Showing posts with label volunteer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label volunteer. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Evans Creek Preserve - A City of Sammamish gem


THE EVANS CREEK PRESERVE

"This is a great place to take your family, yourself, or a friend for a short hike in beautiful open space only 3 miles east of downtown Redmond."  B. Yoder


By Susan Wilkins
Redmond, WA. 

The Evans Creek Preserve, a new park and nature preserve east of Redmond was opened to the public in late 2011 after nearly a decade of planning and a year of intensive trail construction. The preserve is mostly gentle rolling hills with open meadows and forested uplands. It is located in the bottomland of the Evans Creek Basin, a few miles east of Redmond, in the deep southeast trending valley that connects Redmond and Fall City. Evans Creek runs through the north edge of the preserve in an undersized, meandering channel that routinely floods creating swamps and wetland ponds that cover much of the site during the winter. 

We visited in early July and the wetlands were mostly grassy and dry. Evans Creek was running so slowly that we weren’t sure where it was and had to check the map. In the fall, Evans Creek will have native runs of chinook as well as runs of coho and sockeye salmon that will pass through the preserve and spawn upstream.


Owned and developed by the City of Sammamish, the Evans Creek Preserve is located about 3 miles east of downtown Redmond on Redmond-Fall City Road. The 180-acre property was once the farmstead of Newton and Kathryn Galley who passed away in the mid-1990s and willed their property to the University of Washington, Whitman College, Children’s Hospital, the Children’s Home Society, the Masonic Home and Redmond United Methodist Church. These 6 organizations collectively agreed to sell the property to the City of Sammamish in November 2000. The park/preserve was in the planning stage until 2011 when major development of the park and its trail system was undertaken. Old farm buildings were torn down and a new iron-works footbridge over Evans Creek was constructed. Washington Trails Association (wta.org) designated Evans Creek Preserve as one of its major lowland projects for 2011. Volunteer trail-building days were organized by WTA and 250 volunteers spent more than 7000 hours clearing brush, removing stumps, laying gravel trails and building boardwalks and bridges to create nearly 2 miles of trail loops.

To get there: The Evans Creek Preserve is located on the south side of Redmond-Fall City Road (SR202) about a mile east of the SR202/Sahalee Way intersection. Heading east on SR202, look for the sign on the right side of the road that says NE 34th Street – Private Road, turn right and go a short distance down the road. There is a 10-car parking lot with signs and maps.

Friday, May 25, 2012

UPDATED: Student exhibits shine at "Legacy of Learning" Benefit Luncheon


Ms. Hartford  and four members of her Green Team
with  wetland storm pond restoration 'shovels"
Roger Blier, Lunch Buddy and PASSPORT UNLIMITED "Silver Sponsor" has a new pirq app "to discover instant deals on the go!"

Some incredible numbers are in on the Lake Washington Schools Foundation 7th Annual "Legacy of Learning" Benefit Luncheon.   $180,000 in donations!  That's a 25% increase in giving from last year!  Awesome show of community support, for sure!  The students were there, too.  On the right is a photo of Horace Mann Elementary's "Green Team."  5th Grade teacher Marie Hartford is beaming on the right.  Thanks to the "Foundation," MANN's team got a $200 kick-start to start their "hands on" volunteer work cleaning up the stormwater wetland pond on the school's property.  Go ahead and take a peak over the huricaine fence and you may see ducks and dragonfly's or hear frogs chirp, chirp.  There used to be invasive blackberry brambles blocking the view and suffocating the wetland and wildlife stormwater pond.  Thanks to Marie's green team and their little shovels we have a cleaner Bear Creek, Sammamish River and Puget Sound!

At the foundation of  the MANN "Green Team" is our growing FOUNDATION of community supporters!  Tune in for a short clip of how the FOUNDATION is "Growing Tomorrow's Great Minds TODAY - One Child at a Time"   

Special thanks to sodexo for "Making every day a better day" by providing and serving over 450 warm luncheons!
Story & photo B.Y.  

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Emergency Response Team looking for volunteer "victims"

C.E.R.T. victim being prepared to be lifted
from the desk of Elizabeth Hansford, with encouragement from Councilmember Hank Myers..

The CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) class in Redmond is looking for volunteers to act as victims in either of our TWO final drills we have coming up on March 3rd (2-8pm) and 4th. (2-8 pm) Details on both opportunities are below. Volunteer hours are available making this a great opportunity for high school students, scouts, etc. You don’t have to be in school to volunteer though - we need victims of ALL ages.  Read More >>

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

City Citizen Academy fosters civic leadership and volunteerism

Redmond’s 2012 Citizen Academy will begin on January 23, 2012 from 6:30 to 8:30 pm in the Council Chambers. The series will include a total of six sessions on Monday evenings as well as three optional tours of City facilities. This is an opportunity for Redmond community members to learn about the day-to-day functions of municipal government. In addition, participation can help foster civic leadership and volunteerism such as involvement with the upcoming Budgeting by Priorities process.
 
   -- Kim Dietz, Senior Planner, City of Redmond

Monday, February 21, 2011

UPDATED: "Lunch Buddy", Tutoring and Classroom Assistant volunteer training


Learn how to make your mentoring and tutoring more interactive and productive.
Students today deal with social pressures, including bullying and stereotyping,
that can affect their ability to concentrate on school work.

The need for "Lunch Buddy" mentors, "Tutors" and "Classroom Assistants" can't meet the demand.
LINKS (Looking Into the Needs of Kids and Schools) is a program of the Lake Washington School District (LWSD), with funding provided by the Lake Washington Schools Foundation

COMMENT:    I was a "Lunch Buddy" mentor for three Horace Mann  kids over seven years.  It's impossible to articulate all the benefits since much of the gain comes from the heart.   Link mentoring should extend into the Junior High since 7th grade is one of the most difficult transitions. School office managers and secretaries used to run the program until Links took it over three years ago.  The secretaries probably know your buddy better than any and can be a huge resource.  It's important to understand how they fit into the Links program.  - Bob Yoder

Friday, September 24, 2010

Overlake Squadron Civil Air Patrol Cadets Meet at LW School District Offices


Overlake Squadron CAP Color Guard in Safeco Stadium --  will perform in community upon request
from the desk of Mike Holliday....
One of the best kept secrets in town is the Overlake Squadron of the Civil Air Patrol. CAP has been around since 1941 and has 60,000 members across the country in 1500 Squadrons.

The Overlake unit has been here for 15 years and is mainly a Cadet Squadron made up of young people aged 12-18 operating from the Lake Washington School District Resource Center located in the Redmond Town Center.

The unit meets throughout the year on Tuesday evenings from 6:45-9:00pm. CAP operates like a military unit, wears the USAF uniforms, but is an all volunteer civilian organization with no obligation for military service.

The Squadron is holding a recruiting campaign during the month of September for new cadets as well as adults who support the operation. Of particular interest are adults who are pilots, medical, web-site design, and emergency services personnel.  Email Mike Holliday at:  overlake@wawg.cap.gov

We welcome the public to attend a meeting during the month of September to see the cadets training and to learn more about the Civil Air Patrol.   Read More details of the program and FAQ from Mike >>

Regards,
MICHAEL B HOLLIDAY, 1st Lt, Civil Air Patrol
Commander PCR-WA-050
Overlake Composite (Cadet) Squadron
Civil Air Patrol

www.facebook.com/overlakesquadron

Monday, February 22, 2010

Hopelink asking for new volunteers. Volunteers from 12 years to over 16 years receive orientation training.


Hopelink, the largest nonprofit social services agency helping people in east and north King County, seeks volunteers to work at any of its five centers in Shoreline, Carnation, Kirkland/Northshore, Redmond or Bellevue.

Hopelink relies upon hundreds of volunteers to fill such needs as sorting food in its food banks; providing child care and homework tutoring to children in our housing facilities; delivering food to homebound clients; or answering phones and helping with administrative tasks. Hopelink’s newest center, Kirkland/Northshore, is in particular need of food sorters and shelf stockers for its grocery store-style food bank. Many other volunteer tasks are available; bi-lingual language skills are a plus for many of these tasks.

Hopelink asks new volunteers over age 16 and volunteers between the ages of 12 and 16 with parent/guardian supervision to register to attend a mandatory orientation. To register, please visit www.hope-link.org/takeaction/volunteer  or call (425) 869-6066. Registration for orientation is necessary as space is very limited; seating is first-come, first-served so please arrive promptly.
 
By  Denise Stephens
Public Relations Specialist
Office: 425-869-2440
http://www.hope-link.org/
http://youthlink.hope-link.org/
http://twitter.com/Hopelink

Monday, April 20, 2009

Horace Mann's "Service Saturdays" is a smashing success.

Hi Bob! Your blog post on the Pennies for Piece kids encouraged me to let you know about Mrs. Jarrett’s 6th Grade Class at Horace Mann Elementary.

My son is a student in the class and I can’t say enough about how enthusiastic and supportive this group of kids have been with their "Service Saturday" projects.

So far this school year, the kids have participated in the following:
  • Trail work on the Sammamish Trail·
  • Worked at a homeless shelter to serve a meal·
  • Donated monies to Page Ahead·
  • Held a pet food drive for the Seattle Humane Society·
  • Held a tea and read poetry for the Fairwinds Retirement Luxury Resort.
  • Projects planned for the rest of the school year are making blankets for Project Linus and serving a meal at Tent City 4 on May 11th.

I’m working on getting some photos of our past projects...do you think there is space on your blog for a little shout-out about this great bunch of kids? ~ Marlene Katz

Send me your photos if you want Marlene! What a tremendous success story! I was a lunch buddy at Mann and my daughter went to school there. Your school is great!

Friday, November 9, 2007

6/1/07, Mr. Sheridan's 4th-grade salmon-release field trip

Mr. John Sheridan, Horace Mann Elementary teacher raises and releases salmon fry with his students
Every once in a while it's nice to have a happy story to tell.

At Horace Mann today, I enjoyed my usual time with my 5th grade "lunch buddy" Dallas. Dallas's taught me how to set up a "gmail" account and ever since then I've nick-named him from his gmail handle -- "Dallas 2-fast."
I bumped into Mr. Sheridan aka "Mr. S". He's a 4th grade teacher and is known throughout the school and district for inspiring children with the salmon fry he grows in a big tank in the school lobby. It just so happened he and his students were going to release the fry TODAY into Bear Creek at Ferrel McWhirter Park. And, I was invited!!
John Sheridan has been instilling love and respect for fish & wildlife in Horace Mann students for over 16 years. Every year he conducts field trips for bird identification and behavior and the release of Coho salmon fry.
My daughter had Mr. Sheridan for a teacher.  I'll always remember the day she exclaimed "her bird" would be the Western Tanager that she swore she saw over the east fence at Mann. We walked over to ID it without any luck. But, I still have the tanager picture she drew on my office wall.
"Dallas2fast" really liked Mr. Sheridan when he had him last year. Dallas remarked: It's fun to be in his class. Besides the field trips, Mr. Sheridan takes lots of pictures and students each get a photo album at the end of the year. He is also "knows technology". At lunch students will take video and edit skits they create. Fairly recently, Mr. Sheridan won the teacher-of-the-year award.
Today was a treat. I'd never been on one of Mr. Sheridan's salmon trips. He asked me to help dip the fry out of the huge tank. It was fun poking around with the net for the baby, 1.5 inch coho. Passing students ogled. We gently placed the fry into a large cooler with a bag of ice -- all 230 of them! Lesson #1 - salmon need cool water to live!
Mr. Sheridan told me lots of cool stuff during the dipping. He got the $1500 tank from another school via a WSDFW "Adopt a Stream" grant. In December, he cleans the tank and then in January he places 250 developed eggs from the fishery in the tank. The children watch the eggs hatch and grow all year! In early June the kids release the fry.
Each child was given a bowl of water with several fry. They walked to the creek and slowly released them. It was a very special time. Some children have a hard time letting them go. Some give them names.
Mr. Sheridan said about 80% of the fry will make it out of the river, but very few will return. (~ 1-2%). The fry need to stay in the river a full year so they are good prey to birds. These little guys are tank fed and used to rising to the surface to feed!
After some fruit Popsicle, photos by the huge Big Leaf Maples, and walk through the animal barn, the fun ended. No doubt many of these children will remember this day for a lifetime.
Thank you, Mr. Sheridan! You are a one-of-a -kind special teacher!

May, 2012 Comment:   The salmon were released in Mackey Creek near it's confluence with Bear Creek.  (Mr Sheridan retired a few years ago and enjoys playing golf 24/7) BY