Kiwanis Club gears up for annual Toy Drive
November 24, 2010
The Kiwanis Club of Snoqualmie Valley is gearing up for its annual Toy Drive, which provides new toys to families in need during the holiday season.
Last year’s drive provided toys to about 250 families with more than 450 children, according to Paul Treadway, a Kiwanis member.
Businesses that served as collection places had sprawling stacks of brightly wrapped gifts waiting for children’s hands to eagerly rip open.
“One woman went across the street to Singletrack Cycles, bought two new bikes and helmets, came back and put them under the tree,” said David Cook, whose business, Cook Real Estate, sponsored a “giving tree,” where people could leave gifts. “That really brightened some kid’s Christmas.”
Cook will be the primary collection point for donations this year.
Encompass to host free family portraits
November 24, 2010
For a second consecutive year, Encompass is hosting portrait photographer Carlton Ward, who will offer a free session to families who can’t afford it.
After the photo sessions, each family will receive an 8-by-10 portrait, free of charge.
The event is part of the Help Portrait movement. On Dec. 4, photographers around the world take photographs of people who can’t afford a professional session.
The photos are then printed and delivered for free.
Last year, 54 Snoqualmie Valley families had their portraits taken by Ward, a North Bend photographer.
Ward will shoot from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. Dec. 4, at Encompass, 1407 Boalch Ave. N.W., North Bend.
Reserve your spot by calling Encompass at 888-2777 or sign up at Encompass.
Call Encompass or visit the websites of Carlton Ward, www.carltonwardphoto.com, and Help Portrait, www.help-portrait.com.
Joshua Baker
November 24, 2010
Joshua Baker, of Snoqualmie, died Sunday, Nov. 14, 2010, at Harborview Hospital in Seattle. He was 33.
A celebration of his life was Nov. 20 at Snoqualmie Valley Alliance, Fall City.
Joshua was born January 29, 1977, in Renton, the son of Kelly Baker and Rick Coppock. He graduated from Kentwood High School in Kent.
Josh was the loving husband and best friend of his wife Ann. He was a devoted and loving father. His proudest moments occurred at the birth of their children, son Zachary Allen in 2007 and daughter Layla Marie in 2009.
Joshua realized his lifelong dream of becoming a firefighter on April 16, 2007. He was first employed by King County Fire District 40 and later became part of the family at City of Renton Fire and Emergency Services.
Snoqualmie woman hosts radio show with moxie
November 24, 2010
During her radio interview on Chat with Women, Andrea Heuston so impressed the show’s hosts that they offered her a radio show of her own.
At first Heuston, of Snoqualmie, declined, saying she was too busy with her business, Artitudes Design, and her family. But Chat with Women’s co-owners and hosts Pam Gray and Rochelle Alhadeff insisted they needed her, calling her every week until she agreed to join their team.
On her new radio show, Artful Moxie, Heuston interviews successful women, asking them to share their stories with her listeners.
“Artful Moxie is about learning from others’ experiences — how to push past our boundaries, those speed bumps on the road on our journey to success,” she said on her first show, Nov. 8, when she interviewed her friend, Bellevue romance novelist Gerri Russell.
“She brings something kind of fresh to the airwaves,” Russell said. “A different perspective on what it’s like to be artistic and some of the challenges you face.”
Santa visits Snoqualmie Valley early
November 24, 2010
A character brings a character to the Valley Dec. 11
Jeff Warren, the goateed, guitar-playing, wisecracking, guitar-pick-for-business-card-giving insurance agent on Snoqualmie’s Center Boulevard will host Santa Claus at his office for four hours, from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m., and give away free pictures with the jolly elf.
“I know him personally,” Warren said. “He’s a damn good-looking Santa.”
This is the third year Santa sits for pictures with children and grown-ups at Warren’s Center Boulevard office. Last year alone, Santa sat for 250 photos with children, adults and more than a few pets.
Warren said Santa’s pretty tired at the end of the four hours, but it’s worth it.
“We do it inside. We have snacks and stuff,” Warren said. “Kids come in with their lists and stuff, it’s very rewarding.”
Let’s talk about S-E-X
November 24, 2010
Amy Lang wants Valley parents to go Dutch.
The owner of a master’s degree in applied behavioral science does not mean cheap dates.
“The United States has the highest teen pregnancy rate in the industrialized world,” she told a crowd of parents at Cascade View Elementary School on Nov. 9. “You know who has the lowest? The Netherlands.”
Reasons abound, Lang said. The Dutch have early sex education, as early as the first grade. They have bus ads about it, prime-time TV ads about it and it’s easy to get birth control.
Above all, the Dutch have a big stigma about being a teen parent.
“We don’t have that stigma,” she said. “We have Bristol Palin. She’s glamorized it.”
GPS devices teach science, math, art, language arts
November 24, 2010
Call it a great piece of science. A grand path to scholarship. Or GPS for short.
Students at Chief Kanim Middle School used global positioning systems for a month to learn a handful of subjects at once, including science, math, art, language arts and a little physical education, too.
The children take part in a worldwide activity called geocaching, an Internet-fueled treasure hunt for little boxes buried everywhere, even in the soil of the Chief Kanim campus. Students find boxes filled with trinkets, take one out, put one back in, re-bury the box and then write about it on www.geocaching.com.
“The coordinates on the GPS show where they are, then you punch ‘em in on the geocaching website,” said Donovan See, one of the students who participated. “Then, people try to find it.”
Twin Falls help Kenyan mothers fight malaria
November 24, 2010
Coffee is one of Kenya’s main cash crops, yet some children at Twin Falls Middle School are taking a pass on buying it.
And they are doing it for Kenya.
“We give up one morning of coffee and we can save a life,” eighth-grader Karlie Hurley said.
Hurley and about 30 of her classmates are raising funds for Med25, an organization that buys insecticide-treated nets for children and pregnant women of Mbita, a town on the shores of Lake Victoria, in Kenya.
Each treated net costs about $5, hence the comparison to a trip to Starbucks.
What catches the children’s attention is not what they miss but what they gain.
“It feels good to reach out to other people,” Hurley said.
Hurley’s classmate Anna McCready agreed.
“It’s a great opportunity to reach out and help worldwide,” she said.
As of Nov. 18 the children have raised enough money for Med25 to purchase 147 treated nets. Their goal is 500.
Med25, spearheaded by Seattle University grad Rebecca Conte, buys nets that last for three years and kill mosquitoes that try to get through.
Conte’s husband Simon Okelo has been hit by malaria “at least 30 times,” he said. Most Kenyans, Conte said, contract malaria once or twice a year.
Malaria can be fatal if left untreated, Conte said, and some people don’t realize they have it until it’s too late.
Okelo said global warming has shifted malaria to areas where it wasn’t a problem before because it wasn’t warm enough.
“The malaria mosquito is now breeding in the areas it could not before,” Okelo said.
Since mosquitoes breed in still water, Mbita’s proximity to Lake Victoria makes the disease a big problem, eighth-grade teacher Emily Rourke said.
The children learned about Med25 from Rourke.
Conte was Rourke’s father’s nurse while she worked at Virginia Mason Medical Center.
“Because of Facebook, we were able to stay in touch,” Rourke said. “The weekend the clinic opened in Kenya, my dad passed away. I thought about what she was doing, and I thought it was kind of neat and I wanted to get my kids involved.”
Children collected donations, sold snow cones at school, and sold coffee and cookies during parent-teacher conferences.
“Compared to our lives, the Kenyan children’s lives are a lot tougher,” Hurley said. “They have the same pair of shorts for years. We wear new clothes every day.”
Brains versus brawn
November 24, 2010
New players and new coach plan to take on tough league with on-court smarts and discipline
After a trip to the SeaKing District Tournament last year, the Mount Si boys basketball team’s upcoming season is a question mark.
The team has talent, but it also has a new coach and lost eight seniors from last year and all five starters. The losses include standout Tanner Riley, who will be playing Division I basketball at the University of Portland.
But the new coach, Steve Helm says the team is ready to tackle the challenge.
“I love the personnel we have,” he said after a preseason practice.
Except for Dallas Smith, the team’s roster is full of players with little or no varsity experience. But they make up for their inexperience with what they bring to the court.
“They’re basketball guys,” Helm said. “Their basketball intelligence is high,” and they are disciplined players.
Girls basketball wants a great encore this season
November 24, 2010
To Megan Botulinski and the Mount Si girls’ basketball team, lots of reps equal lots of fun.
The second-year coach of the Mount Si girls’ basketball team, has her squad hard at work, doing drill after drill, with the season opener Dec. 3 against the Mercer Island Islanders marked in red in everyone’s mental calendar.
Judging by the enthusiasm inside the gym, the third day of the 12th month can’t come soon enough.
“The girls are putting forth a ton of effort,” Botulinski wrote in an e-mail. “The first few days of practice have been filled with lots of conditioning, yet they are facing those drills with much determination.”
The Botulinski era’s first year ended with an exit at Districts.
“We ran out of gas,” she wrote. “It was my first year, we introduced a new system that the girls had to learn. We got off to a slow start, but came on strong halfway through the season.”
