgO…/edit 

DATE CORRECTION!
COLUMBIA NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION QUARTERLY MEETING

Online – Zoom Call
Tuesday, 2/23
6:30-8pm

Join us for a Neighborhood Town Hall and hear updates and action items from our City Council – Hannah Stone, Mayor – Seth Fleetwood, Whatcom PUD Commissioner – Christine Grant and State Legislator – Alicia Rule

The Town Hall focus is local to statewide updates and actions we can take.

AGENDA
1) Welcome and CNA Announcements
2) CNA Treasurer’s and MNAC Report
3) Get to Know Your Neighbors Activity
4) Neighborhood Town Hall
5) Membership Drive
6) Board Elections

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88332968863…
Meeting ID: 883 3296 8863
Passcode: 088987

LARGE-SCALE COMMUNITY VACCINATION CLINIC COMING IN MARCH

Today, a community collaboration of healthcare providers, including Bellingham Technical College (BTC), Family Care Network, PeaceHealth, Sea Mar Community Health Centers, Unity Care NW and the Whatcom County Health Department announce plans to open a large-scale community COVID-19 vaccination clinic to be located at Bellingham Technical College.

The Steering Committee anticipates opening the vaccine clinic in March, depending on vaccine availability. The group’s goal is to vaccinate up to 5,000 people at this site per week, depending on the reliability of weekly vaccine shipments from the state. The group is working diligently to finalize operations, staffing, logistics and other details

The community vaccination clinic will abide by the Washington State Department of Health’s phased guidelines for vaccine eligibility. Whatcom County is currently in Phase 1B Tier 1 of vaccine distribution. Those currently eligible for vaccination include anyone 65 and older, all people 50 and older who live in multigenerational households, workers in healthcare settings and long-term care facility staff and residents. Demand for the vaccine still exceeds supply. All parties are hopeful vaccine shipments will increase in the coming weeks.

www.whatcomcounty.us/covidvaccine

VACCINE FINDERS

https://www.doh.wa.gov/Emergencies/COVID19/Vaccine

https://www.covidwa.com/?zipcode=98225

DIAMOND JIM’S REOPENING!

This just in from Jim: Diamond Jim’s is opening up for inside dining tomorrow morning (Feb 19) at 7am to 1:30 pm. Friday through Monday for now. ~ Karen Walkup,  Lynn St

MISSING DOG

Yofi,  my share dog with Linda Burns, was stolen. Yesterday Linda’s Dakota truck was parked in a lot while she was shopping. She left Yofi in the cab while she’d shopped. She came out and her truck was gone. The police know.  ~ Love, Esther

https://bellingham.craigslist.org/laf/d/bellingham-missing-dog-yofi/7279324787.html

https://bellingham.craigslist.org/laf/d/bellingham-lost-dogplease-help/7279366474.html

MONTHLY RENTAL SOUGHT

Musician friends of Margie Katz & Mike Schway: My husband and I are looking for a place to stay for a month or more from March 15 to  around April 15.  We own a home in Metaline Falls, WA near Spokane but have been renting a house in Bellingham during the winter but our lease ends March 15.  I need to extend by at least a month because of a sudden leg injury and because all my doctors that have been dealing with it are here and not at my home in Eastern Washington.  Please contact me if you know of any houses, apartments, etc. we could rent in the Bellingham area.  We would need a kitchen, heat, hopefully WIFI, and it would have to be mostly furnished. Please contact me at kathrynjobowman@gmail.com or 509 675-6749.  Thank you.

SMALL THINGS

When people talk about time-traveling to the past, they worry about radically changing the present by doing something small. But barely anyone in the present really thinks they can radically change the future by doing something small. I really like the thought of each of us doing small things, together, in a way that makes the present better for everyone.

RADIO FREE FL!P: A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS

Re-imagined by my beloved friend Linda Waterfall. If you never knew her, you missed a lot. And now her friends have come together and given us the gift of some amazing recordings of her music, her heart, her humor, her presence. Check the beautiful website, and that hilarious song about family holidays!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3g7VbKP2fc&feature=emb_logo

LindaWaterfall.com

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. I’d also suggest adding flip@openaccess.org to your contacts because that helps keep my emails from going to your junk mail.

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.

CONTENTS 2/18/2021
Where Did They GO?
   Soup Brigade
   Rolling Luggage
   Please Call Off Hats And Scarves
Columbia Neighborhood Association Quarterly Meeting
Fire
Pass The Hat
Waste & Whatnot
Lost:  Chocolate Brown Mouton Mitten
Radio Free Fl!p: Home

WHERE DID THEY GO?

When the Warming Center closed, where did the approximately 100 people who took shelter there go? I found this interesting chart on the numbers staying at Base Camp. I can’t see much of a change in numbers there. As near as I can tell, Base Camp numbers seem to include the Drop In Center numbers. Is there anyone out there who could talk with me about how the various agencies interlock? Who all does housing? Is there any information collected on who falls through the cracks, besides anecdotal observations?

https://www.thelighthousemission.org/stories-and-info/nightly-numbers-at-base-camp/

SOUP BRIGADE

It’s been amazing watching ingredients and supplies flow in and back out the door here! It was a busy day. And we’re getting more cooks lined up. You could be one of them! I forgot to mention yesterday that I got a couple big tins of tuna, and some cream of mushroom soup, and pasta. Would anyone be up for making Tuna Noodle Casserole? And I have mountains of dried beans. Tomato powder and canned tomato chunks. Harissa paste. And onions of course. Chili anybody? I still have potatoes, and a box of cornmeal. Eggs. We got a magnificent huge load of ingredients delivered yesterday. Several cooks are making cookies with the huge bag of chocolate chips that was donated. It sounds like tomorrow there will be a bunch of canned beans available to cook with. No need to soak them.

Someone spoke up for the corned beef, and will add potatoes, onions, etc for hash. And they also will make cornbread muffins loaded with bacon & cheese to serve with the hash. Yum!

I’ve added more cooking slots, so we can offer some meals to SwiftHaven folks, who are dealing with emotional issues among some of the residents. Many are coming out of survival mode, and a few are falling apart, which is to be expected. (Who hasn’t been shook up in an accident, felt kinda dazed and maybe a little numb, but not started noticing any feelings till finally safe at home?) The other residents are gathering around to support those who are struggling. We don’t expect this to be endless, but right now, we’re happy to get them some extra support while they do the work needed to build a real community out of 25 strangers who have been in survival mode for a long time.

ROLLING LUGGAGE

I asked yesterday, and by this evening seven rolling suitcases & a backpack showed up. Outreachers are sorting out who can make good use of them, and which individuals are likely to be able to hold on to them in the event of another sweep. Thank you to every one of you!!! Amazing!

PLEASE CALL OFF HATS AND SCARVES

Sorry. They’ve been glorious! At this point local needs have been met. But they still really need heavy, padded, warm socks with wool or polyester content and no cotton. And Large & Extra-Large Men’s gloves. Gloves get worn out, torn, and lost. And most of the folks with the least shelter, are men. So we need big gloves!

COLUMBIA NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION QUARTERLY MEETING

Wednesday, February 24, 2021 at 6:15 PM PST
Online – Zoom Call

Join us for a Neighborhood Town Hall and hear updates and action items from our City Council – Hannah Stone, Mayor – Seth Fleetwood, Whatcom PUD Commissioner – Christine Grant and State Legislator – Alicia Rule

The Town Hall focus is local to statewide updates and actions we can take.

AGENDA
1) Welcome and CNA Announcements
2) CNA Treasurer’s and MNAC Report
3) Get to Know Your Neighbors Activity
4) Neighborhood Town Hall
5) Membership Drive
6) Board Elections
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88332968863…
Meeting ID: 883 3296 8863
Passcode: 088987

FIRE

On Tuesday afternoon Feb 16, our Victor Street neighbor Yoav Yanich lost everything to a very tragic house fire. As neighbors and friends we want to do what we can to help him get back on his feet. We’d also like to help him pay for a memorial service for his partner Laura, who perished in the fire. The fire department said the fire appears to have been caused by a daisy chain of electrical plugs — or a string of surge protectors plugged into other surge protectors.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-yoav-recover-from-his-housefire?memberId=8758822&utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link_all&utm_source=customer

Thank you for any contribution. I will keep it up for a couple more days. In just a few hours we are at $4,875. Amazing! Love this community!
Katie Jorgensen, Victor Street

Yoav did find his cat today, and the place he is staying is going to permit him to keep his cat with him. That part lets me cry a little… ~Fl!p

PASS THE HAT

This is a moment in time to make sure everyone knows about this local organization. I have been donating $2 a month to them for many years. Here’s a quote from their website.

We help Whatcom County families by providing financial relief from tragic events. Tragedy brings more than just grief and loss; it also brings hospital bills, ambulance bills, funeral expenses and more. It’s too much to bear for families already facing heartbreaking situations.

How it works is simple: You sign up to give $2 a month, every month. That’s it. Meanwhile, thousands of fellow community members do the same, and your small $2 contribution becomes enormously powerful, helping local families.

We don’t rely on fundraisers, auctions or large donations. We rely on many people giving just a little. We provide a way for every person to make an impact, even if they have hardly anything to give. It’s simple, 100% local and incredibly powerful.

For families that do not need their financial help, they also offer grief counseling. I invite you all to join me in this small, brilliant effort. $2 a month. They won’t accept more from any one person.  Love/Fl!p

https://pass-the-hat.org/

WASTE & WHATNOT

Whatcom County’s long standing recycling company, NW Recycling, is ceasing business on February 1, 2021. This leaves Whatcom County without a local processor for our recyclable materials and likely means there will some big changes to our local recycling services.

https://vimeo.com/511264230?fbclid=IwAR2kVbxM8ZL0ODr8nu_AR45OfPRS5R_W0j12F-bSbX1tK-38nD4glS7vdQM

LOST:  CHOCOLATE BROWN MOUTON MITTEN

Very warm mitten – furry on the inside. Not sure if I lost it in our ‘hood or downtown. Sure would love to be able to wear it again.  ~ Sara Todd, Henry Street  saraswati.todd@gmail.com. 

RADIO FREE Fl!P: HOME

Karla Bonoff wrote this one, and sings it. What you don’t see, but can hear, is the extraordinary Nina Gerber’s lead guitar in the background. My life has an endless internal soundtrack. Thank goodness (and Zeke!) our house is quiet enough that I can listen to it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bThQZuecmXU

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. I’d also suggest adding flip@openaccess.org to your contacts because that helps keep my emails from going to your junk mail.

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.

CONTENTS 2/17/2021
Soup Brigade
Covid Comic
Radio Free Fl!p: Family Duets

SOUP BRIGADE

I think I’m going to just write up my marvelous new ingredients list and go to bed two hours early tonight. I hope it inspires a bunch of cooks. I’d love to sign you up to keep the home-made meals flowing!

Start with canned corn beef. And potatoes & onions! Want to make corned beef hash? I used to love that stuff! I’ve got barley, and beef soup base and onions & more potatoes & carrots & celery. Not too much more needed to make beef barley soup! White cornmeal, yellow cornmeal, powdered buttermilk, butter (cornbread anyone?) Coconut flour, gluten free pancake mix, cream of wheat, powdered eggs, raisins (good baking stuff here). Pasta, rice, lentils, white beans, pinto beans, freeze dried veggie flakes. Canned tomatoes & tomato powder.  Medium shredded cheddar, plus sharp, plus mozzarella. Bacon!!!! And containers for everything. And a pot-and-pan lending library. I have lots of open dates, and would LOVE to sign you up to make something yummy for about 25 people.

COVID COMIC

This is a fun explanation of science.

https://xkcd.com/2425/

RADIO FREE Fl!P:

I got to play some videos of sibling duets for my grand-twins during their music lessons today. Family members singing together have a built-in advantage with matching vowels, consonants and a common sense of phrasing. I played them some Everly Brothers & Louvin Brothers. And Patrinell Wright and the Total Experience Gospel Choir from Seattle to talk about ornaments & phrasing. Then I found this jewel: Glen Campbell and his MOM singing duets!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzkzYETGlpE

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. I’d also suggest adding flip@openaccess.org to your contacts because that helps keep my emails from going to your junk mail.

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.

CONTENTS 2/16/2021
   Luggage Needed
   Donation Intentions
   Laundry Brigade
   Soup Brigade
Love Your Neighbors Week
Clean & Abundant Water Lobby
Immigration Advisory
Bicycle Silliness
Radio Free Fl!p: Everybody’s Gotta Be Somewhere

LUGGAGE NEEDED

The Warming Shelter closes tomorrow (Wah!). The homeless folks there, as well as the ones in tents, really need luggage, especially packs and luggage with wheels. They’re constantly moving. We’re not sure how to supply these, since the City is constrained from sharing anything used. It may make the most sense to bring luggage to our house, and Outreachers can pick it up to distribute from here.

If you were planning to take snacks down, better to bring those here too at this point. And rain ponchos. Looks like we’re going to get rain on Thursday through the weekend.

DONATION INTENTIONS

You have been wonderfully generous lately, and I’ve been researching today to see how we can make the best use of your donations.

Tomorrow I get to find out how many sleeping bags we can actually get our hands on. Big Five will guarantee the $14 price, which is great. Delivery may be delayed, darn it! I also found a great supply of closed cell foam ground pads with mylar. The pads have loops on them to secure them when rolled up, so they are more likely to travel with those we give them to. And I found a really cheap local source for hand warmers, that don’t expire for almost two more years. I’m going to get a box and check out a sample to make sure they actually do a good job of warming. If they’re good, I will splurge!

I have chipped in a bit toward gas for some of the Out-Reachers. Writing to you, describing what they do, I realized that they have to go through a lot of gas, and not one of them is wealthy. I asked a couple of them and they were clearly relieved at the thought. We’ll figure this one out! I’m also chipping in towards the Laundry Brigade expenses. It’s so cool to be able to just see a need and meet it!

Tomorrow I will find someone to make the biggest SmartFoods run ever for ingredients and to-go containers. We really ran low during the snow. Which is good! I was so touched the people kept both cooking and delivering clear through the storm. We had a bunch of drivers who stepped up to keep everything moving through the snow. It was amazing!

Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

LAUNDRY BRIGADE

We can still use more volunteers. It’s genuine work, the real thing, and like all real work,L so important. Let me know if you’d like to try out a load and see if it will work for you.

SOUP BRIGADE

I got a bunch of interesting food donated today: tomato powder, freeze dried veggie flakes, dried beans, canned tomato chunks, canned chili beans, oatmeal!, Orzo, dried whole egg powder – mix it with flour for baking. Baking: a whole bunch of chocolate chips!!! Want to make cookies? I have an absolutely killer chocolate chip cookie recipe from my time cooking for Hungry Harold’s.

I have cooks signed up through Saturday and then I really need you! Best is if I have 2 – 3 cooks a day, making 25 meals each. Casseroles, soups, muffins, biscuits. (I will have the makings for garlic bread.) So far it’s most helpful if you email me, with your name, phone, address, and something about your availability. And what you’d like to cook! Lorelei is working with me to create a new MealTrain that will meet the new needs for distribution, which is so dependent on OutReachers. Our focus is on those who fall through the cracks of our current system.

LOVE YOUR NEIGHBORS WEEK

Due to weather, Love Your Neighbors Week has changed to putting hearts and messages for your neighbors in your windows this week and then dropping off hearts to hang at the Share Shack on the 20th during our CNA membership drive. Thank you for sharing this update. See FB event page for more details: www.Facebook.com/events/895858214320320
Thanks,
CNA Board

CLEAN & ABUNDANT WATER LOBBY

March 1st–5th, 2021. We’ll set up meetings with lawmakers, and there will be a training the week of February 22nd. 

Join RE Sources and partners for a week of virtual action, where we’ll help make it easier to talk to your elected officials about several key bills that could become law this year to protect water. These laws would limit plastic pollution, end harmful seabed mining, and protect water rights as climate change strains precious waterways. We’ll hold a training session the week before so you have the tools and confidence to lobby. We encourage anyone to join, whether it’s your first time talking to lawmakers or not! We’ll be right alongside you at every step of the way.

RSVP: https://p2a.co/o3bDIGk

IMMIGRATION ADVISORY

The City of Bellingham Immigration Advisory Committee is meeting on Tuesday 2/16 at 6:30 pm, providing an opportunity for community engagement about issues that impact our immigrant community members. Community to Community (C2C) has a call to action to please attend and publicly comment on two items:
– continued discussion of policing issues and engagement with federal agencies
– continued discussion on improving immigration services in Bellingham.
Public comment is scheduled for 8pm.
Meeting link https://cob.zoom.us/j/93363401118?pwd=UzVFRVFiWDVsQzYrWHNYR1I2bWQyZz09#success
Meeting ID/Id de reunion: 933 6340 1118
Password/Contrasena: 422.
Phone/Telefono (253) 215-8782
If you cannot attend, you can send written comments to immigrationboard@cob.org.

BICYCLE SILLINESS

This was between my brother Joe and our mutual friend Libby, and it completely cracked me up:

Joe: We used to play bicycle tag on frosh pond at the UW when it froze, on sew-up tires, and then when I was 20 years older (but over 20 years younger than I am now) I rode on frozen lakes a lot, that other people were ice skating on. Just requires finesse and fast twitch. Whoever put their foot down first was “it.”

Libby: I have soooo many memories of spectacular slush wipeouts as a teen. Living in Ithaca NY, which is basically either ice or slush from October to March, and steeper than downtown Seattle, many opportunities arose for poor life decisions involving bicycles and frozen surfaces.

RADIO FREE FL!P: EVERYBODY’S GOTTA BE SOMEWHERE

Here’s a song Linda Allen wrote some years back when Berkeley was doing sweeps of the homeless, when she lived there. Seems timely now. (Linda raised her kids on Utter Street)

www.Lindasongs.com/everybody

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. I’d also suggest adding flip@openaccess.org to your contacts because that helps keep my emails from going to your junk mail.

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.