The Issaquah Press honored for community service
October 5, 2010
The Issaquah Press has received statewide recognition for its community service efforts to raise awareness about the Tent City 4 homeless encampment in Issaquah.
The newspaper documented the camp from the relocation announcement in November 2009 to the day residents settled at Community Church of Issaquah in January until Tent City 4 departed in April.
The effort earned the 110-year-old publication the top community service award in the Washington Newspaper Publisher Association’s Better Newspaper Contest.
The Press, alongside sister publications Sammamish Review and SnoValley Star, received 29 journalism and service awards Oct. 1 at the association’s annual conference in Wenatchee. The awards reflect a broad range of coverage by the publications.
Reporter Warren Kagarise and former reporter Chantelle Lusebrink also placed second in the Comprehensive Coverage category for spending a night at Tent City 4 and documenting the experience in the paper and online. Editorials outlining ways for people to donate to the encampment complemented the coverage.
The Issaquah Press receives more than 25 journalism, service honors
October 2, 2010
NEW — 6 a.m. Oct. 2, 2010
The Issaquah Press has received statewide recognition for community service efforts to raise awareness about the Tent City 4 homeless encampment.
The paper documented the camp from the relocation announcement in November 2009 to the day residents settled at Community Church of Issaquah in January until Tent City 4 departed for Kirkland in late April.
The effort earned the 110-year-old publication the top community service award in the Washington Newspaper Publisher Association’s Better Newspaper Contest.
The Press, alongside sister publications Sammamish Review and SnoValley Star, picked up more than 25 journalism and service awards Friday night at the association’s annual conference in Wenatchee.
The award haul reflected a broad range of coverage by the publications.
Can, freeze and donate bounty from your summer gardens
August 10, 2010
A garden bed at the city’s Pickering Barn demonstration garden displays cauliflower, celery, beets, carrots, green onions, herbs, beans, cucumbers, turnips and radishes. By Greg Farrar
Summer gardens are a treasure trove of tasty treats. Ripe strawberries abound, string beans spring up faster than you can pick them, and the raspberries and blackberries multiply exponentially.
While it’s nice to bite into a succulent ripe apple that fell to the ground, the apple tree you inherited from your home’s previous owners can sometimes produce more fruit than you can possibly find time to store. You’d bake another pie for the neighbor, but she threatened you with bodily harm should you bring another and derail her triathlon training.
So, what do you do with your garden’s bounty when there’s just too much?
Share it.
It’s the most logical thing to do with an abundance of food. After all, people clean out pantries and donate canned food to community meal programs. But donating your fresh produce to the Issaquah Food and Clothing Bank can be even better. Read more
Community Church of Issaquah seeks to serve new congregation
July 13, 2010
Woun Kim, a part-time minister with the Japanese Baptist Church in Seattle, is helping the Community Church of Issaquah with its outreach program. Contributed
Nestled near the base of Squak Mountain, the parishioners at Community Church of Issaquah grew with a burgeoning community and has seen drastic changes come to a once sleepy, rural town.
They, in turn, have changed with it, bringing daring ministries, like Tent City 4, to Issaquah.
Now, they enter into uncharted territory again. This time, they are trying to find a new congregation to take up their mantel, said interim Rev. Dick Birdsall.
“There are a lot of things that have changed,” he said. “But nothing would make the church’s members happier than to see something new emerge from this building.”
The group has been together for decades — many even helped construct the building in the 1970s. However, the parish’s members are getting older and the number of members is getting smaller. The congregation is now about 50 members, compared to about 300 in the ’70s, Birdsall said.
In addition, Birdsall, who came out of retirement to lead the small congregation last year, is going to leave the church at the end of August.
To cope with the changes, he and his members reached out to other Baptist churches in their organization, the Evergreen Association of American Baptist Churches, for ideas and help.
They found support from leadership at Japanese Baptist Church in Seattle and its part-time minister, Woun Kim. Read more
Gold Stars
May 18, 2010
Girl Scout Troop 50614
Girls from Girl Scout Troop 50614 from Sunny Hills Elementary School served dinner to residents of Tent City 4 prior to their departure.
The girls served up barbecued pulled pork, baked potatoes and other homemade goodies. The girls also donated several staple items, like butter, cheese sticks and yogurt, and a special box of Girl Scout cookies.
Katie Raissipour and Jessi Wanamaker
Katie Raissipour and Jessi Wanamaker, two freshman at the Pacific Cascade Freshman Campus, showed support for others by participating in this year’s Day of Silence April 16.
The two made short-sleeved shirts to show their support and sported them around campus.
The Day of Silence is a national day promoting tolerance for and recognizing the equality of students who have various sexual orientations. The day focuses on ending lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender name-calling, bullying and harassment in schools.
Discovery fourth-graders
Discovery Elementary School fourth-graders won the state’s Disney Planet Challenge on April 20.
Students in Tasha Kirby’s fourth-grade class won the state’s competition, which asked them to submit a portfolio about local killdeer preservation. For their efforts, students received certificates and a $1,000 grant.
Gold Stars highlights accomplishments — big or small — by Issaquah students. Send a few sentences and the student’s name, age, grade, school, good deed and a photograph, if possible, to clusebrink@isspress.com.
Gold Stars
May 11, 2010
Girl Scout Troop 50614
Girls from Girl Scout Troop 50614 from Sunny Hills Elementary School served dinner to residents of Tent City 4 prior to their departure.
The girls served up barbecued pulled pork, baked potatoes and other homemade goodies. The girls also donated several staple items, like butter, cheese sticks and yogurt, and a special box of Girl Scout cookies.
Matt DeLuca and Carly Worden
Congratulations to Skyline High School’s Matt DeLuca and Carly Worden, both seniors, for making the Top Ten list in King FM and the Ten Grands’ Young Artist Awards.
Matt made the cut for his marimba performance and Carly made the cut for her accomplished piano playing and composition skills. The two will perform at the Ten Grands Benefit Concert at Benaroya Hall on May 21.
Maple Hills Elementary School student council
The school’s student council celebrated Earth Day by making puppets of endangered animals and performing a song called “Ghost Bat in a Gum Tree,” which was recorded to help students better understand environmental issues around the world and celebrate Earth Day.
Grand Ridge Elementary School
The school’s students raised $2,460 for Haitian disaster relief efforts by reading.
The fundraiser, Helping Haiti One Page at a Time, asked students to gather pledges they could collect after completing pages of reading, writing, math and science assignments. The school’s PTSA sponsored the fundraiser, created by fifth-grade teacher Jenise Clausen.
Students donated the check to the American Red Cross on March 2.
Gold Stars highlights accomplishments — big or small — by Issaquah students. Send a few sentences and the student’s name, age, grade, school, good deed and a photograph, if possible, to clusebrink@isspress.com.
Benefit raises money for Tent City 4
April 27, 2010
Tent City 4 garnered more than $1,400 through a fundraiser organized to educate Issaquah and Eastside residents about homelessness.
“View from the Tent” — a dramatic monologue based on letters from a homeless man — anchored a benefit for the homeless encampment. Tent City 4 residents answered questions from the audience after the April 17 performance. Ticket and book sales benefited the encampment.
Author M. Barrett Miller compiled letters from a homeless man into a self-published book, “View from the Tent: Thoughts from a Homeless Man.” Dan Niven, a Seattle actor and musician, adapted the book into a monologue.
Tent City 4 departed Issaquah for Kirkland on April 24 after a 90-day stay at Community Church of Issaquah.
Tent City 4 needs volunteers
April 20, 2010
Help Tent City 4 pull up stakes in Issaquah and relocate to a Kirkland church April 24.
The homeless encampment needs volunteers to help disassemble the camp and load tents and other materials onto trucks. Work starts at 8 a.m. Tent City 4 should depart Community Church of Issaquah, 205 Mountain Park Blvd., for Kirkland by 1 p.m.
Organizers ask for volunteers to wear work gloves and bring a hammer to help disassemble the wooden platforms on which the tents sit. Volunteers will also be needed to transport Tent City 4 residents to the Kirkland church where the encampment will move: Lake Washington United Methodist Church, 7525 132nd Ave. N.E.
Volunteers can arrive at the site on the morning of April 24 or plan ahead by contacting camp organizer Paul Winterstein at pwinterstein.tc4@gmail.com. Contact Winterstein to learn more.
The encampment relocates across the Eastside from church to church. Tent City remains at a site for about 90 days. Residents settled in the Community Church parking lot in late January.
Tent City 4 shelters up to 100 adults at a fenced site with 24-hour security; about 80 residents reside at the camp on a typical day. Organizers do not allow children to live at the encampment. Residents undergo warrant and sex offender checks before they are allowed to enter the camp; strict rules ban offenders, drugs and alcohol.
Monologue offers ‘View from the Tent’
April 13, 2010
Before Tent City 4 departs from Issaquah, supporters of the homeless camp will pull back the flap and offer a perspective from inside the tent.
“View from the Tent” — a dramatic monologue based on letters from a homeless man — will anchor a benefit April 17 for the homeless encampment. Tent City 4 residents will answer questions from the audience after the performance.
Author M. Barrett Miller compiled letters from a homeless man, identified as Atreus, into a self-published book, “View from the Tent: Thoughts from a Homeless Man.” Dan Niven, a Seattle actor and musician, chanced upon the book as he browsed the shop at St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral in Seattle last year.
Miller co-founded a Seattle nonprofit organization, Let Kids Be Kids, dedicated to helping children participate in efforts to aid the homeless and people afflicted with HIV/AIDS. The experience led Miller to homeless camps throughout Seattle.
Once, Atreus handed Miller a letter. The notes continued on subsequent visits. The writer documented the people he met, and their stories, too.
“Overall, the stories are very hopeful. They’re very courageous,” Miller said.
The idea for a performance based on the experiences of a homeless man in Seattle germinated at a Starbucks. The coffee giant serves as the setting for a key scene in the book, as Atreus writes in a letter later used in the tome. Read more
Performance will benefit Tent City 4
April 6, 2010
Learn about living without permanent shelter in the Seattle area at a performance of “View from the Tent: Thoughts from a Homeless Man” to benefit Tent City 4.
Actor Dan Niven created the dramatic monologue, and he will perform the piece at Mary, Queen of Peace Catholic Church, 1121 228th Ave. S.E., at 7 p.m. April 17. The performance will be followed by audience feedback, as well as conversation with the actor and a panel of Tent City 4 residents.
Tickets cost $10 for adults, $5 for students and seniors through Brown Paper Tickets. Light refreshments will be served at the event. Learn more about the performance at the Tent City 4 Web site.
Tent City 4 arrived in the Community Church of Issaquah parking lot in late January. About 80 homeless people live in the encampment on a given day.
The encampment moves between Eastside churches, and remains at a site for about 90 days. Tent City 4 will leave Issaquah on April 24 for Lake Washington United Methodist Church in Kirkland.
Tent City 4 shelters up to 100 adults at a fenced site with 24-hour security. Organizers do not allow children to live at the encampment. Most Tent City 4 residents leave the camp during the day for work.
Residents undergo warrant and convicted sex offender checks before they are allowed to enter the camp, and strict rules ban offenders.
