Sharing Is Caring

Jill MacIntyre Witt built the Share to Care program in the Columbia Neighborhood and plans to spread the word to other neighborhoods as a goal for this coming year.

            The Share to Care program encourages neighbors to borrow from each other and reduce consumption.  There is a list on the neighborhood website where people can add an item they would be willing to share with fellow neighbors. 

            MacIntyre Witt said she was inspired to start this program after a snow storm two or three years ago.

            When the storm was forming her husband said they should go out and buy a snow shovel.  MacIntyre Witt didn’t see the point in that when they could simply borrow one from a neighbor.  This got her thinking about how much people think they need and making this an opportunity for change.

            “As citizens, we need to do our part to create a sustainable world through our actions,” she said.

            MacIntyre Witt started promoting this program by speaking about it at neighborhood meetings, writing about it in the newsletter and having a blurb about it in the neighborhood emails.

            MacIntyre Witt doesn’t measure success by how much sharing is happening in the neighborhood, but by bringing awareness, having this as a resource and that it is used.

              “I want people to think twice before buying an item,” MacIntyre Witt said.

            She said she’s happy when a call is made to a neighbor to borrow a ladder instead of buying one.

            There are 37 items posted on the list on the neighborhood website.

“Just because it’s not listed doesn’t mean it’s not being shared,” MacIntyre Witt points out. 

Claire Evans is a neighbor who uses the Share to Care program. 

Evans has three items listed to share on the website; a crock pot, large coffee maker and rice cooker.

She chose these items because they are something people might need excess of for a large party that would be used once in a while and there is no reason to go out and buy a new one.

“Who wants to buy something and then store it while it collects dust,” Evans said.

Evans also finds this as a useful tool to monitor consumption. 

“I love not buying things at a store,” Evans said.  “This is a little way of helping.”

Evans went to the Share to Care list once and said it was a life saver.

Her son is adopted and their family is close to the birth family.  The birth family was about to lose their house and she invited them to stay at her home.  Evans was able to go to the list and ask a neighbor for an inflatable mattress rather than having to go out and buy one or having to buy a whole new bed which would have been expensive.

She hasn’t had anyone ask to borrow her items listed.

“It’s disappointing to me,” Evans said.  “It bums me out.”

Evans believes the program will grow and appreciates the existence of the program within the neighborhood. 

Flip Breskin is another neighbor who finds the Share to Care program useful. 

Breskin has three items listed for sharing; a canopy, a costume and crutches.

She chose to list these items because she thinks they could be used and she can afford to lose them.

“I have a basic rule,” Breskin said.  “If you can’t afford to lose it don’t lend it and if you can’t afford to replace it don’t borrow it.”

Breskin said she thinks this is a way to keep neighbors relaxed about borrowing and lending items.

Her items are borrowed once in a while.  She said one time a neighbor borrowed her canopy, opened it and it was broken. 

Breskin wasn’t sure at what point it was broken but another neighbor had spare parts picked up from the Dumpster and fixed it up good as new.

She finds this to be a good idea and doesn’t think everything should be duplicated.

“This makes for less waste and more community,” Breskin said.

"Knock, knock." "Who's there?" "Boo!"

The sky turns dark and the streets are full of soft steps from zombies, ghosts, pirates and other ghoulish creatures. 

They roam the streets approaching house after house.  They head for the door and give a demanding knock for the resident to answer.  When the door opens the creatures scream, “Trick or treat!”

Halloween is just around the corner and the Columbia Neighborhood is preparing for little ones to gear up in their costumes and head out for another year of trick or treating. 

This year the neighbors may be in for a surprise with some new guests.  They can expect to have college students knocking at their door for nostalgic memories. 

Jasiek Scienski will be gallivanting through the neighborhood streets bringing back fond memories.  He is a 23-year-old senior at Western. 

            “I look forward to rabble rousing and causing mischief,” Scienski said. 

            Scienski pulls his fingers over his beard and ponders about going trick or treating as a dragon in a full body suit meant for an 8 year old or as Jesus. 

            Scienski is picking one of these costumes not so much functionality, but for originality.

            Scienski uses his dragon costume as a go-to outfit for many themed parties.  He finds it to be a crowd pleaser.  He plans to dress up as Jesus for weekend parties and may like it so much he takes it to the streets. 

            He is expecting to catch the attention of neighbors.  He thinks they will be more excited than concerned, although he expects to be turned down by a few houses.

            “In Bellingham, it’ll pass,” Scienski said.

            Scienski said he has not been trick or treating since his freshman year of high school or eighth grade back in 2002 or 2001.

            He looks forward to the free candy but appreciates quantity.

            “Full size candy bars are more appreciated than fun size,” Scienski said.

Ashley Smith is a 21-year-old senior at Western and will be roaming the streets of the Columbia Neighborhood for some good old trick or treating. 

Halloween is Smith’s favorite holiday.  Smith adds she’s always liked candy and doesn’t see why she should pass it up when it’s free.

“I also like to see who answers the door,” Smith said.  “That’s a lot of the fun for me.”

Smith will be going trick or treating dressed as a sexy janitor wearing a jumpsuit.

She works as a janitor at Western and has been pushing for jumpsuit uniforms.  When she found the jumpsuit at Value Village she knew it was perfect. 

            Smith is sure she’ll get weird looks when the door swings open and the person ready to hand out candy sees her.  

            “I don’t really care,” Smith said.  “There’s no rule against it.”

            She suspects some people may even turn her away.

            Smith plans to bring her dog Vega along for the adventure.  Vega will be in costume as well. 

            Smith isn’t exactly sure what Vega will be dressed as, but she is leaning toward dog zombie.

            She hasn’t been trick or treating since her senior year of high school in 2007 and is ready to get back out there, celebrating the Halloween festivities to the fullest and filling her bag with candy.

            Flip Breskin is an active member of the Columbia Neighborhood.   She said in the past she has had as many as 200 to 300 kids come past her door.

            This last year she did have as many trick or treaters.  She said she maybe had 50 come by.

            Breskin takes note of the generosity of the neighbors and said they are not afraid to get into the spirit of things.

            Breskin reminisces of when she and her husband moved into their house.  They closed the deal on Halloween, put on costumes and knocked on doors to meet the neighbors.

            Her husband has one leg and was dressed as a pirate.

            “We had people asking us a few days after how he was hiding his leg,” Breskin giggled.

            Getting dressed up and being in the spirit of the holiday seems to be appreciated at all ages.

            Breskin is antsy to see who will come by this year.

            “I’ve got my goodies and I’ll be waiting,” Breskin said.

Squalicum Creek Park Renovation

On Thursday, October 6, 2011 there was a meeting at the Bellingham Technical College to answer neighbor’s questions on the development of Squalicum Creek Park.

The park is entering Phase Three of construction, which includes a new baseball park, specifically for youth ages 13 to 15, an off-leash area for dogs, a trail, playground and field lighting for the existing baseball field.

Members of the Columbia and Birchwood Neighborhoods, as well as kids and adults involved in community sports showed up to express their concerns and have questions answered.

Vern Yake is a Bellingham Youth Baseball coach who attended the meeting.  He came to hear about the plans and support the development of a new field.

His team uses the current field at Squalicum Creek Park for practices and games, but they run out of practice time. 

The team also plays games at Jerri Field. 

Yake said Jerri Field is made more for softball.  The bases are closer together and a fiber glass basing mound has to be brought in for games.  Kids cannot wear their cleats on the fiber glass mound so they have to pitch in tennis shoes.

There are also safety concerns at Jerry Field.

“We have to worry about balls flying in the road,” Yake said.

The thought of having an artificial or synthetic turf put into the new field, making it available for multiuse, came up at the meeting. 

Yake said he thought this is a great idea. 

He said it is less maintenance and it holds water better.  It would reduce the amount of games that get cancelled because of rain.

He expressed concern about the dangers of a wet ball getting too slippery.

“A kid could get hit in the head,” Yake said.

Yake grew up in Bellingham and is excited there is something more than a gravel pit for the kids to play in these days.  He is excited for the new developments and it allowing kids to stay involved in sports.

John Heritage is a lacrosse coach who was at the meeting.

Heritage came to the meeting to have the lacrosse voice heard.

“The program is growing by leaps and bounds,” Heritage said.

Heritage said lacrosse is the fastest growing sport in the nation, Washington and, specifically, Bellingham.

 He has a concern with the amount of field space and it can be challenging when they have to share the field.

Currently, when his team does practice Heritage said there are two ways to go about getting field space.

The first is to reserve the space through parks and recreation.  To reserve the field they have to pay for the space at a rate of $8 an hour.  The other option is for the team to show up at a field and risk the chance of another team playing there.

Heritage said it is hard to plan a program and keep consistency when fields have to be shared. 

Heritage also has concerns with safety.  He said it is dangerous to have an older boys lacrosse team practicing, with players who can throw a ball hard, next to a little girls soccer team. 

He thought the idea of having synthetic turf put into the new baseball field was a great idea.

He said lacrosse is turning into a year round sport and the field could be more useable.

Heritage thinks it makes more sense to spend the money on synthetic turf because the extra money spent to put it in would cut out some of the maintenance costs and end up paying for itself.

Heritage said his next steps are to speak with Jonathan Schilk, who ran the meeting, and ask him who to talk to about getting synthetic surface.

Schilk works for the Bellingham Parks and Recreation as a landscape architect.  He said synthetic surface being put in to the baseball field is driven by available budget. 

He said Joe Martin Stadium, which is the semi-pro field, has first priority for synthetic field.   

Squalicum Creek Park was purchased in 2002 to serve as a community park and athletic field complex. 

Phase One was completed in 2008.  This consisted of construction of a baseball field, public restroom, parking lot lighting and destruction of existing paved surfaces.  Phase Two was completed in 2010 and consisted of the salmon enhancement project.

Construction for Phase Three is expected to happen in 2014.