Birchwood Board Meeting

Had a great board meeting last night, lots of good conversations. We have been able to see some preliminary results from the neighborhood survey and there is some terrific data there. We will be releasing it to the neighborhood when towards the end of the summer/beginning of fall when all of the data has been received and entered. If you have not taken the survey yet and would like to click here to do it over the web.

Great BNA Meeting Last Night

We had a great Birchwood Neighborhood Association meeting last night with good turnout (about 30 folks) and great discussion.

There seemed to be a lot of concern over the perceived increase in crime, drug, and gang activity along W. Maplewood.

Have you noticed this as well?

Neighborhood Connections: Birchwood Elementary and Rebound of Whatcom County

During a meeting with the principal of Birchwood Elementary, DA, he expressed that the school had a lot of at risk youth that would benefit from a quality after school program.  DA had tried in the past to bring organizations in to provide this much needed service but it just didn’t work out.  I mentioned Rebound (Our partners in the Community Toy Store) having a state licensed after school program and he was interested in meeting with SA, the Director of Rebound.

After leaving DA’s office I immediately called Rebound and setup a meeting between Birchwood Elementary, Rebound and myself.

On December 16 that meeting happened and the result is that kids from Birchwood Elementary are going to be bussed using school district transportation to the existing Flying Colors site, a mere 2 miles down the road. 

This should begin in January and hopefully will prove to be a fruitful relationship!

Birchwood Greeters Update

Birchwood Greeters

November 2008 to January 2009 

At a meeting with a member of the Birchwood Neighborhood Association it was suggested that I contact PW, a member that had expressed interest in a “Welcome Wagon” for the Birchwood Neighborhood that would serve as an instrument to welcome people to the neighborhood.

I first met PW at a neighborhood BBQ over the summer and so it was an easy meeting to arrange as she was already familiar with who I was in the neighborhood.  We then met for coffee in late November in which she expressed her interest in a “Welcome Wagon” for the Birchwood Neighborhood.  We began the process of working together, drafting up her ideas and putting them to paper.

Together in December we met with the Birchwood Neighborhood Association Board and got official recognition as a Birchwood Neighborhood Association Committee and the blessing of the Board to continue our efforts on a larger scale.

As of early January we have several neighborhood businesses that want to contribute to a welcome packet, including free pizza and a free oil change.  We have 6 people wanting to volunteer to welcome new residents to the neighborhood, the neighborhood elementary school is going to give us new enrollees contact info (if they are new to the neighborhood and sign a release for us to attain their names and addresses), and we have two apartment complexes (more coming on soon) that are willing to pass on information about new residents.

Starting this month and on into March we will be working with a group of students from Western Washington University (Human Services Majors) to expand our networking efforts with neighborhood businesses, to create an Asset Map of the neighborhood (which will then be turned into a neighborhood directory to be given out to new residents), and to create a “How To” guide for how to do this process in the future.  The How To Manual will be made available to anyone interested in doing this type of effort in another neighborhood.

More to come on this as things are really starting to progress quickly…

A Year in Review Part II

Community Toy Store 2008

 

The Community Toy Store has completed its third year of service to the community at large, thanks in large part to neighbors and neighborhood institutions that have an invested interest in helping families through the holidays.  Wanting to provide a help up instead of a hand out. 

 

You see, typically the way community responds to need during the Christmas season is to give things away, especially toys.  Families in need are given toys for their children which makes the children happy but leaves the parents with a feeling of low self worth.  Our goal through the toy store has always been to provide a way in which parents can provide toys for their children but at a reduced cost.  We take brand new donated toys and sell them at 70% of there purchase price.  All of the proceeds then go to two non-profits that are already working with many of these families, The Whatcom Dream (Teaches financial skills classes to poverty families) and Rebound of Whatcom County (Works with at risk youth, single moms, and low income families).  So, by design the Community Toy Store not only helps low income or financially struggling families through the Christmas season but also completes the cycle of neighbors and neighborhood institutions coming together.

 

The planning for the Toy Store began in earnest towards the end September with the church (Roosevelt Community Church and Northwest Community Church) partnering with Rebound to make the Community Toy Store bigger and better than ever before. 

The results?

Over a dozen neighborhood institutions (from churches to the Prosecutors Office to Starbucks) working to collect toys, a neighborhood private school donating the space to host the Toy Store, a neighborhood church donating its basement to store the toys leading up to the Toy Store, over $6,000 in toys donated, 35 volunteers logging collectively over 200 hours to make the Community Toy Store a reality.  We served over 80 families on a Friday night and Saturday morning.

 

Some of the highlights: One single mom was so excited that she was able to provide toys for her two children that she stayed an additional hour after she was done shopping so that she could volunteer as a gift wrapper.  In fact, we had at least three moms that shopped at the Community Toy Store and then volunteered in whatever capacity they could.  One single mom remarked “Without this I wouldn’t be able to provide for my family.” Another couple commented “We can’t wait until we are in a position (financially) to donate to the Community Toy Store because it has meant so much to us over the last couple years.”

Birchwood Candy Walk 2008

As a part of my requirements as an Americorps volunteer I need to provide stories of things that we have been a part of in the Birchwood Neighborhood.  I thought I would post them here for the enjoyment of anyone who likes to read this blog.

Birchwood Candy Walk

October 2008

 

This was the first year of having a candy walk in the Birchwood Neighborhood and after spending several hours passing out fliers there were three of us at a station along the candy route.  We had no expectations but high hopes that people would react positively to the idea of having a safe way for kids to get the candy they so desperately wanted without the parents having the anxiety as their children went door to door.  So we approached the evening just being thankful it was not raining and that there were plenty of Trick or Treaters.  Then, within 15 minutes of each other two different neighbors approached us with their bowls of candy, asked what we were doing, and the asked if they could join us.  “Of course!” we practically shouted.  So for the next 30 minutes or so we had some neighbors setup a station similar to ours about 100 feet down the route.  Success!

Snow!

Well, it is snowing here in Bellingham which means it is also snowing in the Birchwood Neighborhood.  We have the most beautiful neighborhood all the time, but when it snows it is even better.  With all of our trees and big lots there plenty of snow to look at.

If you go out, bundle up because it is COLD.

Cameron