Take the Safe Rides Community Survey
Safe Rides is a mutual aid rides program started within Olympia SURJ. In order to assess need and potentially make improvements, they are asking community members to participate in a survey. The service began with a direct ask from Indigenous femme and non-binary community members experiencing heightened violence after the 2016 election. Safe Rides is available to anyone feeling unsafe in the community, but is centered on the safety of QTBIPOC [Queer,Trans,Black,Indigenous and People of Color]. SURJ has offered the service at various times over the last 4 years, experimenting both with offering it in moments of emergency, as well as providing it as an ongoing service. Fill out the survey at //tinyurl.com/SafeRidesCommunitySurvey. Questions? Contact olysaferides@gmail.com. .
Crazy Love Ministries new overnight winter shelter
Mason County Warming Center
February saw the opening of a new overnight shelter in Shelton. Crazy Love Ministries has been conducting street outreach since 2017 and in March of last year began to provide services at the Mason County Warming Center to low income families and unhoused individuals. They hand out sack lunches, family food boxes, clothing, toiletries, and camping supplies. A sleeping bag exchange program, laundry facility, courtesy computer, phone, church services, and support groups are available.
Crazy Love is looking for volunteers and financial donations to expand into a seriously needed larger space and install a shower. To donate to this 501(c)3: Crazy Love Ministries, PO Box 2042, Shelton, WA 98584 or www.crazyloveministries.org. To volunteer contact Wendy Petty or Dan Bryan 360-358-3355 or crazyloveshelton@gmail.com
Olympia Indivisible, Saturday
March 6, 6 – 7:15 pm
Olympia Indivisible is hosting a virtual presentation about how we can make progress to fix our democracy. Join with other progressives as we support federal and state legislation to protect healthcare, voting rights, the environment, racial justice, and fairness in government. Together we will take steps to protect these democratic values in Thurston County and at the Port of Olympia. Register at http://bit.ly/3jNcbyA
Find out about Olympia Indivisible: www.olympiaindivisible.org
“Women rise up globally against femicide”
Saturday, March 13, 4 pm
Celebrate International Women’s Day with activists from many different nations speaking about the resistance to gender-based killings. Panelists at the zoom event will bring views from the Confederated Colville Tribes, and other parts of the US as well as from Australia and Mexico. Register in advance at bit.ly/IWD-RW. Organized by Radical Women US and Australia. Information: 206-985-4621. Contact RadicalWomenUS@gmail.com or visit RadicalWomen.org.
The Estuarium is open again!
Weekends from 11 am to 4 pm
The Estuarium gives all of us a way to experience the way that freshwater and salt water meet in our community. In addition to all sorts of programs to get people out into the watery byways of Puget Sound, the facility at 309 State Ave. NE in Olympia has 5 tanks with an amazing collection of animals – sea stars, anemone, shellfish – and that’s not the half of it. After a period of closure, the Estuarium is open to the public with limited capacity. To find out about reservations, walk-ins and activities you can participate in go to www.pugetsoundestuarium.org
Election time again at Thurston Conservation District
Thurston Conservation District needs good board members and a good candidate is running for the open board seat this month. Read an article about the District and its work at olywip.org/returning-the-thurston-conservation-district-to-its-purposes. All county residents are eligible to vote, but you have to request a ballot. Do that by March 11 by calling 360-754-3588 or emailing ballotrequest@thurstoncd.. The election will be by mail and ballots must be postmarked by March 16, 2021. Helen Wheatley, is an experienced teacher of environmental history and human geography, who was previously appointed to the Board. She will be an asset to the Board.
Bad weather, a short window, a big loss
This news from our own Olympia Seafood: The F/V Terry F, a crabber out of Westport sank February 15. The vessel ran into trouble and began sinking in the first hours of the 73-hour opening for Dungeness crab. Coast Guard rescue instructed the crew to enter the water one at a time to meet a rescue swimmer. All three were wearing survival suits and communication gear. The fishing vessel was the home and livelihood of Terry F, and it is a total loss. To read more and offer help if you like, find the donation page here: www.gofund.me/9319199f
Dispute Resolution Center: Nominations open for the 2021 Evan Ferber Peacemaker Leadership Award
The DRC encourages members of the community to submit nominations for this award established in honor of founding Executive Director Evan Ferber. The award recognizes individuals who have demonstrated extraordinary leadership in promoting peaceful resolution of disputes and civility in our community. Please provide as much information as possible for whoever you nominate, on their community involvement as it relates to the award. For the nomination form click here. Submit completed forms to: DRC, Attn: Joe Sanders, P.O. Box 6184, Olympia, WA 98507 or email jsanders@mediatethurston.org. Deadline to submit nominations is April 10, 2021.
Thurston – Santo Tomás Sister County Association
Seeking shoots, roots and leaves. TSTSCA is ready for local gardeners to divide and deliver cool clumps of
perennial plants for their 10th annual plant sale. The sale raises funds for 16 university scholarships in our sister town in Nicaragua. They need volunteer planters to prep pots – and maybe some folks willing to seed out veggies and tomatoes/peppers. Help pot every weekend til the beginning of May on the Westside. Call Jean at (360) 943-8642 (no texts, leave voicemail) for
details and to volunteer TSTSCA thanks you one and all.
Defund OPD has a new website, meetings
Thursdays 6:30 – 8 pm. By zoom.
They are conducting research and are working with a blueprint to increase police accountability and cut funds from policing in order to invest them in community. Since 2011, the Olympia PD’s budget has increased by 67%, while calls have increased by only 7%. See their blueprint and find out more about the project at www.olydsa.org/committees/defund-opd. Contact them at info@olydsa.org.
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