Nearly 800 freshmen and transfer students from Seattle Pacific University will participate in an annual community service project in White Center on Saturday, Sept. 26th called “CityQuest.”

Students and staff will be at the following locations from 10:30am to 2:30pm doing various community service projects:

• Nature Consortium at 14th Ave SW & SW Holly. Their tasks will include mulching, weeding, and possible trail work.
• Green Seattle Partnership at 5951 Delridge Ave SW. They will help with urban forest and creek restoration by invasive plant removal and mulch spreading.
• Lincoln Park, 8011 Fauntleroy Way SW. They will remove invasive plants.
• Hicks Lake, at 10 Ave SW, near the intersection of SW 112th Street. They will remove blackberry bushes and scotch broom.

CityQuest brings together students, faculty, staff, & alumni for more than 30 different community service projects throughout Seattle.

So if you see a group of college-aged students wearing work clothes cleaning up the ‘hood on Sept. 26th, be sure to thank them!

For more info on SPU’s CityQuest in your neighborhood, call SPU Urban Program Coordinator Owen Sallee at 206-427-1296 (cell).

Another interesting video from Seattle Pacific University that focuses on White Center’s Union Gospel Mission branch, with a good commentary by Katie Russell around 3:04 in:

“SPU students and youth in White Center learn from exposure to diverse cultures and life experiences. Union Gospel Mission White Center Director Katie Russell and 2007-2008 SPU student team leader Corbin Sheffels explain.”

The Dub-C branch of the Union Gospel Mission is located at Mount View Presbyterian Church, which is at 10806 12th Ave SW:

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Here’s an interesting video from Seattle Pacific University that focuses on White Center’s Neighborhood House and how it helps children and families in need:

More info on Neighborhood House:

Since 1906, Neighborhood House has helped immigrants, refugees and low-income people overcome economic, educational and employment challenges. They learn to rely on themselves and each other to fulfill their dreams and to become active members of a free and democratic society. From the moment of their birth to the twilight of their years, people depend upon Neighborhood House for hope and opportunity.

Neighborhood House was founded by the National Council of Jewish Women, Seattle Chapter in 1906 as a settlement house that provided services to Jewish immigrants from Turkey, Greece and other European countries. Not long after, Seattle and King County began developing low-income housing, and Neighborhood House began providing a range of services to families moving into public housing.

Today, our programs are located in public housing communities in Seattle and King County, WorkSource centers and public schools. Our services are based on extensive experience and deep understanding of the role language and culture play reaching out to multilingual communities. We provide first language services in Vietnamese, Cambodian, Oromo, Tigrinya, Amharic, Somali, Spanish, Russian and several other languages.

Each person who comes to Neighborhood House has unique service needs, and many receive a combination of intensive services. Any number of events in a person’s life can merit a new strategy for self-sufficiency. A pregnancy can delay job training, family arrangements for childcare can fall through, an immigrant’s sponsor may ask them to leave the house. For most people we serve, needs are not easily addressed separately, but rather require a “wrap around” approach that considers the individual, the family and the community. Our main program areas each represent a fundamental piece of our mission and complement our goal of promoting self-sufficiency, financial independence and community building.