NEW WATER TAXI The Sally Fox will be christened this weekend. Page 4
NEWS | Construction to begin on VAA’s arts center. [3] COMMENTARY | Health care reform a local success. [6] SPORTS | Spring teams are in [14] full swing.
ORIGINAL WORKS Young singers, dancers will show their stuff. Page 11
BEACHCOMBER VASHON-MAURY ISLAND
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25, 2015
Vol. 60, No. 12
www.vashonbeachcomber.com eachcomber.com mbbee c
75¢
Health projects launch with aid from Granny’s Attic grants Efforts include updating helipad By SUSAN RIEMER Staff Writer
Natalie Martin/Staff Photo
Reed Nichelson of Fat Cat Paddleboarding paddles with Cindy Nelson in Quartermaster Harbor last Thursday. In the background, Jenn Coe and Hedy Anderson also paddleboard.
New kind of paddling takes off on Vashon Start-up business in Burton is dedicated to paddleboarding By NATALIE MARTIN Staff Writer
Last Thursday’s cool temperatures and light rain didn’t stop islander Reed Nichelson from taking a group of friends out on paddleboards in Quartermaster Harbor. As a couple women in wetsuits and lifejackets paddled off on the water, Nichelson — a self-proclaimed paddleboard enthusiast — hung behind to help a new paddleboarder, Cindy Nelson, who was visiting from Alaska. Before long, Nelson, too, was standing up on her surf-
board-like paddleboard and joining the activities on the water. The women tried some yoga poses, and Nichelson did a headstand. Even falling in the water provided an opportunity to swim a little. “It was a lot of fun,” Nelson later said. “I did fall a few times, but it was easier to balance than I thought it would be.” As stand-up paddleboarding becomes increasingly popular, Vashon, too, has more opportunities to stand and paddle. Vashon Watersports will open this spring with a fleet of a dozen paddleboards at its kayak center on the Burton Peninsula, and Nichelson has launched a new small business dedicated to getting people out on paddleboards. SEE PADDLEBOARDING, 19
Last year Vashon Senior Center director Ava Apple learned of an island senior who regularly took two buses and the ferry to get to his chemotherapy appointments in Seattle. One day one of his buses was late, and he resorted to hitchhiking home. That story — along with the many transportationrelated calls the senior center fields — fueled Apple’s effort to find solutions for seniors who need rides. Now, the senior center is kicking off two new transportation programs as one of several local organizations receiving Granny’s Attic grants this month. The grants fund what many feel are badly needed health-related services on Vashon. “I am so happy they saw
fit to fund this program,” Apple said about one of her efforts, which was awarded more than $11,000. Less than two years into funding a variety of healthrelated projects and programs on the island, the Granny’s Attic board continues to see a high number of grant requests and recently allocated $70,000 to five Vashon organizations. Requests in this funding cycle totaled $169,000, according to Tim Johnson, the business manager at the nonprofit thrift shop, which supported the Vashon Health Center for nearly four decades, but now supports an array of health services on the island. “We raise a fair amount of money over the course of the year, but it is a drop in the bucket compared to the social service needs,” Johnson said. Granny’s awarded grants totalling nearly $15,000 for two initiatives at the senior center to improve access to SEE GRANNY’S, 18
Memoir tells of healers around the world Author who has worked on Vashon will read from book, make modern-day connections By JULI GOETZ MORSER Staff Writer
Cora E. Edmonds Photo
Spiritual elders in Humla, Nepal, were among the many healers author and filmmaker Rose-Marie Phan-Le met on her journey.
Fifteen years ago, author and filmmaker RoseMarie Phan-Le stepped away from her high-powered position in the film industry to document ancient traditions of healing and spirituality around the globe. From the beaches of Hawaii to the peaks of the Himalayas, with stops along the way on Vashon, Phan-Le sought out lineage holders and keepers of the healing wisdom. That her outward journey
would lead to an inner transformation came as an unexpected surprise to Phan-Le, who will read from her new memoir, “Talking Story: One Woman’s Quest to Preserve Ancient Spiritual and Healing Traditions,” this Friday on Vashon. Phan-Le once described herself as a cultural anthropologist, who earned her degree not through academia but rather as a child born into war-torn Vietnam, as a refugee raised in France during her formative years and finally as a citizen of the United States. She’s witnessed the casualties of war and globalization, observing and learning to live in different cultures. But what ultimately hooked her attention and eventually led to her award-winning documentary “Talking Story” and eponymous book SEE HEALERS, 12