Julie Clegg embraces the pets, Bailey and Banjo, that inspired her photography business. Contributed

Speak with Issaquah’s Julie Clegg for even a short amount of time and one or two things become very clear.

She loves her family and her dogs. In fact, her two yellow Labradors — Bailey, age 7, and Banjo, 5 — clearly have center stage in her life.

“The connection is as strong as family,” Clegg said of the relationship between dogs and owners.

A few years ago, Clegg said she couldn’t help but take notice when the dogs of a few of her friends died from canine cancer. According to Clegg, there are two types of living beings that just should never have to suffer through cancer: children and dogs.

A pet photographer since 2007, Clegg is donating 50 percent of the fees from special sessions set up throughout February to the National Canine Cancer Foundation.

On Feb. 11, Clegg will be at the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. There are 10 slots available for what Clegg calls mini photo sessions.

Clegg also has times set aside for special photo shoots in Centralia and West Seattle.

Photography has always been an interest of hers, Clegg said. Eventually, she realized what she loved shooting the most was people and their pets. Thus, “Bailey and Banjo” became the moniker for her photographic enterprise.

Clegg doesn’t have a studio at this point. Instead, she travels to various locations for most of her shoots. There is no typical session, she added.

“Every dog is different,” she said.

If your dog tends to be very active, she suggests taking him or her for a long walk prior to a scheduled shoot so the animal will be somewhat worn out and calmer. But dogs don’t have to be sitting quietly and looking directly at the camera for a successful photo shoot, Clegg said.

“They can be acting up, doing their thing and that can make a great picture,” she added.

Besides setting aside money raised through photo sessions, Clegg has put together a project dubbed “A Dog a Day in 2012.”

Basically, she shoots interesting pets she sees out and about with their owners. While the year is young, Clegg said so far she has been able to meet her photographic goal.

If she happens to come across you and your dog, you can get a copy of the resulting picture for free. Eventually, Clegg hopes to put together a book of her “Dog a Day” photos, possibly to benefit a canine cancer fund in Oregon.

“I’ve met a lot of nice people and some cool dogs,” she said.

Tom Corrigan: 392-6434, ext. 241, or tcorrigan@isspress.com. Comment at www.issaquahpress.com.

With some photos from his several trips to Rwanda on the wall behind him, Pastor Larry Thomas said he has become very attached to that country and its people. By Tom Corrigan

The message is one of reconciliation and forgiveness, symbolized by a photo on the wall of Larry Thomas’ office in Issaquah’s Our Savior Lutheran Church.

The church’s lead pastor, Thomas has been involved with the Seattle-based Rwanda Partners for five years. He serves on the group’s board of directors and was chairman for three years.

That photo on his wall is of two men, Narcisse Ruhangintwari and Pascal Niyomugabo. During the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, Ruhangintwari murdered the other man’s wife and unborn child along with other members of Niyomugabo’s family. After Ruhangintwari was released from prison, Niyomugabo went to visit him. The latter man wanted the other to know he already had been forgiven. According to Thomas, the men are now the best of friends.

Over the course of about 100 days in 1994, the Rwandan massacre saw the murder of roughly 800,000 members of the Tutsi tribe by members of the Hutu peoples.

Thomas has been to Rwanda on four occasions. He has met Ruhangintwari and Niyomugabo and seen their interaction. The two are part of a documentary, “Wounded Healers,” produced by Rwanda Partners. But Thomas said there is nothing like seeing the once worst of enemies together in person.

“It was just a great grace for me,” he said.

Thomas became interested in Rwanda after reading journalist Philip Gourevitch’s book about the Rwandan genocide. He shortly thereafter discovered Rwanda Partners and learned members of the organization made trips to Rwanda.

“‘Next time you go,’ I said, ‘I gotta go,’” Thomas recalled. “And I meant, ‘I gotta go.’ It was a life-changing experience for me.”

He added that he came to care deeply about Rwanda and its people. There is a great paradox, he said, between the unspeakable suffering that took place in that country and people’s capacity for forgiveness and what Thomas referred to several times as their joy.

While he talked about his experiences in Rwanda, Thomas said he did not want any story to be exclusively about him, but to highlight Rwanda Partners. The organization tackles the problems in Rwanda in three ways, group co-founder and Executive Director Greg Stone said.

The first step is job creation in a country with an unemployment rate of 80 percent to 90 percent. Education is a second prong, while trying to heal the spiritual and psychological fallout from the genocide is the third.

Toward its economic ends, Rwanda Partners has several ongoing projects in that country. They work mostly with women, Thomas noted. The group operates a chicken farm as well as a pineapple plantation. Their biggest fundraising mechanism is the production and sale of handmade bags and baskets.

Rwanda Partners has about 3,000 weavers producing the items, Stone said. The goods are sold online, via in-home basket parties and through Costco. The group also has a number of local fundraisers, such as an auction held at the Space Needle.

Regarding education, Rwanda Partners operates numerous schools, Stone said.

Like Thomas, Stone talked a lot about Ruhangintwari and Niyomugabo. The latter is, he said, one of Rwanda Partners’ 10 direct employees in that country. Stone also talked about how Niyomugabo was “stuck” in the horror of the genocide until he decided to forgive and move on. He even remarried.

“It’s a beautiful story,” Stone said.

“I just had never experienced anything like it,” Thomas said.

Tom Corrigan: 392-6434, ext. 241, or tcorrigan@isspress.com. Comment at www.issaquahpress.com.

The Feb. 15 talk will focus on plans to replace the existing dam and fish ladder that lies across Issaquah Creek upstream of the hatchery. The slide presentation will show schematics and diagrams of the proposed replacement for the dam and provide information about the effects the dam has on salmon recovery.

Friends of the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery presents this talk as the second in its quarterly educational seminar series focused on the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery, salmon culture and environmental stewardship. The talk is open to the public and will take place in the Watershed Science Center, on the south side of the hatchery grounds along Newport Way. It begins at 6:30 p.m.

The dam was built to funnel Issaquah Creek water through the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery, which opened in 1937. Issaquah Creek water is used in salmon culture at the hatchery so young salmon are imprinted with their home waters and will return to Issaquah Creek to complete their life cycle.

The dam, though state-of-the-art at the time of its design and construction, is out of date and impedes the passage of salmon that are allowed to bypass the hatchery from continuing their journey upstream to spawn.

Of that total, an estimated 80 percent are men, he said. At the same time, however, about 80 percent of the clothing donated for the homeless is for women and children.

“There is a real need for warm men’s clothing,” Rockstad said.

For the third year in a row, Rockstad is helping organize a winter men’s clothing drive benefiting Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission and the Issaquah Food & Clothing Bank.

With the cooperation of four area churches, the drive began Feb. 4 and lasts through Feb. 26. Including Issaquah Christian Church, the congregations involved are:

1. Issaquah Christian Church — 10328 Issaquah-Hobart Road S.E., 392-5848
2. Foothills Baptist Church — 10120 Issaquah-Hobart Road S.E., 392-5925
3. Mountain Creek Fellowship — 165 Front Street N., 391-3416; and 205 Mountain Park Blvd. S.W.
4. Community Church of Issaquah — 205 Mountain Park Blvd. S.W., 392-6447

Leave donations in barrels at each location or the Issaquah Food Bank, Rockstad said. A receipt for tax purposes will be mailed to donors.

All items need to be new or gently used; no torn or damaged goods. Warm clothing items, such as boots, hats/caps, gloves, pants, sweaters, tube-type socks, underwear in size 38-40 (or larger), ponchos, coats and outerwear need to be in larger sizes.

Past drives were very successful, Rockstad said. The same group of churches recently completed an annual food drive for the Issaquah Food & Clothing Bank through their “Serve Issaquah” association.

Makeup artist Melanie (left), of Issaquah, prepares a model for a recent shoot. At top is a model after her complete transformation by Melanie. Contributed

Imagine a job where you are flown to New York one day, Milan the next and then are out on a boat, performing a job you love, knowing your work will be seen my millions of people.

That description fits Issaquah resident and internationally known makeup artist Melanie.

“I started going by one name 15 years ago,” Melanie said. “It differentiated me from the start, and that’s what I needed in a town full of thousands of other hair and makeup professionals.”

Since she began her career 20 years ago, Melanie has worked on more than 30 films, hundreds of commercials and thousands of print ads. Though it sounds like glamour and first-class tickets, her career is filled with long days away from home, many times in uncomfortable circumstances.

On one commercial set, she had to create the face of the Ivar’s sea captain, working on his beard, hair and makeup, all the while on a boat that was rocking to and fro. For a major motion picture, she and her crew had to arrive at 3 in the morning every day for several months as she delicately glued hair and makeup to the main actors.

“The movie called for an actor to look like a dog-faced boy,” she explained. “We had to lay glue all over his head, little by little. It was a huge job.”

The long days don’t bother Melanie because it brings her in contact with interesting people from all over the world.

“One day, it’s doing makeup for a Fortune 500 chief executive for an annual report and the next it’s a shoot in an airplane with a room full of models for a print ad,” she said.

In between are independent and major motion pictures, like the ones she will be working on for Los Angeles-based producer Lucas Foster.

“Melanie is passionate and talented. She’s an artist at what she does and she’s very, very good at it,” said Foster, who has produced blockbuster films such as “Mr. & Mrs. Smith,” “Man on Fire,” “Jumper” and “Law Abiding Citizen.” He will use Melanie for hair and makeup on several big-budget movies in 2012.

A winding career path

The road to the top in her field was not direct. She spent 12 years as a field engineer for Digital Equipment Corp. after attending a traditional Chinese medical school. She also held odd jobs along the way, including being a school bus driver.

“I got lost on the first day and figured I needed a real career,” she said.

Yet even after graduation from trade school, Melanie considered herself “a hack.”

“I was surrounded by all these other artists who were 20 years younger than me and who’d trained in New York and Europe, and I could barely afford to buy the makeup,” she said.

She purchased a fashion magazine and studied it for three and a half months, perfecting her art on models who sat for her without charge. She was eventually hired for her first movie shoot where she worked 12-hour days for 15 days and was paid only a few hundred dollars. Her first commercial shoots were similar.

“Many hours, little money, but a wealth of experience,” she said.

Those times are long past for Melanie, who is now hired by producers up and down the West Coast for jobs. Now and then, she also takes on small projects, such as the bridal makeup for Issaquah resident Janaye Kenyon-Jarvis.

“I was lucky to have her do my makeup,” said Jarvis, a graduate of Liberty High School, now in her final year at Brigham Young University. “It was so perfect and the look so natural, the only people who knew I was wearing makeup at all was me, her and my then-fiancé.”

With call times scheduled at all hours of the day and night, Melanie adheres to a healthy diet and a regular routine of playing pickle ball at the Issaquah Community Center to stay in top form and keep her energy up. She is often asked to mentor young graduates, provide advice and give tips to up-and-coming professionals who want to get into the business.

“I tell them all the same thing — work hard. Study. Keep your mouth closed and a smile on your face,” she said. “Hard work will pay off to those willing to put in the hours and truly learn the craft.”

Sarah Gerdes is a freelance writer. Comment on this story at www.issaquahpress.com.

The Seattle IKEA yellow Volkswagen Bug is filled with soft toys to promote its annual campaign. Contributed

There is no such thing as a free lunch, but Newcastle resident Angela Weber often attends IKEA’s free Monday morning breakfasts with a group of friends.

That’s how she found out about the Stuff the Bug Contest.

But on one trip in particular, it paid off big.

“I thought it was really fun to see a VW bug stuffed with toys,” she said.

The yellow classic Beetle was stuffed with soft toys to promote IKEA’s Soft Toys for Education campaign.

IKEA held its annual Soft Toys for Education campaign from Nov. 1 through Dec. 24. Since 2003, the IKEA Soft Toy campaign has donated $47.5 million to UNICEF and Save the Children — a contribution that has provided access to education to about 8 million children in nearly 40 countries.

For every colorful soft toy purchased at stores throughout the U.S. during the contest, IKEA donated $1.30, or the equivalent of one Euro, to UNICEF and Save the Children’s global projects designed to improve children’s education.

People were invited to guess the number of soft toys inside the car.

Weber entered only three guesses and one of them was the exact number, 286. Her thought process was that since the workers placing the stuffed animals probably have other duties, the number couldn’t be too high.

“286 is an obscure, low, but high-ish number,” she said.

Weber got to pick among three charities for the toys to go to. One of the options was the Ladies Auxiliary for Post 1 of American Veterans in Tacoma.

She chose the Ladies Auxiliary because it sounded like the most grassroots, organic, local group that hasn’t received a lot of media attention yet.

“I watch a lot of ‘Portlandia,’ and I wanted to keep it local,” she said.

“Portlandia” is a comedy TV series on the IFC channel that purposefully overdramatizes Northwest hipster organic sensibilities.

She said she supports women’s organizations in general.

The Ladies Auxiliary gives blankets and stuffed animals for the patrol cars of Pierce County officers, who often are the first responders to emergencies, so that the soft toys can be available to comfort children just coming out of a stressful situation.

Donna Buck, president of the Ladies Auxiliary for Post 1, said she was excited to have the auxiliary chosen to receive the toys.

“We’re very careful that we have very soft blankets and soft snuggly animals,” Buck said, adding when you visualize a police officer approaching a child who just got out of a fire or domestic-violence situation, having a blanket and toy can make a big difference.

“It’s just something really comforting to have for a minute,” Weber said.

Weber enjoys being the stay-at-home mother of her 5-year-old daughter, and she has lived in Newcastle, which is in the Issaquah School District, since 2010. Before that, she moved to Renton in 2009 from Iowa.

“Most of my time is spent between volunteer work for my local church and for my daughter’s school,” she said.

Weber volunteers at St. Stephen the Martyr, a Roman Catholic Church in Renton, where she has been involved with starting new ministries for stay-at-home moms. She has also helped with decorating committees.

“I’m a social worker by degree, so I have a mentality of knowing what service looks like on a governmental level and on an informal level,” she said.

She received a $100 IKEA gift card for her correct guess.

“More than likely I will spend it on myself with bookshelves, but that hasn’t been decided yet,” she said.

Weber said bookshelves would be useful. Since having a child, she’s accumulated a lot of baby and toddler items that she feels she can’t get rid of because of their sentimental value.

Buck said the auxiliary’s efforts are growing, and “if other organizations in other cities would be interested in doing this for other police, we’d be more than happy to fill them in, help them out and show them how.”

Learn more about the project by calling 253-224-7837.

Sean Duncan is a student in the University of Washington Department of Communication News Laboratory. Comment at www.newcastle-news.com.

Linsey Warren, an Issaquah resident and avid outdoorswoman, with the Olympic Mountains behind her in a view from Issaquah Highlands, plans a trek through Quebec in February to raise money for the oncology department at St. Jerome’s Hospital near Montreal. By Greg Farrar

There’s a reason Linsey Warren works at the Issaquah REI store.

“I grew up in the outdoors and I’ve always liked the idea of a challenge,” she said.

Now, Warren’s taking her love of the outdoors and adventure and using it for a good cause.

This month, Warren and two others will race Ski-Doos in the province of Quebec. The expedition will raise money for the oncology department at St. Jerome’s Hospital, located just outside Montreal.

The trek begins at the Inuit village of Puvirnituq and proceeds north toward the villages of Akulivik and Ivujivik, on the northern tip of the province in the arctic region of Nunavik. The group expects to cover several hundred miles during the journey.

Craig Ross, a first aid instructor at the Nunavik Arctic Survival Training Center, created the project.

Ross has a personal connection to the cause. His wife received successful treatment at the hospital when she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

“He wanted to take everything that he knows about the north and everything that the hospital was doing to fight for his wife, and combine it into one dream,” Warren said.

Ross likes the unique nature of this fundraising opportunity.

“The reason I came up with this project was first, to raise funds for our regional hospital,” he said, “and second, to do it in a special way that hasn’t ever been done.”

The trek across the frozen tundra won’t be an easy one. Warren expects to encounter temperatures ranging from 40 degrees below zero to 70 degrees below zero. The group plans to spend time in igloos or tents when they’re not near a village.

Warren’s not nervous about the expedition, despite the fact she has little experience on a Ski-Doo. But she is preparing herself for the cold she knows she will face.

“With physical activity, everything is harder when it’s cold,” she said. “It will be extremely physically demanding.”

This won’t be the first time Warren explores the arctic region of Nunavik, though. She enjoyed a two-month visit to the area in 2010.

“It was just so beautiful,” she said. “I understand now why explorers have a draw to these wild, exotic locations.”

Warren noted that the majority of the journey takes place away from any civilization.

“I love it up there. It’s amazing,” she said. “It’s an interesting feeling to be so isolated out somewhere and know that for miles and miles, there’s nothing around you.”

Ross appreciates Warren’s involvement as the only person from the United States in the group.

“We figured that it wouldn’t go further than the province of Quebec, but with Linsey’s involvement, it makes it an international project,” he said.

It’s going to be a difficult undertaking, but Ross said he is confident Warren is prepared.

“It certainly will not be easy and it will test her in many ways which I hope could only strengthen her in her future endeavors,” he said.

Despite the challenges to come, Warren finds the journey well worth it.

“This trip is about dreams,” she said. “It’s about having the strength to fight for our dreams — whether that dream is to live to see another birthday or to follow our hearts to new adventures.”

Fundraising is well under way for the group’s members, who hope to raise $65,000 for the hospital.

“We were one of the lucky ones and we don’t want anyone to give up hope,” Ross said. “We believe that what we raise can help.”

Chantale Fortin works as an events manager for the hospital. French is the hospital’s operating language, but Fortin is the English-speaking liaison for this particular project.

She praised the project and encouraged anyone with questions about the hospital or donations to contact her office.

Warren encourages everyone to donate, because cancer crosses all international borders.

“If anyone’s ever had a loved one suffer through any medical crisis, not even just cancer, I think they know how painful it is,” Warren said. “Here’s a chance to help a complete stranger to not have to suffer through the same things and get the help that might have been out of reach.”

How to help

To donate money for the oncology department of St. Jerome’s Hospital just outside Montreal, email Chantale Fortin Chantale.Fortin@cdsj.org, or call 1-450-431-8484, ext. 3.

Christina Corrales-Toy is a student in the University of Washington Department of Communication News Laboratory. Comment at www.issaquahpress.com.

From left, Tami Curtis, and Ken and Martha Neville from the Rovin’ Fiddlers play at the Railroad Depot in June 2009. Contributed

Fiddle music is filling the air in Issaquah and beyond. Two locally based bands aim to bring joy to the public through fiddle music.

Rovin’ Fiddlers was formed in the summer of 2008 and consists of six to eight regular members, ages ranging from 40s to 60s. Besides performing at senior centers, retirement homes and the farmers market in Issaquah, they also rove around the greater Seattle area.

“Our group was originally called the Firehouse Fiddlers … but we changed it because we move around the local area to perform,” said Ken Neville, the group’s coordinator, who has lived in Issaquah since 1972.

Other regular band members include Ken’s wife, Martha, Tami Curtis and David Edfeldt, all of Issaquah.

Neville went on to clarify that “Fiddlers” is a bit of a misnomer as many musicians in the group play other instruments, including guitar, mandolin, banjo, ukulele, hammered dulcimer, autoharp, Irish whistle, bodrahn (Irish drum) and concertina.

The 68-year-old retiree said he loves the richness and diversity brought about by the genre.

“Playing fiddle music is more enjoyable than orchestra music, as it is freestyle and innovative,” he said. “It is interesting when everybody improvises and we have different versions of the same tune played by different players.”

One of their favorite tunes is “Squirrel Heads and Gravy.”

Neville said members of the group have a range of skill levels, from those who are just beginning or resuming after decades of not touching their instrument, to those who are quite advanced. Some have a classical violin background, but did not play for many years.

The group meets every Tuesday evening to practice, and schedules additional sessions when preparing for a performance.

Neville likes playing at the Issaquah Valley Senior Center.

“When we play a nice waltz, you will find that the seniors will get up and dance,” he said. “That’s really fun and we just keep playing until they finally get tired.”

However, there are times when Neville said he feels that more attention could be given to the group.

“There are some venues for instance, the farmers market and wedding receptions, where we find ourselves as background music,” he said. “It is more enjoyable when the audience is gathered in a group, listens to us and we hear the applause when we finish the tunes.”

Also, Neville said he is very thankful that his family members are understanding and supportive of his group.

“Sometimes, it is not the most pleasant thing to listen to somebody practicing the same thing over and over,” the grandfather of two said with a chuckle.

Looking forward, he said that the group’s members have to work with each other closely to overcome problems that performers usually face.

“The biggest challenge is synchronizing our music and various instruments that we play and deciding on the tempo that we all can feel comfortable with,” he said.

Celtic band seeks fiddler

The Celtic band Fire Inside, consisting of local professionals, is currently recruiting for a fiddler to boost the team of seven. Several members previously played with the Rovin’ Fiddlers.

Members of the band get together every Wednesday evening to play fiddle music and perform at least once a month in a public setting.

“We are expanding the repertoire this year where we introduce more tunes to perform for a two-hour show,” said Carol Whitaker, the band’s flute and penny whistle player.

A year ago, the 51-year-old project manager formed Fire Inside by asking some of her musician friends if they were interested in starting a Celtic band.

We all “wanted the challenge and we decided to give it a go,” said Whitaker, who lives in Fall City. There are currently seven members in the band; two of them — Curtis and Edfeldt — also play in the Rovin’ Fiddlers.

Other band members are Daniel Horn, of Redmond; Sue Lawrence, of Snoqualmie; and Michael Hurtenbach and Greg Stearns, of North Bend.

For performance opportunities, Whitaker said their clients hear about the band by word of mouth or hear them perform elsewhere and ask them to perform at their location.

“Each of the band members actively connects with the community to find out whether they enjoy our kind of music and (would like us to) take the opportunity to perform,” Whitaker said.

Whitaker is a classically trained flute player but self-taught on whistles.

“I love the Celtic genre and the style of music,” she said. “It is quite difficult to play it well. I am learning a lot.”

Her group is energized by reactions from the audience.

“When we perform in family style events, I (get) hysterical watching the kids react — and they are curious about the instruments that we play,” Whitaker said.

Teo Jion Chun is a student in the University of Washington Department of Communication News Laboratory. Comment at www.issaquahpress.com.

“America’s youth are shaped by their education, and Huntington is pleased to join the Catholic schools in the state in giving elementary and secondary students the best education possible,” said Brian Riddick, of Huntington Learning Center of Issaquah. “We applaud all schools that uphold high educational standards and integrate values-based teaching into their curricula.”

The 2012 theme of Catholic Schools Week is “Catholic Schools: Faith, Academics, Service,” which highlights the three distinctions of Catholic schools.

“Huntington Learning Center is a part of many communities across our nation, and we recognize that Catholic schools play an important role in our educational system,” Riddick said. “We’re proud to partner with Catholic and other schools of excellence to help students reach their potential and give them the foundation to become good citizens.”

Huntington supports a variety of national events focused on education, including Read Across America, Math Awareness Month and American Education Week.

Learn more by calling 391-0348.

PCC Natural Markets and KCTS 9 teamed up for the annual Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood Sweater Drive to collect thousands of sweaters for local nonprofit organizations.

The greatest need is for children’s items, but the drive accepts all new and gently used adult and children’s sweaters and coats. Find collection bins at PCC Natural Markets and the KCTS 9 lobby through Feb. 12.

Donors can drop off sweaters and coats at the Issaquah store, 1810 12th Ave. N.W., or other locations.

The sweaters go to Wellspring Family Services, a group formed to help families achieve self-sufficiency.

Donors dropped off more than 6,000 coats and sweaters during the 2011 drive.

The drive is a takeoff on Fred Rogers and the cardigan he donned at the start of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” episodes. The famed red cardigan is enshrined in the Smithsonian Institution.