Editor’s housekeeping

The New Format

We finally got there! The November issue is in the new format, which saves us the trimming and stapling fee ($200 per month) and the paper is ready earlier which should end late notice of our meetings. The paper is heavier and is costing about $20 more to mail, although part of that is an increase in the number mailed. There was also a slight increase in the layout costs as our layout artist, Kirsten, is learning this new format. Thanks to Kirsten for taking on this project and to Pacific Publishing for their help in the process of changing.

Two Holiday Parties

We want to clarify something that may have been confusing in the November newsletter. There are two December holiday parties. One is the Leschi Community Council get-together that takes place on December 4th. There will be music; unfortunately, the Garfield Orchestra students will not be with us this year; they have graduated, and we need to wait for the new students to reach the performance stage. We will socialize with wine and goodies for the rest of the evening. The other much bigger event is the Central Area Senior Center’s GALA on Dec. 14th. There is a fee to attend this event, but you enjoy live music, dancing and a full course catered dinner. This is a fundraiser for the Senior Center and there will be an opportunity to bid on selected items. The themed baskets put together by the volunteers are packed with goodies!

It Takes a Village

It takes many neighbors to contribute in whatever way they can to keep our community vibrant. These are the folks we have heard about recently.

Thanks to John Barber and his helper Mark Schergen for their continuing efforts to combat long standing blackberry stands at the Dearborn street-end. This is a tight space and it would be difficult to handle more volunteers due to the slope and restricted nature of the blackberry clump.

Thanks to upper Leschi resident Bill Caldwell and his sister who remembered that Halloween was the tenth anniversary of that tragic night when Office Brenton was killed; they did some weeding and raking around the memorial in case the family came by. We learned that tragically the widow of Officer Brenton has died. There was a contingent of police cars and a fire truck that came by that evening to pay their respects.

Thanks to Katie Busby who has taken on the Giving Garland project at Leschi School. This year the number of homeless students has risen to 78. The Giving Garland is an opportunity to see that these children have a Christmas this year with gifts and food certificates for their families. The Leschi PTA is accepting both dollars and grocery gift certificates for this project.

Thanks to Leschi residents Elisabeth Beaber and Jed Fowler volunteering for the Homework Helpers program at the Douglass-Truth library for the past seven years. They were featured in the Fall edition of The Next Chapter, the Seattle Library’s publication.

And thanks to Janice Merrill Brown for picking up the November newsletter at the printer, taking the labeled copies to be mailed to the Bulk Mail Center in Tukwila and then driving Jim Snell around Leschi and Madrona to deliver newsletters to the businesses that accept them. (Sorry to say that Starbucks is no longer accepting the community newspapers; the Leschi News can be found at Leschi Market, Park Postal and Marshall’s Cleaners. Leschi Market displays the newsletter on the meat counter and near the front door in a Plexiglas holder.).

And many thanks to John Barber for transporting your editor to meetings!

And a hearty thanks to our subscribers who noticed their label and realized it was time to renew; and your donations always help, especially as we enter the giving season.

~Diane Snell