Category: Uncategorized

May 8^th, 2014

Letter from the road

Jen and Sierra here…just getting geared up for many weeks of outreach in rural Thurston County!

Today, we set up a booth at Bailey’s IGA in Rochester during the mobile CSO event, which was scheduled from 9-noon.  We were hoping to survey the folks who would be utilizing their unit.  We brought both English and Spanish printed surveys, thank-you letters with information about the Rural Needs Assessment project, and POWER brochures.  Hot coffee and friendly smiles enticed __ people to come and complete our survey, a great success!

The rain fell hard as we set-up the booth and the parking lot at IGA seemed to be a pretty low-traffic place at that particular time of day.  A minor vehicle collision (someone’s giant pick-up truck kicked itself out of gear and rolled into our car…yes, this happened!) spiced things up early on; however, we were able to work multiple survey responses into the compensation package.  The folks involved were very thankful for the work we are doing in the area, “it needs it,” one person noted.

We also witnessed some deep interest in the project.  One woman (Karen) mentioned she couldn’t “get started on her soap box…or [she’d] be there all day.”  We sent her home with a survey and information about the project.  We look forward to hearing from her to schedule an interview!  Another person, Mark, mentioned that though he and his wife do not use social services, she is a caregiver for the elderly and serves as a resource for linking people with services in the area.  We gave Mark a survey and our contact information; we believe his wife would be an invaluable person with whom to speak about key needs in the community.

Another mission we had was to engage the mobile CSO staff and organize some collaboration at future events.  Concerned about the low turn-out, we asked about promotion of the events.  One staff member told us they contact the local business in the areas where they are scheduled and send them flyers to post on windows and bulletin boards.  The mobile CSO website states that priority is given to community partners who agree to promote the event.  Although we couldn’t find a flyer on the IGA bulletin board, we hope to help promote future events in our target areas.  When Sierra suggested to the CSO staff members on duty that we collaborate for future events in our area, one staff member suggested we use their Facebook page.  Upon visiting the Facebook page, we noted it is seemingly under-utilized and updated with event details at the very last minute.  We hope to connect with them in future and brainstorm ideas to make their visits more effective.

At the end of the day, we visited ROOF, Rochester Organization of Families, to connect with their staff and set-up appointments for interviews.  We also scheduled our next outreach event at the ROOF Food Bank on Monday, May 12, from 9:30 AM until noon.

We are very excited to be engaging people in our rural communities!  We felt the need for this work so very acutely during our event yesterday.  If nothing else, giving people space to voice their concerns, their experiences and their wisdom about how these services help (or fail) them in their day-to-day.  Many, many thanks to all the folks who came out and spoke up!

See you soon,

Jen and Sierra

POWER will again be selling Mother’s Day cards that feature the art of local artists. The cards shown below will be available for sale until the 7th of May. If you would like to purchase a card or cards, you can go to the POWER office at 309 5th Ave SE Olympia, WA, next to Rainy Day Records. You can also place an order on our website at http://www.mamapower.org/mothers-day-cards/. 

2014 Option:

 

 2010 Option:

2009A:

2009B:

Monday, March 3, 2014, 5:30pm – 8:00pm

Darby’s Café in downtown Olympia, 211 5th Avenue

Join us at the next POWER Outage on March 3rd for a Resource Roundtable and potluck! We will be sharing the many creative ways we’ve found to live well on a limited budget. As low-income people, we have a collective wealth of knowledge about how to make money last and meet the needs of our families without using money. We also know how to have fun on the cheap. Let’s get together to share our ideas and maybe brainstorm some new ones. We will take notes on these ideas, which may later be compiled into a pamphlet for POWER to give out.

 

Topics will include:

 

-Budgeting: How do you keep track of spending and make that check last through the month?

-Food: Do you have tips on where to shop for what? Do you have recipes for your Food Bank groceries? What do you eat at the end of the month/ when food is running low?

-Non-food items: Where do you get your clothes, shampoo, and baby supplies? Do you have recipes for homemade beauty/ cleaning products?

-Holidays: What do you do to make birthdays and other holidays special? What are some low-cost family traditions?

Please bring if want to: A potluck dish you made with low-cost ingredients (and recipe!), Food Bank recipes, examples of your budget tracking system, ideas for cheap home products you can make, and maybe samples if you wish to share.

Bring your wonderful self, kids, family and friends!

Childcare will be provided at the POWER office by the Child Care Collective

Darby’s is closed, but they kindly let us use the space in downtown Olympia, 211 5thAvenue.

Taking place on the 6th of January at Darby’s Cafe in Downtown Olympia will be POWER’s monthly POWER Outage. At this Outage, members will have the opportunity to make signs for the annual MLK Day March to the Capitol, develop POWER’s campaign, and go over the plan for the day of the march. As always, childcare will be available at POWER’s office, and the Outage will start with a potluck at Darby’s.

Artist Bio:

I was born in 1975. Before the age of two, I had lived in Tanzania, Iceland, Nova Scotia, and Detroit, as my father was an underwater welder for a Canadian shipping firm. Then we moved to Olympia. I wanted to be an ornithologist, but was better at drawing than scientific inquiry. I’’ve never been on a waterslide. I was, however, part of the world’s longest banana split. My favorite books are The Big Orange Splot and My Antonia and Flappy The Circus Seal. I live in a cabin overlooking the Puget Sound with two dogs and two cats and one human. I walk in the woods every day. I saw a whale in our inlet but nobody believes me. It took me 12 years to graduate from college. Go figure.

Hand-set letterpress prints,  made using reclaimed paper at Community Print in Olympia. they are 8 1/2 x 11″, and framed in simple wood. Artist website: http://www.sarahutter.com

Prints $20 Each

Artist Bio:

Hukee, a native to Olympia, loves wood, the smell of ink, paper, and collections of all kinds. These loves make the marriage with letterpressing a perfect union.

My prints typically focus on declarations and proclamations, questioning that which is stasis and moving into the unknown.

Each print is printed a very limited number of times on an old Vandercook #14 proofing press, with each print hand-inked and hand-rolled at Community Print in downtown Olympia. If you would like to learn the art of letterpress on this old machine, please find the Community Print page on Facebook. I offer letterpress proficiencies about 6 times a year to community members for a small price that covers the rent for the space anf the cost of buying new supplies for the shop. You can also contact me directly if you are interested in prints at jhukee@gmail.com. Let me know you saw my prints at the POWER art sale and 50% will go to POWER for the incredibly important woman-centered, anti-oppression that they do toward a truly just tomorrow.

Prints $15 Each

   

 

Artist Bio:

Greta Jane Pedersen is the head of the Department of Official Wishes located in Olympia, Washington. I believe in the work of POWER. We at the Department of Official Wishes hope that all the dreams of POWER come true.

Satisfaction Drawing

$60