The Greenwood SAGE Project

SAGE begins it's transition

2010-06-07T12:57:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

I’m writing all of you to let you know about SAGE-related activities this summer as well as explain the state SAGE finds itself in now and how it will begin to change this summer.

As hopefully all of you were aware of, we held our Annual SAGE meeting a few weeks ago, where we briefly discussed the history of SAGE and how it went this last year. Cecily, the Greenwood Senior Center’s Director, also told the group why we are unable to have an Americorps next year dedicated to coordinating SAGE, as I and the two Americorps before me have done. The reason we cannot have an Americorps member as SAGE Coordinator has to do with the funding surrounding the Americorps project and the notion that after three years of Americorps members working on a particular project, it either should be sustainable on its own without an Americorps member leading it, or it should be led by an actual staff member of the host organization.

From the Summit we saw that even though it’s evident that many people enjoy coming to the various educational presentations we have on social and environmental justice issues, no one can really commit the time to organizing, publicizing, and inviting in speakers twice a month or more. Thus, we have started to re-envision what civic engagement can look like at the senior center, searching for a self-led, sustainable model that remains fulfilling and meaningful for all of you.

Cecily, some of the key members of SAGE, and I got together and identified three facets of civic engagement that we would like to see continued at the senior center. These are: ACTION, ADVOCACY, and EDUCATION/DISCUSSION. The one-time action projects we’ve tried to do haven’t always been very popular. However, our longer-term action projects (i.e. the Aurora Community Dinners, the Alternative Gift Market, and the SAGE vegetable community garden), have done much better. We are thinking that it therefore makes sense to support and expand these projects during this next year. Either a staff member or an Americorps would assist in the logistics necessary for the particular project, but the idea is that SAGE members would essentially lead the project themselves, perhaps through formation of sub-committees for each project.

Regarding the education and advocacy components, we have made a connection with a community social justice organization interested in sustaining these aspects of civic engagement at the senior center. The organization is the Puget Sound Alliance for Retired Americans (PSARA), a chapter of the national Alliance for Retired Americans. The mission statement of the group is:

“…to ensure social and economic justice and full civil rights for all citizens so that they may enjoy lives of dignity, personal and family fulfillment and security. The Alliance believes that all older and retired persons have a responsibility to strive to create a society that incorporates these goals and rights and that retirement provides them with opportunities to pursue new and expanded activities with their unions, civic organizations and their communities.”

PSARA is a group that educates on and advocates for various social justice issues, including: homelessness, immigration, health care, social security, affordable housing, transportation, and many others.
Incidentally, the PSARA independently contacted us to start up a discussion group surrounding social justice and civil rights issues this at the senior center this summer, right at the time that we were discussing a new model for SAGE. We met up yesterday, and the president and vice president of PSARA seem very excited about collaborating with the senior center and the SAGE project.

So, what does this all mean? Right now, I have three SAGE meetings for the summer scheduled, which will be on the third Tuesday of the month at 2pm. At these meetings, we will discuss SAGE’s transition more, see how we are all feeling about the changes, and begin to organize committees for the three action projects. PSARA will be holding discussion groups on the second Thursday of the month, from 1-2pm. Bette Reed, the Community Vice President of PSARA will facilitate the discussions, bring in speakers, and brainstorm with participants on the social justice advocacy and education they would like to pursue.

I encourage you to attend both the PSARA discussion groups, to get an idea of how the education/discussion and advocacy components of civic engagement can look like at the senior center, as well as the SAGE meetings, where we can talk more about the new model and enhance our three action projects. To learn more about what PSARA does, you can visit their website, www.psara.org.

The first PSARA meeting is Thursday, June 10, at 1pm and the first SAGE meeting is Tuesday, June 15, at 2pm. I will be at both.

I love the purpose of the SAGE project and think it is so important, and hope that our new model can expand and deepen civic engagement at the senior center.

I know this is a lot of information, so please feel free to call or email me with any questions or concerns. We’ll of course talk more about all of this at the first SAGE meeting.

Thanks for all your participation in and support of the SAGE project so far.

SAGE Garden in Bloom

2010-04-07T13:21:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! I do apologize for the extreme lack of blogging these last few months. This is really the first time in my life that I’ve tried to do it, and I realize I that I’m not great at it. BUT, I am trying to make more of a commitment to doing it, so that those of you who cannot make all the SAGE events have a convenient place to go to find out what’s been going on.

Our biggest news right now is the garden! We planted some salad greens, mustard, radishes, beets, cauliflower, broccoli, peas, and some other veggies a few weeks ago and are just seeing some green sprouts popping up. The harvest from the garden will go the senior center kitchen and be used in our daily lunches, while extras will be available at our weekly “food bank.”

We will start workdays fairly soon, once the garden is ready to harvest, and will also do some summer planting. If you would like to help out sometime, shoot me and email or give me a call and I’ll make sure to contact you about happenings at the garden.

In the meantime, head over to the senior center on a sunny day and take a few quiet minutes to enjoy the garden, located on the east side of the senior center, next door.

2009-10-02T16:01:00.001-07:00

September: A month of water and health care reform.

September 2009: The Piper’s Creek Watershed

To begin this season’s focus on water, we turned to Seattle’s Piper’s Creek Watershed, the border of which lies at the foot of the senior center’s doorstep. Bill Malatinsky, a watershed interpretive specialist for the city, joined the SAGE group on September 8th to talk about the Piper’s Creek watershed and the problems that threaten its vitality. Bill discussed the combined sewage cycle that the GSC is a part of. Runoff will either go directly into the Piper’s Creek streams or into sewage lines and through water treatment plants. Apparently water treatment plants were not built to handle many of the chemicals, that come from cars for example, and the pollutants end up still being ejected directly into the Puget Sound. Bill also discussed how over the past half century the amount of rain that made it to the ground and became surface water has increased from 3% of total rainfall to 25% of total rainfall. This is due to a decrease in trees from logging and an increase in impervious surfaces. All this creates more runoff that drags pollutants and chemicals straight into our streams, rivers, and eventually Puget Sound. Bill told us that another dire consequence of increased runoff is sewage overflows, where, during storms, the sewage drains reach maximum capacity and overflows with sewage water that enters streams and creeks without any sort of treatment. Bill finished his presentation with a clip from the PBS special called “Poisoned Waters,” a film that examines the devastating effects pollution has had on fish, other wildlife, and the potential threat it poses to the health of humans. We then talked about changes that are being made to the city of Seattle, such as SEA streets, that takes in storm water in order to relieve pressure on the sewage drains. We finished with the reminder that we would discuss long-term projects on our “Action Day” with Bill at the end of the month that the GSC could engage in to reduce the amount of runoff and pollution levels within our neighborhood.

On Tuesday, September 22, we were supposed to take a trip to Carkeek Park’s environmental learning center to learn about the center and do some work in the gardens. Unfortunately, we did not have enough people express interest and had to cancel the trip. However, if you are interested in doing something like this, please contact me and we can try to get a group together at a time that works for everyone.

This last Tuesday, September 29, Bill Malatinsky came back to the Greenwood Senior Center for our “onsite action project.” Although only two SAGE participants attended, we had a great conversation with Bill on potential long-term projects that the GSC could do that helps benefit the Seattle watersheds in some way. Here is a list of ideas we came up with:
1) STORMWATER DRAIN FILTER
2) NEIGHBORHOOD TREE PLANTING
3) RAIN GARDEN
4) ACCESSIBLE GARDEN

Please join us at our next committee meeting, October 12th at 1:30pm, to further discuss these long-term project ideas and upcoming SAGE events. I look forward to seeing you there!

July: Community Gardening

2009-07-31T10:36:00.000-07:00

In an excellent article entitled "Why Bother?", Michael Pollan argues that "the single greatest lesson the garden teaches is that our relationship to the planet need not be zero-sum, and that as long as the sun still shines and people still can plan and plant, think and do, we can, if we bother to try, find ways to provide for ourselves without diminishing the world." In July the SAGE Project set out to learn more about producing our own food and the benefits of community gardening.

EDUCATION

Community Gardening - from Victory Gardens to P-Patches: During many periods in history, urban agriculture has helped solve food security issues while producing local, nutritious food for all. Sandy Pernitz from Seattle's P-Patch program joined the SAGE Project to give us a history of community gardening movements and an overview of the P-Patch program, which was born out of environmental activism in the 1970s and today provides 68 community gardens for residents throughout Seattle. SAGE participants learned about the many benefits of community gardening, including connection to food, community building, cultural traditions, public expression, improving neighborhoods and cross-generational connections. The P-Patch program also promotes community food security by encouraging gardeners to donate fresh produce to local food banks and feeding programs; in 2008 P-Patch gardeners donated 12.3 tons of organic produce!

Wanda Moore, a GSC member, shared her reflections on Victory Gardens in Seattle during the World War II era. She remembers residents creating huge gardens on abandoned farm land and ripping up parking strips to grow produce, and she spoke about how the experience would bring neighbors together. Dan Pavlovic, a community member who is on the steering committee for Vision Greenwood Park, discussed the opportunity to develop a P-Patch garden in an empty lot located in the nearby Greenwood Park with enough community support. Karen Cirulli, an AmeriCorps volunteer focusing on community development, provided information about the community garden she coordinates on Aurora.

ACTION

Volunteering at the Aurora Community Garden: In April, Awake Church began a community garden with the hope of beautifying Aurora, providing food for community meals and, most importantly, bringing people together. Following the SAGE presentation on community gardening, we headed over to the garden on an extremely hot afternoon to help out with a few projects. The heat was so oppressive that we had to limit the work we did, but it was a valuable experience nonetheless.

Karen gave us a tour, talking about the many neighbors she's gotten to know through Wednesday night barbeques held at the garden and the participation of the community in garden maintenance. We spent our time creating "tee-pees" for the beans, thinning carrots, weeding around the lettuce and kale, and participating in the very first harvest! On our way back to GSC we stopped at the Sun Hill Motel to share freshly picked peas, baby carrots and green pepper with the residents there.

Click here for more photos:

Aurora Community Garden

Skills for the New Millennium

2009-06-25T14:52:00.000-07:00

The Skills for the New Millennium Tour has been traveling the country since 2008, offering education and resources to any and all interested in cultivating revolutionary ways of living. In June the SAGE Project welcomed Stan, Delyla and Megan Wilson who arrived at the Greenwood Senior Center in the Permibus - a 40-foot mobile permaculture demonstration bus complete with solar power, greywater systems, a composting toilet, three dogs and a clutch of chickens! SAGE Participants enjoyed workshops on Permaculture Ethics & Basics, Composting and Canning and afterward were given a tour of the Permibus. (Click here for a complete list of workshops and trainings offered by the Skills Tour.) A group of excited kids from the Boys and Girls Club also joined us for the tour - they were thrilled to hold a live chicken, intrigued by the worm composting bin and expressed a mixture of fascination and disgust at the composting toilet on the bus.

The principles of permaculture, which are based on indigenous cultures in Australia and Papua New Guinea, are driven by ethics: care for the earth, care for the people, share the surplus and live as though we were permanent residents. The Permaculture 101 workshop encouraged us to challenge the notion that arose in the 1700s that resources are scarce and therefore have to be hoarded. The reality is that resources are abundant and therefore should be shared. Stan Wilson referred to this idea as "sustainable hedonism" - we can and should live well caring for the earth.

Click here for more photos:

Skills for the New Millennium Tour

June: Good Food!

2009-06-19T14:51:00.000-07:00

EDUCATION

Film & Forum: The SAGE Project kicked off its summer program on Sustainable Food with a screening of the movie Good Food, a film that offers an intimate look at farmers, ranchers and businesses that are creating a more sustainable food system in the Pacific Northwest. Sue McGann, community activist and farm coordinator for the Lettuce L ink Giving Garden at Marra Farm, led us in a great discussion following the film. We talked about how supporting small family farms who produce food sustainably is essential in the face of climate change, the end of cheap energy and rising health care costs. Shopping locally and organically benefits the environment, our local economy and our own personal well being.

Click here for a great resource on the issues: Why buy sustainable?

ACTION

Sustainable Community Dinner: In partnership with Awake Church, the SAGE Project hosted a second community dinner for residents of Phinney/Greenwood and our neighbors living in motels along Aurora. This time around there was a special focus on building community through the sharing of a meal founded on the principles of a sustainable food system. We were grateful for the support of PCC, Greenwood Market, the Essential Baking Company and New Roots Organics in these efforts.

A wonderful group of about 60 volunteers and guests joined us for the meal, bringing together people from the Greenwood Senior Center, motels along the Aurora corridor, the Greenwood/Phinney community, HomeStep (a transitional housing program) and Awake Church. It was beautiful to witness connections form among neighbors who might not otherwise interact. Following a lovely meal made with fresh and local organic food (including barbeque chicken, lentil loaf, green salad and summer crisp), guests joined in on some square dancing fun led by callers and musicians from the Seattle Subversive Square Dance Society!

Follow up on immigration issues

2009-06-08T09:56:00.001-07:00

On Saturday evening, June 6, members of SAGE, Sustainable Greenwood and the greater community came together to watch the critically-acclaimed film The Visitor, which offers a unique glimpse into the U.S. immigration system and the people it affects through the story of a disillusioned economics professor whose life is transformed by a chance encounter.

The discussion that followed brought up many complex and difficult issues dealing with immigration detention, immigration policy and the need for immigration reform. Topics that came up included: ICE raids, human rights abuses, denial of due process, separation of families, border enforcement, profits earned by corporations who own detention centers, and our own heritage as immigrants in the U.S.

The following link provides a lot of great information about the U.S. detention and deportation system: http://www.detentionwatchnetwork.org/aboutdetention

Click here to see OneAmerica's report on human rights violations at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, and here to see its report on how immigrants contribute to our state's economy.

The Reform Immigration for America campaign was launched in several cities nationwide Monday, June 2 and sponsored locally by OneAmerica. For information about the campaign and how to get involved, click on the following link: http://www.reformimmigrationforamerica.org/index.php

April: Immigration Issues

2009-05-15T15:37:00.000-07:00

According to a U.S. Census Bureau report in 2003, approximately one million new immigrants enter the country each year. In April, the SAGE Project engaged in a three-week exploration of issues related to immigration, including the role that globalization plays, challenges new immigrants face, and factors that affect our communities economically and socially.

EDUCATION

Documentary and Discussion: Roger Yockey, a trained facilitator with the Northwest Federation of Community Organizations, joined the SAGE Project to discuss the film Uprooted. This documentary presents three stories of immigrants who left their homes after global economic powers devastated their countries, only to face new challenges migrating and living in the United States. SAGE participants discussed the issues of injustice raised in the film and reflected on whether or not our current system is in line with our values.

Understanding Immigration Basics: Fatima Morales and Jeanette Wenzl of Washington CAN! led an interactive workshop using an immigration board game to teach participants about the current immigration system and help them understand the many difficulties and barriers that prevent immigrants from obtaining a visa.

Panel Discussion: Representatives from CASA Latina, OneAmerica and Refugee Women’s Alliance joined the SAGE Project to answer questions and discuss their perspectives on the most pressing issues facing immigrants in our community, how these issues are being addressed, and how they affect our community as a whole.

ACTION

On May 1, a group of SAGE participants headed downtown demonstrate in the May 1st March and Rally, calling on President Obama to renew justice and restore all rights for everyone, with a focus on a moratorium on raids & detentions.

March: Mentoring

2009-03-12T15:50:00.000-07:00

EDUCATION

On Thursday, March 5, GSC's social worker Carin Mack offered a wonderful class on the nature and benefits of being a mentor--a person who gently guides and nurtures the growth of others. We discussed the reciprocal nature of the relationship between a mentor and mentee, the importance of forging intergenerational connections, and the way that mentoring has affected us personally in our lives.

Here are a few insightful suggestions for mentors, gathered from the book From Age-ing to Sage-ing by Zalman Schachter-Shalomi and Ronald S. Miller:

-Listen with an open mind and heart to your mentee's genuine concerns before sharing wisdom.
-Don't impose, but invoke knowledge.
-Provide openness for the journey instead of a roadmap.
-Don't try to impress; instead, be your searching, tentative, human self.
-Cherish your mentee's uniqueness.

ACTION

The following week we were joined by four lovely panelists from local organizations who discussed ways to connect with mentoring and tutoring opportunities in the community.

Shana Faulkner provided information about the Page Ahead Children's Literacy Program, which is the largest literacy program in the state of Washington and distributes approximately 160,000 books to more than 55,000 children from low-income families each year. Their Story Time program is a wonderful opportunity to visit local schools and spend an hour or two sparking enthusiasm for books amongst preschoolers and kidnergartners who are most at-risk for academic failure.

Devyn Perez shared with us the secret behind the Greenwood Space Travel Supply Co.: if you walk beyond the personal defense armaments and "accoutrements for the youngest adventurers" and go through the Atomic Teleporter, you will find yourself in a fun and innovative writing and tutoring center for youth called 826 Seattle. Through writing workshops, field trips, drop-in tutoring and publishing projects, 826 fosters great leaps in learning among students between 6 and 18 years old.

Sarah Hepner came from nearby Greenwood Elementary School to discuss the great need for tutors at the school. Many children at the school are under grade level for reading, and at least 5 to 6 children from each classroom are in need of extra help with their schoolwork. Through the Sound Partners tutoring program, students are matched with volunteers who guide them through a 20-minute lesson (curriculum is provided) and then spend at least 10 minutes of "fun time" with them.

Crystal Barnard, from the North Seattle Boys and Girls Club, gave a wonderful overview of the many ways to connect with various programs that serve children from kindergarten through 12th grade coming from every public and private school in the north end. Volunteers are welcome on an ongoing basis to tutor kids in reading and math, participate in arts and crafts, provide companionship during free time, or lead a class on a hobby or topic of personal interest.

February: Homelessness on Aurora

2009-03-12T14:02:00.000-07:00

EDUCATION

Not many people living in Greenwood or Phinney Ridge or Green Lake would consider the Aurora corridor part of their community, nor would they likely consider the main thoroughfare to be its own community. Unfortunately the stretch of avenue may best be known for being a center of prostitution and drug dealing, a generalization certainly reinforced by the media. However, what many people may not know is that there are many families and individuals living in several motels along Aurora who have nowhere else to call home. [This seems to be a recent phenomenon nationwide: see this New York Times article.]

On Tuesday, February 17, the SAGE project welcomed members of two local churches - Awake Church and Crosspoint Church - to discuss their experiences reaching out and building relationships with our neighbors on Aurora. This provided a meaningful opportunity to challenge stereotypes, hear stories of hope and loss, learn about many of the issues surrounding the situation, and ask ourselves what it means to be neighbors in this context.

It is interesting to consider that according to Seattle neighborhood maps, Aurora is marker that divides one neighborhood from another, placing it in a position as a "seam" between communities. It is also a divide between legislative districts, separating the 36th from the 46th and 43rd.

ACTION

Two weeks later, on March 2, the SAGE Project, in partnership with Awake Church, hosted a dinner at the Greenwood Senior Center for residents of Greenwood, Aurora and other nearby neighborhoods. The intent was to bridge communities and foster fellowship between neighbors who might not otherwise interact.

We were blessed with a great group of volunteers and community donors who came together to create a beautiful evening:

-New Roots Organics donated fresh, organic produce, the Essential Baking Company provided freshly baked bread, and Greenwood's Terra Bella Flowers contributed six lovely bouquets to grace the tables.
-Local musicians Greg Spence Wolf (mandolin) and Jorge Zorro (guitar) delighted the crowd with folksy tunes and were intermittently joined by Greenwood's most enthusiastic tap-dancer, Paulette DeRooy.
-Susie Paulson, one of Greenwood Senior Center's most passionate and dedicated lunch cooks, spent the afternoon in the kitchen whipping up rosemary and lemon roast chicken, savory black bean soup and a decadent tiramisu for dessert.
-Karen and Steph, two massage therapists, offered table massage and reflexology for women.
-A whole slew of volunteers from all over the community came to provide dessert, set up tables, chop vegetables, welcome guests, arrange decorations, and tackle a pile of dirty dishes once dinner was done.

We are so grateful to the volunteers and guests who joined us to share a warm meal together. We hope to do it again in the future.

Civic Engagement Fair

2009-02-18T15:39:00.001-08:00

Advocacy Training

2009-02-18T14:58:00.001-08:00

On January 20, the day of the inauguration of President Barack Obama, we spent part of the afternoon learning how to work for the "Change we can believe in" with an advocacy workshop led by two Washington CAN! organizers. We reviewed the legislative process in Olympia and discussed how the proposed cuts in the Governor's budget would affect many health programs and social services.

We then practiced using the Legislative Hotline to leave a message for our senator and two representatives. This toll-free hotline is a fast and easy way for citizens to leave brief messages about specific bills: 1-800-562-6000, 8 am- 8pm M-F, 9 am - 1 pm Sat.

December: Alternative Gift Market

2008-12-31T16:25:00.000-08:00

Shop for the holidays and change the world at the same time? On Wednesday, December 10, 2008, the Greenwood SAGE Project hosted an Alternative Gift Market at the GSC to help raise money and awareness for a variety of national and international humanitarian projects. Shoppers were given the opportunity to browse colorful display booths while enjoying a warm and festive atmosphere with live music and holiday treats. Gifts could then be purchased to support particular projects in honor of friends and relatives.

Volunteers chose from projects selected by Alternative Gifts International, an organization that has been "sending gifts of peace and justice - food, shelter, trees, water, medicines - around the world since 1986." Each volunteer then carefully researched their project and designed a project display with photos and information.

Volunteers working on project displays

The market turned out to be a wonderful success. Volunteers educated and enlightened shoppers about the various geographical, social, and political factors creating a need for each of the respective projects and how each particular project addresses the need and helps provide solutions. Shoppers who chose to donate received beautiful cards with inserts explaining to recipients the nature of donation made in their honor.

Example of card insert

At the end of the day, $3,526 had been raised in support of the featured projects at the Greenwood Senior Center's Alternative Gift Market! Not only will this make a significant impact in the lives of needy people around the world, but this will also make an impact in the lives of the givers and receivers of alternative gifts who are made aware of important global issues and participate in a reorientation of what it means to give during the holiday season. Thank you to all who contributed your time, effort, and enthusiasm to make this event possible!

Top Five Projects Supported by Alternative Gift Market shoppers:

New Water Wells for Nomadic People in Sudan - $644
Wheelchairs for New Freedom in Ecuador - $458
Trees for the Rural Poor in the Caribbean - $355
Micro-Loans for Poverty Reduction in Haiti - $245
Renewed Sight for the Blind in Cambodia - $219

To view a photo album with more photos from the Alternative Gift Market, click below:

Alternative Gift Market at the Greenwood Senior Center

November: Health Care in Washington State

2008-11-26T11:15:00.000-08:00

EDUCATION

On Tuesday, November 18, two representatives from Sound Alliance joined us at the Greenwood Senior Center to discuss the Health Care Crisis in Washington and important values to consider in any new health care reform proposal. Tom Buchanan and Aaron Katz presented harrowing facts about our current health care system and engaged SAGE participants in a lively discussion about their frustrations, concerns and experiences regarding the situation.

The following are a few brief facts about the Health Care Crisis in Washington:

Over the last five years, health care costs for the typical Washington household have risen over six times faster than family income.
An estimated 19,000 Washington residents file for medical bankruptcy every year.
Almost 600,000 Washington residents are uninsured, and every year 380 Washington residents die because of lack of proper medical care.
Since 1993, employer-based coverage declined from 71% to 66%.
In our system, administrative costs account for 30 cents of every health care dollar.

For more facts, click here: Health Care Crisis Facts

We concluded that the current system is inefficient and unfair, and that in order to ensure access to care to everyone when they need it in a way that meets their needs, the system must be reformed. We were reminded that this requires action on the part of all who seek to effect change.

And so, a week later, we put a bit of our knowledge and frustration into action.

ACTION

The following Tuesday - November 25 - a group of organizers from the statewide, grassroots lobbying organization Washington CAN! joined a group of SAGE participants to engage us in outreach to small business owners in the Greenwood business district. We began by learning a bit more about how small businesses are getting hit the hardest by the health care crisis in Washington. The 2006 Northwest Health Gap study found that quality health insurance is out of reach for most small business owners, resulting in over 200,000 small business employees who are uninsured in Washington.

In response to this, Washington CAN! has organized the Small Business for Secure Health Care Coalition. Hundreds of small business owners across the state have joined the coalition, which calls for an American health care solution that ensures that all small businesses and individuals receive affordable, quality health care.

After a brief outreach training that included an overview of basic outreach skills and rap practice, we headed out in groups of 2 to 3 to educate small business owners in our neighborhood and invite them to join the Coalition. Each group visited several businesses, engaged the owners in discussion regarding their experience trying to provide health insurance for their employees, and invited them to sign their name in support of the Coalition's goals.

Upon returning to the Greenwood Senior Center we joined together as a group to reflect on our experiences and congratulate each other on the success of our outreach endeavors: we had collected a total of 5 signatures to add to the Secure Health Care campaign! This represented one significant step toward combating the health care crisis.

History of SAGE

2008-10-17T12:43:00.000-07:00

For those who are new to SAGE or for those who would like to refresh their memories regarding the history of the SAGE Project, here is a brief summary of past topics.

POVERTY AND HOMELESSNESS

Education: A guest speaker from Real Change, a local weekly activist publication sold by Seattle's homeless, came to the Greenwood Senior Center to share her personal story of homelessness and provide information about the publication. The paper strives to create fairness, opportunity and community by covering various social justice issues such as poverty and homelessness, labor rights, the environment, public health and civil liberties. Vendors pay 35 cents a copy and then sell them on the streets for a dollar donation.
Action: The SAGE Project hosted a baby shower for women affected by poverty and their children in partnership with Harrington House, which provides homeless women and their children a safe and stable home. Donations were also accepted for Baby Corner, an organization that provides essential items for infants and children living in poverty.

FAIR TRADE

Education: A guest speaker from Theo Chocolate, the only roaster of organic cocoa beans and the first roaster of Fair Trade certified cocoa beans in the United States, lectured on the social, economic, and environmental benefits of fairly traded products.
Action: The SAGE Project raised awareness about Fair Trade coffee among members of the GSC community by implementing a new initiative to serve solely Fair Trade coffee in the GSC café.

CRISIS IN SUDAN

Education: The GSC hosted a speaker from the Southern Sudanese Community of Washington, a nonprofit organization that helps Sudanese refugees transition to life in the United States and accomplish goals of self-sufficiency. The lecture covered the various religious, racial, and economic issues that are currently affecting Sudanese people.
Action: The SAGE Project helped at an after-school tutoring session for Sudanese children and also promoted opportunities for volunteers to work together to sponsor a Sudanese refugee family in Seattle.

COMPOSTING

Education: GSC board member and Master Composter, Geir Jonsson, gave a lecture on composting, including tips on how to start home composting bins as well as information on varoius composting systems and composting resources in the Seattle area.
Action: The SAGE Project supported the reduction of waste by initiating a composting system at the Greenwood Senior Center. Two green gones were placed outside the GSC for collecting food scraps from the daily lunch program.

GLOBAL WARMING

Education: A discussion class was offered on the issue of global warming. Topics included reflections on climate change, personal habits related to climate change, and steps that could be taken to reduce the effects of global warming.
Action: The SAGE Project joined the GSC walking group for a trip to the Phinney Farmers Market to demonstrate the reduction of carbon emissions through an alternative mode of transportation. In addition, the support of local farmers gave shoppers the opportunity to learn about local, seasonable produce and the energy that is saved by shopping locally.

DISASTER PREPAREDNESS

Education: Volunteers from the American Red Cross came to the GSC to educate SAGE participants on the importance of being prepared for disasters at home, work, and in the community.
Action: The SAGE Project helped prepare disaster kits for members of the Southern Sudanese Community of Washington with help from the American Red Cross. Items for the kit were donated from the community.

BLOOD DRIVE

Education: Representatives from the Puget Sound Blood Center came to the GSC to share knowledge about the importance of donating blood.
Action: The SAGE Project helped promote the importance of blood donations by sponsoring a community blood drive at the GSC. SAGE participants volunteered by checking people in as they arrived and monitoring donors afterward.