Living on the Peninsula, Winter 2012

WINTER 2012

NONPROFITS ENRICH LIVES ON THE PENINSULA

Supplement to the Sequim Gazette and Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader

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Lending a hand not a chore for volunteers

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Native horse therapy

Pg. 16

Humane Society: finding forever homes for pets in need

Pg. 18

Mosaic: Embracing the beauty of being different

Pg. 26

A community treasure: The Dungeness Valley Health & Wellness Clinic

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Handing down history in Quilcene

Fun at the Fifth!

Active Retirement Living.

500 Hendrickson Road • Sequim, WA 98382 • 360.683.3345 • thefifthavenue.com

Assisted Living With A Difference

There’s never a shortage of things to enjoy!

550 Hendrickson Road • Sequim, WA 98382 • 360.683.3348 • sherwoodassistedliving.com

Luxury Retirement Living.

More than independent senior living – a lifestyle of luxury 660 Evergreen Farm Way • Sequim, WA 98382 • 360.681.3100 • thelodgeatsherwood.com

Where family ownership...makes the difference!

Your journey to beating cancer just got shorter.

You don’t have to leave the North Olympic Peninsula to get exceptional cancer care.

Located in Sequim, Olympic Medical Cancer Center delivers world-class cancer care close to home. This year, we’re celebrating the anniversary of our 10-year affiliation with Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, which gives our patients full access to the world-renowned therapies developed at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, UW Medicine and Seattle Children’s. If you’re dealing with cancer, Olympic Medical Cancer Center can help. To learn more, visit omcforhope.com or call (360) 683-9895.

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DEPARTMENTS 13

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Food & Spirits

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21

Heart & Soul

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Sequim's Fresh Seafood

I can't thank you enough

SPOTLIGHT

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Lending a hand not a chore for volunteers Native horse therapy Landmark reaches a milestone Historical Dungeness Schoolhouse marks 120th anniversary

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The Living End

The value of nonprofits

Now & Then

Photographic journal

Mosaic Vision

Embracing the beauty of being different

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A community treasure

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Handing down history in Quilcene

The Dungeness Valley Health & Wellness Clinic

Cover photo:

Humane Society Finding forever homes for pets in need

Contact us: Patricia Morrison Coate – pcoate@sequimgazette.com P.O. Box 1750, Sequim, WA 98382 For information on advertising, please call Debi Lahmeyer 360-683-3311 x 3058

226 Adams St., Port Townsend, WA 98368 360-385-2900 Fred Obee: fobee@ptleader.com

Vol. 8, Number 4, Living on the Peninsula is a quarterly publication. © 2012 Sequim Gazette © 2012 Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader 4

Railroad Bridge in Winter by Jay Cline.

Cline is a graphic designer for the Sequim Gazette and plays with cameras in his spare time.

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | WINTER | DECEMBER 2012

Hurricane Ridge Veterinary Hospital

Dr. Toni Jensen and staff

530 W. Fir St. Suite D • Sequim Next to St. Luke’s Episcopal Church

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NE Y B A CK

SERVICES: • Preventative care and vaccines • Skin and ear disease • Separate cat and dog exam rooms • Digital dental and fullbody radiology • Surgery and dentistry • Management of chronic disease • Senior discount

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Professional service and compassionate care for cats and dogs.

$1500

“Everybody Calls Us” 302 Kemp Street Port Angeles, WA 98362

360-681-0117 www.hurricaneridgevet.com

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | WINTER | DECEMBER 2012

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Lending a hand not a chore for volunteers Story and photos by Mary Powell

Teri Wensits has been the program coordinator for the Clallam County Volunteer Chore Services for the past 2½ years, but has worked with the program since 2003.

Imagine, if you will, being visually impaired to the point of not being able to drive. Or, perhaps a broken hip or other medical condition precludes a trip to the store for groceries, prescriptions or other necessities. Or, maybe it’s simply time to hang up the car keys, which means finding some sort of transportation for medical appointments and other essential errands.

Now suppose there are no family or friends readily available to provide help. A daunting circumstance, to be sure.

Take Kate Sheffield, for example. She has had health concerns for several years, but after breaking a hip in 2009, she found she needed to use a wheelchair for mobility. She also knew she needed someone to get groceries, take her to appointments and tidy up the apartment a bit.

Sheffield contacted Volunteer Chore Services, a program of Catholic Community Services, and has used their services since.

“Without chore services I wouldn’t be here,” she maintains.

“I’m not able to do what I did before and cannot live independently.” However, with a chore service volunteer and caregivers — who are not with chore services — Sheffield is able to stay in her apartment rather than going to an assisted living facility, something she says wouldn’t work for her.

Teri Wensits describes herself as a workaholic. Sipping a latte at a local coffee shop, she talks about working two jobs, yet says she has been very blessed.

“Working hard has enabled me to give my kids opportunities,” says the 57-year-old mom of two daughters.

It’s the job with Volunteer Chore Service that keeps Wensits

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busy for most of the working week, matching clients who are in need of assistance with a variety of life issues and volunteers who are ready and able to provide that assistance.

Wensits has worked for the Clallam County Volunteer Chore Services since 2003. Two years ago she became the program coordinator for VCS, located in Port Angeles, and calls her work a wonderful experience.

“There is so much volunteering here, that is such a rewarding feeling,” says Wensits.

She should know. With nearly 100 clients whose needs range anywhere from a trip to the grocery story to a longer trip to the doctor in Seattle, and 35 volunteers, Wensits nearly always finds a volunteer to serve one of those clients.

That’s not to say she couldn’t use a few more helping hands, saying VCS needs a big roster of volunteers.

“One of those most difficult situations is to find volunteers to help within the home,” she explains. “Most are ready to drive someone, but might be uncomfortable in a home situation.”

She makes it clear she isn’t looking for housekeepers per se, but someone to lend a hand with light housekeeping.

There are a few restrictions for those seeking services. Clients are 60 years of age and older, living on a fixed income with some health and/or mobility limitations, and adults, ages 18-59, who have temporary or permanent functional limitations.

VCS does not have strict financial criteria. Its purpose is to serve as a safety net for those who do not qualify for other services and cannot afford to pay for services themselves. All services are provided free of charge and are based on the availability of volunteers.

All volunteers are screened and have a Washington State Patrol background check.

Maxine Richards, right, is the primary caregiver to her daughter, Yolanda Brandon, left. Richards has volunteers from VCS periodically take her to run errands.

“We like to get a good match with a volunteer and a client,” Wensits says. “We have to protect both.”

Wensits goes on to say many of the people served don’t have a lot of contact with the outside world. Often, a volunteer serves as a conduit for that contact.

“There is a lot of socialization involved,” Wensits says of the client-volunteer relationship.

Volunteering a ‘rewarding experience’ It’s amazing what the cadre of volunteers actually do for the seniors in need here on the peninsula. Grocery shopping trips, yard care, home repairs, help with reading and writing are but a few of the services volunteers provide.

June Smith, who is a young 81 years old, has lived in Sequim for 40 years and has spent a good deal of time volunteering for a number of organizations, including the American Legion and VFW, the Children’s Hospital Guild and her church.

Apparently she didn’t have enough to do because four years ago she added chore services to her resume. When she agreed to be interviewed for this story, she had just returned from taking a woman to the dentist – at 8 in the morning, no less.

Then it was off to Sunny Farms for vitamins for the client.

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | WINTER | DECEMBER 2012

Two-pronged program provides respite for those in need

Taking those with limited mobility to the grocery story is a mainstay for Volunteer Chore Service volunteers.

Photo courtesy of Catholic Community Services of Western Washington

June Smith, a volunteer with chore services, drives those who need assistance to doctor or dental appointments and the grocery store, and has used what she calls her “trusty” car to take people as far as Olympia and Seattle.

O nc e she drove a client to Seattle for a medical appointment.

“The wind and rain was terrific,” Smith chuckles. “I thought I would never do it again, but I do.”

Interestingly, Smith has been on the other side of the fence, using chore services when her late husband was ill. At the time she discovered she needed a wheelchair ramp to get her husband in and out of the house.

Enter the Olympic Peninsula Boeing Bluebills, a group of retired Boeing workers who volunteer their services building projects, such as a wheelchair ramp.

“It was a big help,” Smith says. And, she adds, the group recently improved the aging ramp a bit.

As for helping others, Smith maintains she can still drive, and why not?

“It gives me something to do,” says Smith of the 25 or so hours a month she volunteers for VCS. Other than their generosity toward others, many volunteers do help out because they are looking for something meaningful to fill their time. Quite a few are retired.

Bob Forton spent his career working for the telephone

company in California.

After retirement in 1983, he and his wife, Peggy, traveled the country in an RV, bought a house in Oregon, didn’t like that, then decided to check out Sequim.

“Everybody goes to Sequim,” he laughs. “But we like it up here.”

Two years ago, his neighbor, a VCS volunteer, “kept after me to volunteer.” He finally acquiesced and today spends a couple of hours a week mostly driving clients to appointments or running errands for them.

He periodically takes groceries to a woman who is blind.

She calls the store, orders what she needs, Forton goes to her house to collect the money and then picks up her order.

“It works pretty well,” he says.

Wensits calls volunteering for VCS a “generally rewarding experience.”

“There are so many possibilities and volunteers can ‘work’ as many or few hours as they wish. Some only work in the summer, some work with groups, like Boeing Bluebills. It’s very flexible,” Wensits explains.

Volunteers may help the same person each week or be listed for on-call assistance depending on their schedules and interests. Most requests are for help with shopping, light house-

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | WINTER | DECEMBER 2012

keeping, laundry and yard work.

Volunteers have an orientation before they begin serving clients and receive mileage reimbursement.

Background Volunteer Chore Services is a program of Catholic Community Services, an outreach of the Catholic Church in Western Washington. Employees and volunteers of CCS come from many faith traditions to serve and support the poor and vulnerable people through the provision of quality, integrated services and housing.

Catholic Community Services is the largest nonprofit organization that provides services to the poor and underserved in Washington, according to Penny Grellier, program manager, volunteer services, who works at the Tacoma CCS offices.

Volunteer Chore Services began in 1981 in response to cuts in services for elders by the state Legislature. The program works with thousands of senior citizens and adults with disabilities statewide. The commitment is to help this population remain independent in their own homes through a network of caring community members.

The services are provided at no charge and serve as a safety net for those individuals who cannot afford to pay for assistance and do not qualify for other assistance.

In the southwest region for CCS and VCS, 13 counties are served, including Jefferson and Clallam.

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Russell May, a volunteer with Volunteer Chore Services, stands by client and good friend, Kate Sheffield.

Photo by Mary Powell

“We serve very rural to the urban, with Tacoma being the largest,” Grellier explains.

Funding comes largely from DSHS, the United Ways of the counties served and individual and corporate donations. In Clallam County, some funding comes from the Olympic Area Agency on Aging and in Jefferson County, from the United Good Neighbors of Jefferson County.

“We did get some funding from the City of Sequim,” Wensits adds. “We’ll take any variety of funding we can get.”

According to Grellier, the statewide budget for VCS is about $1.8 million; the projected budget for Clallam County is right around $90,000.

“Because I can sit up and talk, I don’t look like I need help, but I need a lot of help.” — Kate Sheffield, Volunteer Chore Services client Clients

To inquire about Volunteer Chore Services, either as a prospective client or volunteer, contact Teri Wensits, program coordinator, at 360-417-5640 or 888-415-4267.

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Sheffield likes to say she wears a wheelchair.

“Everybody else wears shoes to get around,” she says with a wry smile. “I wear a wheelchair.”

Although Sheffield has had a number of medical issues for several years, it wasn’t until she broke her hip in 2009 that she began to use a wheelchair for mobility. It also was when she began depending on services from Volunteer Chore Services.

Thirty-two years ago, Sheffield traveled from her home in

Sunnyvale, Calif., to Port Angeles to visit a friend. The friend had a “guy” she wanted her to meet. The guy, Russell May, did indeed become a good friend and one reason for Sheffield to relocate to Sequim.

She quickly became entrenched in Sequim life and its issues, enough so that she ran for and was elected in 1988 to the Sequim City Council. She served until 1991. She also worked for many years advocating for affordable housing in Sequim, going as far as to testify in Olympia before the Ways and Means Committee.

When Sheffield’s health began to fail, May was there to help with daily chores or to run errands. He eventually decided to volunteer for chore services and she has been one of his primary clients.

“Kate is one of the brightest women I have met,” May says of his friend.

There is an easy rapport between the pair. They share many of the same interests, including both being science fiction fans.

“We’re big in 'Star Trek',” she laughs.

May says he enjoys volunteering with chore services and does yard work and gardening for his landlady, as well. During the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons, he helps deliver food baskets to those in need.

This Thanksgiving, May drove Sheffield to California for a long-awaited family reunion.

“I wouldn’t have it another way,” he says, with an everpresent twinkle in his eye.

It’s difficult to believe Maxine Richards is 98 years old. She is a beautiful, intelligent woman who not only cares for herself, but also is the primary caregiver for her disabled 77-year-old daughter, Yolanda.

Yes, Richards has independent caregivers who come to her tastefully appointed apartment in Sequim to help take care of Yolanda, but Richards is with her daughter nearly every minute of every day.

She does not complain. The unadulterated love she has for her daughter means she wouldn’t turn away from the responsibility of caring for Yolanda.

Yolanda’s life changed significantly after she underwent surgery at the age of 49. A once promising ballerina and model and a mother of two, she no longer could care for herself.

Richards, who has outlived two husbands, has been by her daughter’s side since.

However, there are times when Richards needs to shop or run errands and that is when she depends upon chore services volunteers.

“We have to arrange it for when a caregiver is here,” Richards says of her outings. “Yolanda can’t be left alone.”

It can be very frustrating if the caregiver doesn’t show up after she has arranged for the VCS volunteer to take her shopping. Then, the trip must be canceled.

Richards has long studied genealogy and has compiled a book, “From Noah’s Ark to Me.” “I can trace my roots back to Noah,” she claims, as she turns pages and pages of photos from homesteading days in Scottsbluff, Neb., to pictures of Yolanda dancing and modeling.

It’s tough at times for Richards, but while she tells her story, she occasionally turns and puts her hand on Yolanda’s shoulder and the two share a smile.

Like Russell May, she says she wouldn’t have it any other way.

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | WINTER | DECEMBER 2012

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Living on the Peninsula | WINTER | DECEMBER 2012

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olympic 538 N. Fifth Ave. Sequim, WA 98382 hearing center 360-681-7500 9

Poppy Cunningham and Colleen Brastad, volunteer physical therapist Submitted photo

Native Horse Therapy

Felicia Gowdy shows her brother, Doug, how to curry a horse.

Story and photos by Elizabeth Kelly

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hat began as a for-profit business eventually changed to a nonprofit organization when director, founder, caretaker and lead instructor Yvette TwoRabbits Ludwar learned of the need to help students and adults working through physical and/or mental difficulties and of how therapeutic working with horses can be.

“In 2001, we were operating a basic horsemanship center when we kept getting requests for therapeutic horse training,” said TwoRabbits. In order to change the business and work under the guidelines of PATH International, the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship (formerly NARTHA, North American Riding for the Handicapped Association), she had many roads to travel and a lot of knowledge to acquire.

To that end, TwoRabbits went to Temple, N.H., where she learned the discipline “from the ground up,” at a PATH-recognized instructor training school.

“We were taught first by horse people and then instructed by university level therapists about mental disorders using the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual),” she said. Allowed to ride twice a week, they learned how clients could relate to horses in ways that open them to the healing power of horses. She also is a certified instructor with Horses for Heroes, a national program for veterans dealing with PTSD (Post-traumatic Stress Disorder). Over the next several years, she completed a 40-hour course with Peninsula Dispute Resolution and other training courses. She holds an equine science degree from Uptalla University. Her Native most recent training was an Equine Horsemanship Facilitated Therapy (EFT) course, Riding Center which she completed in 2012.

On Dec. 1, 2007, her center 396 Taylor Cutoff Road officially became a 501(c)(3) desigSequim, WA 98382 spottedponynhrc@hotmail.com nated nonprofit business. “With the 360-582-0907 training I’ve received, I am able to offer better instruction in horse therapy and to structure a lesson so it really helps,” she said.

Her clientele consists of special needs students, veterans, and

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an Over-Forty group, enabling people needing physical therapy to interact with the horses. Also patients with Parkinson’s disease benefit, she said. The 50-150 clients/ students a year come to her mostly from word-of-mouth advertising, she said.

The riding center has four horses, four ponies, four mini-horses and a goat. Plus it has other animals like bunnies, chickens and guinea pigs.

TwoRabbits came up with her color-coding concept out of necessity after she decided to start having home-schooled children from ages 5-12 at the center.

“It helps empower a child when they can’t read, but can remember colors,” she explained. “When a child can get their own horse’s gear, it helps them feel in control.” A horse or pony is given a specific color — for example, Comet’s color is green — then all the equipment used with that horse, such as the halter and lead rope, the grooming box, bridle and saddle pad, is colored green. A student is assigned to a particular horse and then can gather all the necessary items for his or her ride.

Australian saddles are used at the center and in most therapeutic riding because they are more stable and provide a secure seat for the rider. “The saddle automatically tilts up and puts the rider in a deep-seated position which is more comfortable for the horse,” she said. A hybrid blend of English and Western saddles, the Australian saddle is considered more suitable for activities requiring long hours on a horse because of its deeper seat, higher cantle – the raised, curved part at the back of the saddle — and front knee pads.

Featured at the riding center are a covered walking area for the animals and clients they call “The Dome” and a maze or obstacle course. However, TwoRabbits sees it as much more than an obstacle course.

“When a student is walking around the course with their horse, they have to think about the animal. They have to think about moving their own feet and looking ahead at the obstacles that are coming. This gives them brain exercise and helps them to feel good about themselves when they finish.”

They walk over a bridge, over rubber bicycle tires, over small poles and over a 12-inch walking bar. The exercise enhances the client’s hand-eye coordination and helps with residual memory, balance, self-esteem and empowerment. “They are in charge of the horse when they are in the maze,” she said.

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | WINTER | DECEMBER 2012

Above: Color-coded equipment Below: Australian saddles

Susan Hillgren, director of TAFY (The Answer For Youth), a nonprofit organization that seeks to feed “not only the stomachs of at-risk young people, but their emotional and spiritual needs as well,” has included a request for funding for the Native Horsemanship Riding Center in a recent grant she wrote.

“I think Yvette is awesome,” Hillgren said, “and I have a lot of confidence that she knows what she’s doing.” Hillgren added that the 40-72 clients they serve each day at TAFY are ages 13-35 and, “They all have grounding issues. They have never been grounded and many were abandoned by their mothers. They need a way to connect to themselves and others.” Working with the horses gives them that connection, she explained. “TAFY goes hand-inhand with Yvette’s program,” she said. “It’s about healing broken people.”

TwoRabbits also applies for grants and currently is looking for funding, either by grant or private donations for the EFT program, which she describes as “working with an equine professional and a certified therapist to structure and maintain a plan with goals to move clients forward where conventional therapy has failed.”

Tuition fees, donations and grants fund the center. Some of their sponsors have been Soroptimists, Veterans of Foreign War Women’s Auxiliary Post 1024, Elks and Lions clubs. “Also, our own volunteers (a total of 22 in all with a core group of nine) give when they can,” TwoRabbits said.

Students and helpers in the dome with animals. Left to right standing: Michael Colt, student, Doug Gowdy, student, Felicia Gowdy, volunteer, Mikayla Adams, assistant instructor. Left to right kneeling: Jeremy Reyes, student, Yvette TwoRabbits Ludwar, director “We will make it because we just can’t close. This program works,” she continued, “and there are too many people who depend on us to quit. We want to promote education and how to be safe around the animals.”

Students learn how to safely get on and off a horse, how to cause a horse to stop and go, turn right and left. TwoRabbits said she does not want to be called a horse whisperer, but, “as an Indian person, I speak gently and become a partner with the horse.”

She is proud to be of the Haida Gwaii Nation from the islands off the coast of British Columbia. She dreams of having a large covered arena, either on the property or on an acreage somewhere nearby, so the students can ride year-round. Her positive outlook, generous nature and upbeat smile help her maintain the center and give many an opportunity to learn about horses in a safe, gentle manner.

“I can walk into any field here and the horses will come to me,” she said. Smiling, she added, “It all boils down to trust.”

Quail Hollow Psychotherapy PLLC Joseph L. Price, PhD 360.683.4818

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | WINTER | DECEMBER 2012

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Sin ce

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LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | WINTER | DECEMBER 2012

&

FOOD Spirits

Recipe courtesy of Chef Patrick Townsend at Sequim’s Fresh Seafood, 540-A W. Washington St. 360-681-0664 or www.sequimssea foodandbbq.com. Townsend earned an Associates in Applied Sciences degree for Culinary Arts at the Culinary Institute of America in San Francisco, Calif. He is a member of the United States Personal Chef Association and successfully completed the Personal Chef program at the Culinary Business Academy. Sequim’s Fresh Seafood specializes in Northwest cuisine with an emphasis on local fresh-farmed ingredients. Hours are 11 a.m.-4 p.m. for lunch and 4-8 p.m. for dinner TuesdaySaturday.

Makes 4 servings 1 pound of fingerling potatoes 1 carrot, peeled and cut into ¼-inch dice 6 ounces pearl onions cut into ¼ slices (5 or 6) 8 ounces fresh Brussels sprouts, cored and separated into leaves 1 cup chicken stock ½ cup heavy cream ¼ cup unsalted butter Coarse salt and freshly ground white pepper to taste 2 teaspoons fresh lime juice In a large saucepan of lightly salted boiling water, cook the potatoes for 10-15 minutes over medium-high heat until tender when pierced with the tip of a sharp knife. Drain and set aside to cool. At the same time, bring another pot of salted water to boil over medium-high heat. Cook the carrot for about 2 minutes until just barely tender. Remove with a slotted spoon or strainer and set aside. Cook the Brussels sprout leaves in the boiling water for 2-3 minutes until barely tender. Drain and place them immediately into a bowl of ice water. Drain again. Squeeze out as much excess water as possible from the leaves and pat them dry with a kitchen towel. Cut the cooled potatoes into ½-inch thick rounds. Set aside.

In a large saucepan, combine the stock and cream and bring to a boil.

Cook for 7-8 minutes, until reduced by one-third and thickened. Whisk in butter, a piece at a time, until the sauce is thickened and enriched. Add the potatoes, carrot, onions and Brussels sprout leaves. Reduce the heat to low and simmer gently for about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Remove from heat and stir in the lime juice. Cover and keep warm.

ASSEMBLY

Fresh Steelhead

1 tablespoon unsalted butter 6 ounces of fresh chanterelle mushrooms (can substitute cremini mushrooms) 4 7-ounce steelhead or salmon fillets Coarse salt and fresh-ground white pepper to taste 3 tablespoons canola oil 3 tablespoons finely minced fresh chives In a large sauté pan, heat the butter over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and cook for 3-5 minutes until they begin to release their liquid and soften. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Season the steelhead with salt and pepper on both sides. Heat the oil in a 12-inch sauté pan over medium-high heat. Cook the salmon for about 3 minutes until lightly browned. Turn over, reduce the heat, and cook for another 3 minutes longer until the fish is opaque in the center. Stir chives into the vegetables and sauce. Using a slotted spoon, lift about two-thirds of the vegetables from the sauce and arrange them on the individual plates. Top with the steelhead fillets. Spoon the remaining vegetables over the steelhead and then top with the mushrooms. Spoon sauce remaining in the pan over the vegetables and steelhead.

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | WINTER | DECEMBER 2012

with chanterelle mushrooms, Brussels sprout leaves and fingerling potatoes

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Local landmark reaches a milestone

The historical Dungeness Schoolhouse, as seen from Towne Road in Sequim.

Photo by Reneé Mizar

Historical Dungeness Schoolhouse marks 120th anniversary

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by Reneé Mizar, Communications Coordinator, Museum & Arts Center in the Sequim-Dungeness Valley

ore than 20 years before Sequim formally became a city and just three years after Washington attained statehood, residents of the small but bustling commercial seaport of Dungeness embarked on a $3,000 project to improve their children’s futures.

Not long after residents established Dungeness School District No. 29 in 1892, a time when one-room schoolhouses dotted the rural landscape, voters passed a district bond to build a new school along the banks of the Dungeness River on land donated by local entrepreneur Charles Franklin Seal and using lumber harvested on-site.

The following year, amid the agriculturally robust farmlands of the Dungeness Valley emerged the two-story, tworoom Dungeness Schoolhouse, which opened its doors to students for the first time on Feb. 27, 1893. What began as a four-month school term led by one teacher for 70-75 students ages 5-20 expanded over the years to a nine-month school

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year headed by two teachers and a 1921 building remodel that added indoor plumbing, electric lighting, central heat and new west wing.

To commemorate the 120th anniversary of the Dungeness Schoolhouse having first opened its doors, the Museum & Arts Center in the Sequim-Dungeness Valley (MAC) is throwing a community-wide party on Feb. 27, 2013, in the local landmark at 2781 Towne Road.

“One of the best acknowledgements of the life of a culture, a people or their structures is celebrating the passage of time,” MAC Executive Director DJ Bassett said. “It’s an opportunity for us to get together and build that sense of commonality and community.”

In preparation for the celebration, the MAC is actively gathering stories, information, memorabilia and photographs pertaining to the school, its construction and storied past, and welcomes hearing from those once affiliated with the schoolhouse. This includes students, teachers, school

board members and family members thereof, as well as former Dungeness Schoolhouse Volunteer Committee members, groups once affiliated with the schoolhouse such as the Dungeness Community Club and Women of the Dungeness, and those who have given to the schoolhouse in various ways over the years. Those who can contribute are encouraged to contact the MAC at 360-681-2257 or publicity@macsequim.org.

Becoming a beloved building

The Dungeness School operated for more than 60 years until dwindling enrollment numbers hastened its closure in 1955 upon consolidation with the Sequim School District.

The years that followed saw the elements, occasional vandalism and overall non-use take a noticeable toll on the vacant building as it fell into disrepair until being purchased by the Dungeness Community Club in 1967.

Intent on transforming the dilapidated building into a

Living on the Peninsula | WINTER | DECEMBER 2012

community center, the club set about renovating and restoring the historical structure as time and fundraising efforts allowed. During this period, a Dungeness Community Club-related group called the Women of the Dungeness also became an instrumental force in helping transform the former school into a social center by offering educational and cultural opportunities at its bimonthly luncheon meetings that regularly featured topical guest lectures, themed activities and theatrical presentations.

“People who lived in this area were in the group and so there was a real sense of ownership there,” said Dungeness Schoolhouse Volunteer Committee member Pat Marcy, whose mother-in-law Jeri Marcy was a member of the Women of the Dungeness for several years. “The schoolhouse is a part of our heritage and the history of this little area that is pretty remarkable.”

The Women of the Dungeness also founded an elaborate holiday fundraising event that has filled the Dungeness Schoolhouse with the sounds, sights and smells of Christmas each December for more than 40 years. Since 1969, the schoolhouse has been home to an annual tea and bake sale event to usher in the holiday season and raise funds for its continued preservation.

Now undertaken by the Museum & Arts Center’s Dungeness Schoolhouse Volunteer Committee, the festive event began in 1966 under its original moniker of Christmas House and was held in private homes for its first few years until being moved to the Dungeness Schoolhouse. The immense popularity of Christmas House, which reflected a different holiday-inspired theme each year, was such that in 1982, the group compiled the spiral-bound “Christmas House Delights from the Women of the Dungeness,” a compilation cookbook of their favorite holiday recipes.

“Maintaining this tradition of the Christmas Tea is important,” Marcy said. “It’s a pleasant time to get together with friends, enjoy tea and just relax in a beautiful setting.”

A covered bridge linking Anderson and Towne roads once spanned the Dungeness River in the shadow of a pre-1921 Dungeness Schoolhouse. Bert Kellogg Collection, Museum & Arts Center in the Sequim-Dungeness Valley

In the years that followed, the MAC and its volunteers, supporters and community partners have invested their time and talents toward the local landmark’s continued upkeep, with ongoing maintenance and preservation efforts funded through donations, fundraisers, grants and facility rentals. Such efforts, which recently included electrical upgrades throughout the building that now allow for wireless Internet accessibility, were recognized in 2012 when the MAC received a State Historic Preservation Officer’s Award for Outstanding Achievement in Historic Preservation for its stewardship of the Dungeness Schoolhouse.

“We’re continuing the spirit of community and honoring the pioneers and their descendants, area old-timers, the Dungeness Community Club, Women of the Dungeness and myriad of service organizations and volunteers who have helped keep this well-loved landmark alive,” Bassett said. “If it wasn’t for their vision, dedication, hard work and perseverance, this living testament to our past would have faded away and with it a little piece of us.”

Preserving into perpetuity Noting that the future of the Dungeness Schoolhouse After nearly 30 years of stewardship, during which time rests in the present, Bassett said its continued care and the building was recognized as a Washington State Historical operation is largely dependent upon substantial monetary Site and placed on the National Register of Historic Places, donations and the community’s renting of the facility. Mainownership and operation of the Dungeness Schoolhouse tenance costs of the aged building have proven both small was transferred from the Dungeness Community Club to and large, Bassett said, the most substantial expense of late the MAC in 1995. being the installation of a new well in the spring of 2012 after the old well failed completely.

“Just as the community once saved the schoolhouse from disrepair, it now has that same opportunity just in a different way,” Bassett said. “The schoolhouse is important because it is a tangible connection to the past and, particularly for those who have chosen to retire here, is an aesthetical component of developing a sense of place and community.”

Seeking to ramp up rentals of the multi-use structure, which includes two downstairs classrooms and an Recent maintenance efforts at the Dungeness Schoolhouse have included installing a new well, shown here being done by Oasis Well Drilling, following upstairs auditorium that is ADA accessible via chairlift, Bassett said the MAC the old one’s failure in the spring of 2012. Photo by Reneé Mizar

Living on the Peninsula | WINTER | DECEMBER 2012

is embarking on a marketing campaign specifically for the schoolhouse to draw both long-term renters as well as eventspecific users. As part of the campaign, the MAC recently has secured grant funding to create a Dungeness Schoolhouse website, complete with an online booking calendar and photo galleries of the rooms and grounds, as well as other marketing materials and new building signage.

“The surest way to ensure a historical structure is preserved is to continue building its economic base. In many ways the schoolhouse is like the barns of the area; they’re expensive to care for and maintain,” Bassett said. “They might look nice, but if you can actually utilize one to its full potential and best use, its future will be better ensured. That is how we are going to ensure the Dungeness Schoolhouse can be enjoyed by those another 120 years from now.”

Additional information about the Dungeness Schoolhouse, including rental agreement forms, is available on the MAC website at www.macsequim.org.

Museum & Arts Center Executive Director DJ Bassett, Dungeness Schoolhouse managers Mike and Kathy Bare and several members of the Dungeness Schoolhouse Volunteer Committee pose on the front steps of the landmark building in August 2012. Photo by Reneé Mizar

15

Four-year-old Jack Root loves on his 6-year-old dog and best friend Duke, a Labrador/ mastiff mix.

The Root family adopted Duke from the Olympic Peninsula Humane Society three years ago.

Story and photos by Ashley Miller

M

ary Beth Wegener is grinning like a Cheshire cat.

Not only is the euthanasia rate at the Olympic Peninsula Humane Society lower than ever, the nonprofit organization has purchased property for a new animal shelter.

Down from 30 percent five years ago, the kill rate is at 7 percent. Wegener, who was hired as executive director of the center last June, credits the decrease in numbers of animals being put to sleep with the combination of hiring a vet on staff two years ago and working with other organizations to transfer and adopt animals.

“The philosophy has changed,” Wegener explained over coffee. “We are never going to put down a healthy, adoptable pet again. We might transfer it to a no-kill facility in a more metropolitan area with more foot traffic but we won’t put it down.”

Wegener applied for the position because she likes animals and was hoping to get back into nonprofit work after several years in the banking industry.

“I applied with absolutely no hope of getting the job,” she recalled. “I was completely surprised.”

Since she started, Wegener has been working very hard to change the public’s perception of the humane society, develop new relationships and strengthen the organization from the inside out.

“I think the employees feel more empowered now than ever before,” she said. “I am honest with them and expect them to do their jobs. I don’t micromanage them. They take care of

16

Finding forever homes for pets in need the animals and I trust them to do so.”

At full capacity with more than 200 animals on site and in foster homes, a new facility has been on the group’s wish list for years.

On Oct. 12, the shelter’s board completed the purchase of a 9.5-acre site at 1743 Old Olympic Highway, located between Port Angeles and Sequim, for $325,000.

Wegener first learned about the property last May when a volunteer e-mailed her about the “perfect” site for a new shelter. On a whim, she decided to check it out.

“I drove out and saw it and thought, ‘Wow, it really is perfect,’ ” she said.

Compared to the current 2,900-square-foot facility, the new property with three modular buildings will be very spacious. The tentative plan is to use one of the existing buildings for administration, another to house cats and the third for veterinary care. A barn on the property could be used to temporarily house larger animals.

A capital campaign to raise $1.2 million — expected to kick off Jan. 1, 2014 — will focus on building a dog kennel from the ground up and completing additional improvements to the property. Until then, Wegener plans to focus her energy on restructuring the board, redefining important policies and creating a much-needed succession plan.

In the meantime, business will run as usual. Hundreds of animals are available and waiting for their forever homes.

Lexie, a 4-year-old blue-nosed pit bull, is one of several dogs available for adoption. She’s the longest standing resident at the shelter and has been in foster care and on-site for two years.

“She’s a really nice girl and she’d make somebody a great pet but she has to be the only animal,” Wegener said. “I know what most people think when they see a pit bull, and I admit I didn’t like pit bulls at first either, but they are truly awesome dogs who love people. They’re just a breed that’s gotten a lot of bad press.”

Wegener has adopted two dogs from the center since she started working there. Buddy, a 6-year-old Shepherd mix, has become the center’s “ambassa-dog.” He comes to work with Wegener every day and attends events with her off-site, too.

“I didn’t think much about Buddy when I first met him until I took him to an adoption event and realized what a great dog he was,” she said. “I took him home that weekend and knew I’d never give him back.”

“He’s a great example of the dogs we get in here,” she continued. “He’s had an up-and-down life but when you get him out of the shelter he’s the best dog ever.”

She also adopted Lulu, an 11-year-old pit bull that wasn’t thriving at the center, after she took the canine home for long-term foster.

In the past year and a half, Wegener has fostered more than 30 puppies, some for just a couple of days and others for a few weeks. Finding families to foster animals helps reduce the number of animals at the center and provides very important socialization, Wegener said.

As an open admission shelter, the humane society takes in any animal that’s brought in. Each year, more than 2,000 animals are brought to the shelter. No animals are turned away.

Because of a cat’s quick gestation period, the shelter almost always has kittens available for adoption. The adoption fee includes spay or neutering, a microchip, a health visit from a vet and the initial vaccines. A complete list of adoption costs for both cats and dogs are available online at www. ophumanesociety.org.

All available pets can be viewed online at www.petfinder. com. Just type in the ZIP code and begin searching. The site is updated regularly and includes pictures.

In addition to puppies and kittens, the center has several adult animals needing homes.

For many people, adopting an adult cat or dog is a better option, Wegener pointed out. Kittens and puppies require a lot of attention, training and patience. Young adult and older pets generally are housebroken and have some degree of training and socialization.

Sean and Megan Root, of Port Angeles, adopted both of their dogs from the Olympic Peninsula Humane Society.

Sugar is a 7-year-old mix and Duke is a 6-year-old labrador/ mastiff. They found both dogs on Petfinder and adopted them almost four years ago this Christmas.

At the time, the couple’s oldest son was just a baby and Duke was an energetic 2-year-old dog with separation anxiety. Now, he is a mature adult dog and their 4-year-old’s best friend — a perfect example that an adult dog from a shelter can be successfully integrated into a family.

Olympic Peninsula Humane Society Executive Director Mary Beth Wegener gives some attention to an adult calico cat available for adoption.

Wish list

The Olympic Peninsula Humane Society eagerly accepts donations in the form of: • Dry adult dog food • Dry puppy food • Dry adult cat food • Wet and dry kitten food • High-efficiency laundry detergent

• Paper towels • Toilet paper • Bleach • Non-clumping cat litter • Dog and cat treats

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Embracing the beauty of being different MOSAIC A community of individuals working together to improve VISION the quality of life for people with developmental disabilities.

Story and photos by Patricia Morrison Coate

“We become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic. Different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes, different dreams.”

– President Jimmy Carter

A

lthough President Carter was describing the fabric of America, board members of Special Needs Advocacy Parents were inspired by the concept of a mosaic in defining its community of developmentally disabled adults in Port Angeles and Sequim. The nonprofit organization was founded in 1998 by a dozen parents of special needs children who were concerned about their youths' futures and quality of life after high school. They were joined by several care providers and community members.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, developmental disabilities are a group of conditions due to an impairment in physical, learning, language or behavior areas. About one in six children in the U.S. have one or more developmental disabilities or other developmental delays.

These conditions begin during the developmental period, may impact day-to-day functioning and usually last throughout a person’s lifetime. Some originate from genetic causes such as

Down syndrome, while others are birth-related such as a lack of oxygen during birth or a maternal infection. Others derive from fetal alcohol syndrome or drug use during pregnancy or poor prenatal health in the mother. In many situations, the cause of developmental disabilities is unknown, such as in autism.

"Parents were thinking, 'What is out there for my child once he or she leaves school?'" said Tracy Wilson, one of SNAP's founders and a longtime professional caregiver. "We agreed the solution had to come from the parents and we knew the need was tremendous in the community for services for families and individuals. The first thing we did was to form a rec club."

Wilson has been the caregiver of Violet Snodgrass, now 31, for the past nine years.

"The first couple of years were rocky because change is hard, but we had the whole SNAP community to support and accept us," Wilson said. "No way could I have done this in a vacuum without the support we've received. It's been huge, huge! It's become our family and Violet has made great friends there."

About a year ago SNAP morphed into Mosaic with the mission statement: "To enrich, encourage and empower people with developmental disabilities toward achieving independence, social skills and community inclusion through the arts, education and social activities."

"We picked Mosaic as a name because our participants are a mosaic of different abilities," said Anna Wilson, (no relation to Tracy Wilson). "That really spoke to us because we all are different and we all contribute in different ways. We want to

embrace the beauty of being different."

"I'm so excited about Mosaic because we don't have two people the same and that's a good thing and a bad thing," said Sandy Voelz, the sister of participant Stacey Shipley, 60. "It's good because it forces us to look at everyone as individuals who respond to different stimuli and have different needs and desires. The 'bad' part is we really have to think about activities we offer because some will need one-on-one attention and others are quite independent."

After returning to Port Angeles seven years ago, Voelz saw that although her brother's basic needs were being met with a caregiver, his quality of life was suffering.

"All of a sudden I was looking at my brother in an apartment by himself — he wasn't doing anything," Voelz said, "and I realized after all these years, when he was growing up, that we never asked him to speak, so the first thing I did was take him to a speech therapist. Stacey had to have someone to talk to, so we joined SNAP and because he has people to talk to, he can communicate. They help him enunciate, so he's learning to talk, and he's become extremely social. In so many ways we have a population that's pigeon-holed. With Mosaic we're opening their door and our door."

After moving to Sequim in 2001, Anna Wilson wanted to expand the world of her developmentally disabled daughter Nina, now 41. Nina, naturally shy, needed more social interaction, her mother felt, and has found it through the programs Mosaic offers, which include life skills, self-advocacy, peer support,

Photos at top, left to right: Nina Wilson at First Step Family Support Center in Port Angeles, where she works two days a week. Submitted photo. 2. Tracy Wilson, left, shares her home and her life with Mosaic participant Violet Snodgrass. Patricia Morrison Coate photo. 3. Stacey Shipley enjoys working four days a week at Lee Shore Boats in Port Angeles. Submitted photo 4. Courtney Brown takes part in a painting class through Mosaic. Submitted photo

18

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | WINTER | DECEMBER 2012

cultural arts and sciences, recreation and social enrichment, community outreach and project outreach.

Core programs

Program director Bonne Smith summarized the scope of Mosaic's curriculum: "Evolving from a recreational-based curriculum in 1998, Mosaic now serves more than 140 people about 1,200 hours a quarter in three-month sessions. Meeting four days weekly and a fifth monthly, Mosaic continues to provide recreation, but increasingly, based on outcomes, added educational experiences for adults with developmental disabilities. With outcomedriven programs, Mosaic continues to evolve embodying the ever-changing needs of the Clallam and Jefferson County participants that we serve.

"Based on last year's outcomes, Mosaic's fall classes included healthy eating, nutritional information in supporting diet choices, an exercise companion class, and we will add a softemployment skills class starting in January. The cooking class presents alternative food choices, local whole foods and reduction of sugar and salt. The specific class responds to members that struggle with weight issues, chronic conditions, flavor and palatable issues and was part of the genesis for Mosaic's first health fair, Oct. 14. The second educational experience goal is formed through the theater class, which serves as public relations for the community. Through the theater experience the Snappy Players Troupe build their self-confidence in public speaking and the message about the struggles of everyday life is conveyed in comedic form, breaking down the barriers one show at a time."

Challenges

Most people with developmental disabilities do realize they are different, said Anna Wilson, and that can cause frustration and a tendency to withdraw from the world. Mosaic counteracts those challenges by providing a safe haven through its classes and recreational activities — dances draw upwards of 50 — and by being visible in the community through outings, community service projects, an art show and the annual theater production in May, developed from dialogues to props by Mosaic participants.

"This group, with all different levels of awareness and life skills, reaches out and helps each other," Voelz said. "They are a family of sorts — they connect with each other. Just being part of a team gives them feelings of self-worth in having a purpose, just like we all need one. They are adults and they deserve and want respect."

Making themselves understood to others outside the special needs community also is a challenge.

"Certainly communication is the major one," said Tracy Wilson. "I think anyone with developmental disabilities faces challenges in the community about belonging. We say a community with heart has room for everyone. The task that's always been before us is to educate the community with exposure to people with developmental disabilities. It's been an adjustment but we've found people to be receptive."

Inclusion in small ways and large is a driving force within Mosaic. Voelz admitted sometimes even family members can be uncomfortable or even fearful of their developmentally disabled relatives, and more so the general public.

"A smile, a 'How ya doin'?' absolutely makes their day," Voelz said. "They have feelings, hopes and desires, but who's listening?

Since they're limited or wired differently, they don't know how to get there even if they know how to ask. Stacey and many others don't express pain even if they have it. Pain doesn't generate the thought to complain in them."

That's one of the reasons Mosaic organized a health fair last

year so participants could be checked from head to toe and so caregivers could learn what symptoms of illness or injury they should look for.

76 percent of Mosaic’s classes and activities are funded through personal donations, United Way, grants and fundraising. Program fees cover 24 percent of Mosaic’s expenses.

Participant profiles Violet Snodgrass

Snodgrass is an enthusiastic and engaging young woman, full of natural curiosity, which extended to the interviewer's rapid note-taking. Because language is difficult for her, her caregiver Tracy Wilson filled in the gaps.

"Violet worked 7½ years at The Buzz and made lots of friends there. She's someone who never called in sick, who doesn't take cell phone or cigarette breaks and is a hard worker who really takes pride in doing a great job," Wilson said. An article in the Sequim Gazette from Feb. 23, 2005, chronicled her skills and duties from cleaning to stocking. "No other employee is so happy to come to work," said her employer Deb Ferguson at the time. Unfortunately, The Buzz closed this spring and Snodgrass misses all that having a job gave her.

"Violet is ready to work hard and is actively seeking work," Wilson said. "She'd like to be around people and have something active to do with people who are kind with a variety of tasks to keep her busy. Violet is involved in lots of things in the community — she goes horseback riding, to plays and musical events, out to dinner and lunch. She's part of Mosaic's community service class, which meets at parks to pick up garbage, and goes to church and visits people in nursing homes. We're very busy and we're gone the majority of every day."

Snodgrass also is involved in Special Olympics softball, basketball and bowling, Mosaic classes and its theater project, learning dialogue and making props and scenery. "Life is good," she said.

Although Wilson has taught Snodgrass many practical things in the ways of the world, it's been a two-way learning curve.

"She has really taught me that we all have the capacity to learn and grow and make changes in our lives. She continues to exceed everyone's expectations, including her own, and clearly delights in herself. She's taught me the value of seeing people for who they are, and can be, and not to limit people by labeling them," Wilson said. "I think I am teaching Violet to believe in herself, to step outside her 'comfort zone' and to think beyond herself by reaching out to others. When my stepfather died five years ago, we went to his memorial service. People were invited to stand up and say a few words. To my great surprise, Violet stood up. She said, 'Bob nice. I like Bob. I miss Bob.' It's moments like that that remind me I really do have the best job in the whole world."

well with money, so to live independently would be a challenge for her. She's very loving and happy with life as it is now, with no desire to live on her own."

Her mother observes, "She is shy at first, but when comfortable with people she displays leadership qualities which her instructor Bonne Smith takes advantage of. She is very organized and is one step ahead of you, when she knows what kind of project is on the agenda. Nina is very practical and surprisingly computer savvy in spite of her reading challenges.

She has an impressive visual memory and is a great asset in a grocery store, classroom or at home as far as locating whatever is needed. She has a very sunny disposition and is very loving with great compassion."

That gift makes Nina a favorite with the youngsters at First Step Family Support Center in Port Angeles where she works two days a week in the kitchen and as a children's aide. "They are kind of drawn to her — they are a good match," Wilson said. Nina also attends Mosaic's Voyagers class which exposes participants to culture and science. "Bonne wants them to be able to have conversations on different subject matters that people wouldn't expect from them," Wilson said. "It's a good dynamic class with a wealth of information."

She also noted Nina is an accomplished equestrian with many high-point year-end awards during her riding career in Las Vegas, Nev. She also was the recipient of two silver medals in International Special Olympics as an equestrian.

"She has shown great courage these last few years, when health issues required surgery and frequent medical procedures. Even under those challenging circumstances we manage to have a good time together."

Stacey Shipley

In the past six years since Sandy Voelz got her brother Stacey Shipley involved in Mosaic, his quality of life has improved dramatically. "He was alone so much, as are so many others of our population, and I decided he David Dow had not developed only celebrated his 50th birthday having a caregiver.

Dec. 5 at a Now he is interested spaghetti in things we never luncheon thought to expose prepared him to, like watching by fellow history programs. His Mosaic teacher thinks he participants. has gained three

Nina Wilson

"You could not ask for a better travel companion and there is not another person I'd rather spend time with than my daughter Nina, my buddy." said Anna Wilson, now 70. "She's very capable of taking care of herself and could function well on her own, but she's shy, not assertive and not a good advocate for herself. Her reading level may be at the second grade and she doesn't do

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | WINTER | DECEMBER 2012

19

Mosaic, continued from page 19 years in cognitive function since Mosaic — Mosaic has literally brought him to more of his potential."

With skills that he learned in classes, Shipley is now able to work four days a week at Lee Shore Boats in Port Angeles and live independently in a house that the owners made possible on their property. The company makes aluminum boats and Shipley is meticulous in sweeping up the metal shavings, his sister said.

"Lee Shore Boats is a poster employer for those with special needs. Every single worker embraces Stacey and his job and they make him a part of the team," Voelz said. "Everybody needs a reason to get up in the morning, a place to go, a place to be wanted, something to do and a place to socialize. He keeps a very organized house and does his own laundry and dishes. If he can do it, others that are developmentally disabled can, too."

Between work development, Special Olympics, Mosaic and using art skills at home he's learned at Mosaic, Shipley stays very busy. Bowling is one of his favorite activities and he bowls an impressive 246.

"Stacey is a real easygoing fellow and everyone seems to like him."

Mosaic's future

Mosaic holds its classes at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, 301 Lopez Ave., Port Angeles, and in a small space in the Sequim High School Special Ed classroom.

"My dream for Mosaic is that we have a place of our own, a place to call home," said Tracy Wilson, "that's centrally located so we can offer activities and programs throughout the day and in the early evening to accommodate as many as we can. The biggest need is for that social aspect in all that we do. Loneliness

Actors with Mosaic produced “The Battle between Funk and Disco” at Olympic Theatre Arts in March.

Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash is rampant among people with developmental disabilities." said. "It's very challenging to get the public to attend our fundrais"It doesn't matter where you start, just don't look away," Voelz ers like our theater production in May. It's very hard to measure said. "Our developmentally disabled population is so starving for and show improvements we see among our participants to the that look, that wave," when they're out and about in public. public and I would love for us to connect in a better way in the Anna Wilson said her desire for Mosaic's future is to find a community."

"We've got great people but we really need more volunteers, volunteer with marketing experience as 76 percent of Mosaic’s volunteers who think out of the box with new ideas and classes and activities are funded through personal donations, approaches," Voelz said.

United Way, grants and fundraising. Program fees cover only 24 For more information, call 360-681-8642 or visit percent of Mosaic’s expenses. www.clallammosaic.org or the Mosaic office, 301 Lopez Ave. "Marketing such an organization such as ours makes it very hard to compete with groups like the Boys & Girls Club," Wilson #4, Port Angeles.

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HEART Soul

I can't thank you enough

By Karen Frank

W

hen Dana and I eat dinner, we hold hands and say what we are grateful for.

Most of the time they are the same things — each other, a house, food, cats, friends. Some days I’m grumpy or feeling sick, only willing to grumble, “I’m not grateful for anything right now,” which is momentarily true.

The holiday season is a time when children and adults often feel they are required to seem grateful even when they receive clothes that are a size too small (or two sizes too large) or are presented with their third fruit cake when they don’t even particularly like fruit.

It’s a time when we try to appear thankful to hug relatives we never see during the year and don’t really want to see.

It’s a time of year when it’s really, really dark and people go to work in the dark and return home in the dark and are as sleepy as hibernating bears 80 percent of the time.

It’s a time of year when the grey is unbroken even during the “daylight” hours and the damp cold seeps into our bones leaving us shivering even when the heat is cranked up.

It’s also the season of light and love and gratitude.

I like the kind of Christmas tree lights that blink on and off or look like white icicles dripping from rooftops. I appreciate the story behind the lighting of the Hanukkah candles. I wish I had one of those propane fireplaces so that I could be mesmerized and warmed by the crackle of the fake logs. I imagine roaring yule logs and bonfires on Winter Solstice, symbols of the community’s faith that the sun will return even though the night is deep and long.

When Meister Eckhart said that if the only prayer we ever pray is “thank you,” that is enough or when Shug in "The Color Purple" said that God wanted us to notice and appreciate the ordinary daily surroundings of creation, like the color purple, that’s the kind of gratitude we are called to in every season. This is something we can learn.

In one of our old home movies, my brother is “helping” me open one of my presents. He’s tearing the paper off and flinging it behind him, excited by all the hoopla and anticipation of the day. When he opened his own presents, it was clear which ones he preferred. Those that contained clothes got tossed over his shoulder in preference of toys. It was funny then, but it wouldn’t be humorous if he still did that as an adult (although it kind of would be). Now he knows, as we all know, that the person who bought that present for us did it out of love and the hope that it would bring us pleasure. We don’t have to fake joy at receiving something we don’t want. It’s not the specific gift that we respond to, but the love of the person who gave it to us.

Another thing I’ve noticed since I was a child is that it is better to give and receive. It was always fun to pick out some kind of costume jewelry or perfume for my mother, but a little boring to find another belt or tie for my father. It was even more exciting to get presents. I have a photo of me from when I was about 12 standing in front of a cardboard chimney in my pajamas holding a little black purse in one hand and a fishing pole in the other.

It’s hard these days to surprise people. Most of the adults in my life have everything they need and very specific tastes. No jacket has been made that Dana won’t appreciate. My mother loves lavender and candles. My brother, music videos.

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | WINTER | DECEMBER 2012

I think he is the most innovative when it comes to presents. One year he gave me a scrapbook of old pictures of my cousin and me. Another year, he gave each of us DVDs that he had made from spliced together bits of my grandfather’s home movies.

The last present I gave my dad before he died was a (double picture frame) with me on one side and Dana on the other. He kept it on his dresser where he could see it from his bed and it gave him great pleasure.

Along about February, during the grey dismal days, remember that the light will return (maybe by August) and that each morning the sun rises to shine upon us in its peculiar Northwestern way.

Right now, I am grateful for the colors of green, from cedars to Douglas-fir to willows to salal, for all the woodsy stuff that people weave into wreaths and hang from their doors this time of year.

I am grateful for all of you.

I thank you very much for reading my column all these years. I thank you for calling me up or e-mailing me or talking to me on the street and telling me when something I wrote was meaningful to you. I thank you for appreciating me the way that I appreciate you.

Giving and receiving has been a gift.

Many blessings to you all and a Happy New Year!

I’m no longer going to be writing this column and I will miss you. I’m still a writer and spiritual director in Port Townsend. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to e-mail me at karenanddana1@q.com.

21

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LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | WINTER | DECEMBER 2012

Friends of Forks Library

A FRIEND TO THE ENTIRE FORKS COMMUNITY Story by Chris Cook

Forks High School’s multi-million dollar addition is now open, a 21st-century centerpiece for the rural logging community.

Now it’s time to spruce up and modernize the town’s downtown library.

Both the high school and library are busy crossroads for residents of Forks, La Push and other neighboring towns. The library, located on South Forks Avenue in a brick-walled former bank building built in the 1960s, is solid, but needs a replacement for its outmoded flat roof.

The original commercial-grade carpeting has stood the test of time, but is ready for replacement. Knocking out walls would open up the interior. A meeting room in the back corner of the building is used regularly for library talks plus community meetings. The room, and its kitchen facilities, would be modernized and set up to be used securely after hours when the main library rooms are locked.

Thanks to the Clallam County library levy of 2010 the Forks Library and the three other libraries in the NOLS system are seeing increased circulation of their books, DVDs and other materials. The tally for the Forks Library for 2011 was 84,827 items, quite a count for a town with under 3,200 in population.

“The library is a cornerstone of our community,” Friends of Forks Library treasurer Ellen Matheny says of the role of the library in the rural West End community. “In contrast

to Port Angeles or Sequim that have a wider variety of resources, our library provides an essential meeting place and information resource for our community. Through the library, we can access recently released books, audio books, movies, newspapers and magazines. It provides a portal to the Internet for those without computers at home and for people traveling through town. It also offers periodic programs of interest to learners of all ages.”

At the forefront of the effort to raise $175,000 in funds from community sources for the library renovation are the members of the Friends of the Forks Library. The nonprofit organization is actively pursuing that goal.

“We currently have $60,159 in the fund,” Matheny says. “Several community members have stepped forward with contributions of $15,000 and $10,000 and many other people with contributions of $500 or less. No contribution is too small. We have a donation can on the book cart in the lobby where folks can leave smaller donations for the renovation. Friends of Forks Library has contributed

$10,000 toward the renovation and is sending an additional $3,000 to them this week. This money has been collected by the group over the past several years primarily from book sales.”

The North Olympic Library System – a junior taxing district within Clallam County that staffs and funds the Forks Library – has committed $559,000 to the library renovation project. The NOLS funds are mostly coming from 2010 library levy funds and from timber tax receipts.

"The Forks Library needs an upgrade and renovation,” a flier sent to West End residents by the FOFL states. “In its prior life, it was a bank building. Now we need to tear down the interior walls and create a library for Forks that is modern, efficient, accessible

Friends of Forks Library president Debbie McIntyre and treasurer Ellen Matheny continued the organization’s ongoing Forks Library renovation efforts at “Raise the Roof.”

Photo courtesy of Friends of Forks Library

Above: This conceptual drawing produced by Jerry Schlie Design of Beaver shows how the children’s section of the Forks Library would look following a remodel.

At right: This conceptual elevation drawing shows how the Forks Library’s exterior would look following the proposed $775,000 renovation. Most notable is the raised roof, which would replace the building’s problematic flat roof, a troublesome design feature in the rainiest town in the lower 48 states.

Drawings courtesy of North Olympic Library System

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | WINTER | DECEMBER 2012

23

and welcoming. Some of the proposed upgrades include a new roof that can withstand our abundant rainfall, highefficiency lighting and windows, a new heating and cooling system, an upgraded electrical system with the capacity to handle the demands of new library technology and an outside entrance to the meeting room for after-hours use by community groups. The renewed library spaces will be welcoming and flexible, better able to meet the changing needs of our community today and for decades to come.”

Matheny sums up the plans: “The library is housed in an old bank building complete with a vault in the center. It needs to be more open and modular to allow multiple uses of its spaces. It also needs updated wiring to support the increased use of technology in the library. The roof leaks and needs to be replaced. The added convenience of after-hours access to the meeting room would be a welcomed result of the renovation.”

Looking back decades, the story of the Forks Library reflects the roots of the strong support the project now is receiving.

The North Olympic Library System recently posted a history of the library and of its support within the West End community.

“In January 19, 1946, the first public library in Forks opened in an unused room of the town's elementary school,” the brief history reads. “As a branch of the county's Clallam Rural Library, it had an initial collection of 600 books, augmented by volumes from the county system, and Lillian Dimmel was the first librarian. When Muriel Huggins moved to the area around Forks in 1941, the remote Olympic Peninsula timber town of about 550 people had no library. So Huggins went about collecting books and magazines to share, hand-delivering items people wanted to read. Her husband Del later built shelves in their enclosed porch, where people were free to come and go and borrow what they liked. Huggins joined others when planning for an official library began in 1944, and it opened in January 1946.”

With the incorporation of Forks as a city in August 1945 the new library lost its standing within the rural Clallam County library district. In stepped the local PTA, with members forming a nonprofit library association.

Forks residents are noted for their thrift, especially in reusing discarded buildings, moving the buildings when and where needed. “The fledgling library also found itself in need of a new home barely a year and a half into operation,” the NOLS history continues. “As the library's grade-school home was needed to accommodate increasing enrollment.

A small building once owned by long-time resident Bert Fletcher, where he raised rabbits in the I920s, became temporary quarters in 1947, and the short-lived ‘rabbit-hutch library’ was born.”

The official name of the Forks library became Forks Memorial Library, in remembrance of World War II veterans. The forerunner to today’s Friends of Forks Library was formed and fittingly named the Forks Memorial Library Association, though this name was officially changed to Forks Library when the library became part of the North Olympic Library System. The organization began an ongoing drive for support funds for the library into 1973. During this era library staff plus books and other materials, and facility maintenance, were funded by Clallam County’s rural library district.

The history tells how the Forks Library moved from location to location over the years. “In 1951 a site was donated on the corner of B Street (now Bogachiel Way) and the

24

“Twilight” author Stephenie Meyer signs books for teenage girls (and their moms) during a book signing at the Forks Library held in 2006. Meyer contacted the library to arrange the signing as part of her promotion for the early books in her “Twilight” series.

Forks Forum file photo Olympic Loop Highway (U.S. 101); volunteers completed the building's construction that year, and the library's first permanent home was dedicated June 28, 1952. The library merged with the newly formed North Olympic Library System in 1973 and plans to resolve crowding at the Forks branch were under way by 1979. The solution turned up just across B Street in the form of the old Seafirst Bank building, which was remodeled and opened January 19, 1981, with 20,000 books. Volunteers moved the library's collection, including grade-schoolers who formed a human ‘book brigade,’ passing books hand-to-hand across the street and through a window of the new library.”

The current Friends of Forks Library group began meeting in October 2003. The organization is an associate member of the West Olympic Peninsula Business Association, which is a 501(c)(3) organization, allowing it to take tax-deductible donations.

Running the FOFL alongside Matheny are president Debbie McIntyre and vice president/secretary Kate Monahan.

“Our mission is to promote the love of reading in our community with various activities,” Matheny says. “We’ve sponsored book reading groups, presentations on a variety of topics including authors doing book readings like when Stephenie Meyer visited Forks in 2006, and children’s reading activities. We also provide the library with things they otherwise might not have in their budget – a data projector for community checkout, several custom-made bookshelves, the train in the children’s reading room, for instance.”

The ladies, their team of volunteers within the FOFL, the staff at Forks Library and a long list of community supporters are being very creative in their fundraising.

Matheny says, “This year we’ve held a couple book sales and a community dance to promote the renovation of our library. The dance was one of the last activities held at the Rain Forest Arts Center before its demise (in the early

morning fire Oct. 29 that devastated a corner of downtown Forks, ed.). We host a ‘perpetual’ book sale in the library lobby – with a shelving cart that offers a wide selection of gently used books to community members, by donation.

The book cart is replenished daily by the Friends.

“The community dance brought together about 80 people from Forks and the surrounding area. We had two local bands, Crescent Blue and Therapy Session, perform that evening. A caller taught us the Virginia reel and local dance instructors got the evening started with an hour of lessons on the country swing. It was enthusiastically attended and brought in $800 from the evening and an additional $600 in direct contributions to the renovation fund. We plan to hold a Mexican-themed dinner in January at the Congregation Church as another fundraiser.”

Forks’ renown as the setting for author Stephenie Meyer’s blockbuster-selling “Twilight” books and movies is aiding the fundraising, too, in some ways.

“The focus on Forks due to the ‘Twilight’ books and movies has affected our fundraising by bringing in out-oftown people to our book sales and the community dance,” Matheny says. “We had hoped there would be a greater tie-in and resulting donations due to the library being mentioned in the first book, ‘Twilight’. ”

Anyone interested in helping the Friends of the Forks Library reach their library renovation fundraising goals has several options for contributing.

Checks for larger donations can be mailed to the library, or dropped off there, made out to North Olympic Library System. The address is: Forks Library, 171 S. Forks Ave., Forks, WA 98331.

Online donations can be made by going to the www.nols.org home page and clicking on the “Donate” button. Make sure you specify that your donation is to go to the Forks branch, then choose “Other,” then type in “Renovation Fund.”

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | WINTER | DECEMBER 2012

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A community treasure:

Alice McDonald says being a patient at the DVHWC is like having the best doctor ever.

She fell in love with the clinic on her first visit and now volunteers at the front desk and does data entry.

DVHWC Director Rose Gibbs and provider Larry Germain confer about a patient at the Chronic Health Care Clinic.

Dungeness Valley

Health & Wellness Clinic

Story and photos by Kelly McKillip

"Thank you for being so kind and for leaving me with my shred of dignity. Somehow I will find a way to pass it on and return your care. Thank you most sincerely." P.M. "Thank you for making me better when I was very sick. I couldn't have done it without you. When I drive by your clinic my son says look mommy there's the place that made you better.

Thank you."

These letters express the gratitude patients often express for the care received at the clinic.

26

Health is indispensable for a good quality life. Since opening its doors in 2001, the Dungeness Valley Health & Wellness Clinic (DVHWC) has provided more than 12,000 free patient visits to the underinsured members of our community. The care, which is focused on wellness, gives patients an avenue toward a healthier life. Patients are grateful for the outstanding professional services received and some are inspired to become volunteers themselves.

A GREAT IDEA The vision of the DVHWC began with Mary Griffith, a parish nurse with Dungeness Lutheran Church, who saw many of her fellow parishioners suffering because basic health care was beyond their grasp. To respond to this need, Griffith began a free walk-in clinic. Increasingly popular, the organization increased in size and scope, always with the goal of providing great care and the tools and information needed for patients to take responsibility for their own health.

A GREAT IDEA GAINS MOMENTUM In 2008, the clinic moved from the small house at the Dungeness Valley Lutheran Church to its current Fifth Avenue location. In response to the need of many patients who require ongoing management of chronic illnesses beyond the scope of the walk-in clinic, the Chronic Health Care Clinic (CHCC) was created and now serves over 300 patients.

Rose Gibbs, who came on board as director in 2009, says the urgent-care walk-in clinic and the CHCC continue to provide access to people who otherwise would be denied the most basic medical care. This amazing accomplishment is achieved through the hard work of a dedicated board of directors, staff, community physicians and organizations, including an essential, supportive partnership with Olympic Medical Center.

The organization is able to continue the excellent level of care because of the generosity of 11 providers, 22 RNs, 12 assessment staff, 16 receptionists, a physical therapist, a massage therapist, a diabetes educator, an information technology specialist, support personnel and six interpreters who collectively give $300,000 worth of unpaid services annually.

CHCC provider Larry Germain, ARNP, helps patients

manage complex, chronic illnesses such as diabetes, hypertension and heart disease. Germain believes that all Americans should have access to health care and finds that the patients he serves are very appreciative.

Another critical service of the clinic is the Patient Assistance Program (PAP). Coordinator Dian Woodle leads a team of three people who assist patients obtain much needed but prohibitively expensive medications for free from 14 participating pharmaceutical foundations. Each foundation has its own set of rules with all requiring a new application annually for each patient. About 50 percent of the patients utilizing the program have diabetes. Gibbs states that without the PAP and the CHCC, many of these patients would be poorly managed, utilizing hospital emergency departments as they go from crisis to crisis.

In an effort to help people take control of their own health, free monthly Working on Wellness (WOW) forums provide information to the entire community on a variety of health topics ranging from managing chronic pain to coping with holiday stress.

THE SPIRIT OF GIVING IS CONTAGIOUS During the five years that I have volunteered at the DVHWC as a registered nurse, it never ceases to amaze me at what individuals with compassion and regard for their fellow human beings can accomplish. The positive attitude and clarity of purpose permeates the organization on all levels. Many dedicated providers and other volunteers arrive to give care at the walk-in clinic after working a full day in their own offices.

Then there are the patients who become volunteers, such as Shannon Lott, who was traveling to Seattle every 3-4 months for health care when she saw an ad for the clinic in the newspaper. Both she and her husband, Edward, have diabetes and were struggling to manage their health. Impressed and grateful that they could have their illnesses monitored locally and be helped with the cost of expensive medicines, Lott became a volunteer and does everything from assessment to data entry, to being a receptionist and file clerk.

Alice McDonald arrived at the walk-in clinic very sick one evening. She was helped and on the spot fell in love with the

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | WINTER | DECEMBER 2012

Shannon Lott became a volunteer in gratitude for the great care that she and her husband, Edward, who are both diabetics, receive at the clinic.

Stanley Skrobecky feels the clinic has been a blessing in his life. He is grateful for the care in managing his diabetes and the help with obtaining life-saving insulin and other medications.

place. She says it’s like having the best doctor ever and is so appreciative that she became a volunteer working the front desk and data entry.

Stanley Skrobecky also has diabetes and feels the clinic has been a blessing in his life. He is grateful to have his illness managed so well and receive help with obtaining life-saving insulin and other medicines. Gibbs also arranged an appointment for Skrobecky at Seattle’s Virginia Mason Clinic to address his vision problems. To return his blessings to the

Medical assistant and volunteer Grace Turley does double duty as a receptionist at the Chronic Health Care Clinic and as an assessment staff member during the evening walk-in clinic.

community, Skrobecky volunteers at the Salvation Army to help feed the hungry.

The DVHWC is a 501(3)© organization funded by a combination of contributions, patient donations, grants, contributed services and events. This year’s Clinic Fun Walk in September raised nearly $34,000. For every $1 donated, $3.67 of care is provided.

Patient Assistant Program (PAP) coordinator Dian Woodle leads the team that helps many of the patients at the clinic receive their expensive, life-saving medicines for free.

The DVHWC is at 777 N. Fifth Ave. at the Fifth Avenue Medical Plaza in Sequim. The walk-in clinic begins at 5 p.m. Mondays and Thursdays. Patients are encouraged to arrive at least 30 minutes early. The Chronic Health Care Clinic is by appointment only.

For more information or to volunteer or donate to the clinic call, 582-0218 or visit sequimfreeclinic.org.

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27

Quilcene Historical Museum members always are happy to receive artifacts for the museum.

Here, with recent acquisitions, docent Ellen Worthington Jenner holds a covered dish, secretary Larry McKeehan holds a bed warmer and chairman Mari Phillips holds a wooden caliper.

Handing down history T

he little leather-covered notebook is carefully opened. On the inside of the cover’s overleaf hinge, next to a small leather tube for holding a pen, a name is carefully inscribed in India ink. The faded handwriting on the small, lined pages is neat and even, with precise loopings.

It still readable, although the uneven fading of the lines from a pen dipped in ink makes for some challenges. It reveals a recipe collection.

There are recipes for all kinds of cakes and baked goods, none of which gives flour amounts, oven temperatures or baking times. It comes from a time of wood stove ovens.

The Cheap Cookies recipe is mostly lard and flour. Molasses is the predominate sweetener. Measurements are given in gills, teacupfuls and teaspoonfuls.

We are glimpsing the past through these pages.

The past is hard to hold. It can fade from view and be lost in an astonishingly short time.

Luckily for Quilcene’s past, the Quilcene Historical Museum has taken on the mission of preserving its history for future generations. As the museum has grown, so has its collection of artifacts, reflecting an increasing measure of trust by the community and the depth of the museum’s resource commitment.

Starting from a casual conversation in 1991, the museum is now solidly planted and looking to expand.

“It really started with the Quilcene Fair,” recalled Mari Phillips, museum board chairman. “Al Jakeway was the chair and we had the idea to have exhibits of old photographs.”

That was around a quarter of a century ago.

Phillips volunteered to organize the display, working

28

Story and photos by Viviann Kuehl

with some old photos she’d recently acquired. She put out a request for more photos, promising to return them. And she made copies of any photos submitted.

“When we showed the photos, there was tremendous interest in them,” said Phillips.

“That first year, they were mostly logging pictures and the second year we had farm photos,” she recalled. “After a few years, I had quite a collection and we began to talk about where to put them.”

Steve Ricketts, at the time a silviculturist at the Quilcene Forest Service station, was very interested in starting a museum, recalled Phillips. He got permission to use an old Forest Service building for the purpose. It was historical but had problems with access and layout: steps to negotiate out front, narrow stairs inside, narrow doors and small rooms.

“I was nervous because it was going to be very difficult,” recalled Phillips.

“At that time, the Worthingtons were donating $250,000 to the church for an upgrade,” recalled Larry McKeehan, museum secretary. Part of the project was to remove the annex, a large fellowship room that had been an addition to the original church, to make way for the new church building.

“I heard about the annex,” said Phillips. “It was still available for a buck and it was great for our needs. It was essentially one big room, with a kitchen and a couple of small rooms, which really served our purpose a lot more readily, but we had no place to put it.”

Driving by the pasture at the corner of Columbia Street and Center Road, Phillips thought that would be the ideal spot. She approached owner Eileen Worthington.

“Her response was, ‘Well, sure, dear,” said Phillips, accurately imitating Worthington’s sweetness of voice.

“So we had a building and a site, we just needed a house mover.”

Jeff Monroe, an experienced mover who happened to live across the street, agreed to do the moving with his brother, John Monroe.

A group of community members met and soon the museum had a charter and nonprofit status.

“So many people got involved,” said Phillips. “Tom McClanahan designed the septic, Maberry put in the well, Brinnon Builders did work paid by Kay Anderson, Kristy Ackerman did the floors, Rick Muesterman built display dividers, Erwin Dence did the interior painting, Scott Abbott painted the outside, with a mural added by Dence.”

McKeehan spent one summer of his life working on the museum building’s walls.

In 1993, the museum was open to the public.

“The first exhibit was only about 25 things,” recalled Phillips laughingly. “Now when we look back, it was virtually empty.”

“We didn’t decide what to put in the spaces, we just collected things,” said McKeehan. “It took a few years for people to realize that we were really, truly going to be here and would take good care of their things. Now it’s look out, we’re getting so many donations.”

Over the past 21 years of the museum’s existence, “We’ve seen an ever-growing interest by local people to preserve their history,” said McKeehan. “We’ve been brought an amazing amount of information and artifacts. Membership has

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | WINTER | DECEMBER 2012

increased, we have committed workers and last year we had about 1,000 visitors.”

“As a docent, I meet people with a Quilcene connection who have come back,” said Ellen Worthington Jenner, who grew up in the Worthington house. “We’re a destination and they have wonderful stories.”

The museum has made efforts to record oral history and now has a collection of CDs available of 17 individuals speaking on life in Quilcene.

The museum has become a recognized repository of historical records, including those of the Quilcene Alumni Association, and has lots of local information in files.

“I was able to pull out an old phone book to answer a question the other day,” related McKeehan, “but what’s really cool is that someone donated all these old phone books, dating back to 1953. This is a reflection of the faith that people have in us to take care of their things, to preserve the history.”

“Another exciting thing is our local authors,” said Phillips.

“We’re proud of our authors and their works.”

In its gift shop, the museum has several volumes on local history and some historical fiction by local authors, along with Victorian crafts, postcards and other items of interest.

The museum also has sponsored community events over the years, to celebrate Quilcene history, and maybe even create some. Heritage Days, Volksmarch outings, Rendezvous events, Quilcene High School reunion luncheons, specialty tours, wine tastings, salmon barbecues and book signings have all raised awareness and/or funds for the museum.

“Now we’ve launched into the big time,” said Phillips, of the museums’s next step, the purchase of what has come to be called Worthington Park.

The historical Worthington home and grounds, recognized as 10 acres of possibilities, is a planned purchase

for preservation, expansion of museum space and use as a funding source.

Noel Criscuola, heir to the Worthington property, has followed in his mother’s footsteps in his exceeding generosity, said Phillips. He gifted the contents of the house to the museum and has been very supportive.

“He has given permission to use the grounds and do work on the property, so by the time we sign the deed, we’ll already have our goals accomplished. It’s so well-located and we can have three or four things going on at the same time, with the components so well-placed, the groups won’t impact each other.”

A stage has been built, and two concerts given, by a museum subcommittee.

December events included a volunteer potluck, a Christmas tree raffle and a Christmas Tea fundraiser in the Worthington mansion. The tea sold out and another is planned for the spring.

The museum has gathered $205,000 toward the property purchase price of $300,000 and has until June 30, 2013, to come up with the balance, as contracted by the late Eileen Worthington a year ago.

Community matching grants of $35,000 and a Satterlee family matching grant which netted $19,650, and inspired McKeehan to launch his own family challenge, are making a real difference, noted Phillips.

“That’s the kind of enthusiasm we like to see,” she said.

Planned for later development are restoration of the mansion, a river trail system and a main entry off Center Road.

Davis Steelquist has donated 22 pieces of Victorian furniture toward the mansion’s original period restoration and the museum has three sets of donated dishes.

Meanwhile, McKeehan has typed out the recipes in the

Eileen Worthington, who provided the building site for the museum. little book, which came from the Worthington family, for the museum members to try at home and share results. The past is mingling with the present.

Viviann Kuehl is a freelance writer who enjoys the history of Quilcene and peering into the past and future from different perspectives.

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681-7999

BUYING CLUB

PRODUCE

• Everybody’s a Member!

• Farm-Direct • Organics • Sequim & Eastern Washington

UNIQUE MERCANTILE

NATURAL GROCERIES

• Organics • Gluten-free • Bulk Foods • Natural Body Care • Nutritional Supplements

• Gifts & Greeting Cards • Kitchen Supplies

FARM STORE

OLDTYME BUTCHER

• Animal Feeds • Hay & Straw • Pet Supplies • Birdseed

COUNTRY-STYLE DELI

• Fruit & Veggie Starts • Ornamentals • Flowers • Natural Fertilizers & Soils • Potted & Bare-root Trees

• Our Own Beef • Fresh Poultry & Seafood • Our own smokehouse • Daily Soups, Salads, & Sandwiches • Espresso & Fruit Smoothies

NURSERY

Come see our store in the Sequim Village Center

• Vitamins • Herbal Remedies • Homeopathy • Skin & Nail Care • Natural Cosmetics • Largest Selection of Domestic & Imported Organic Wines

Monday-Saturday 9am - 6pm • (360) 683-6056

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | WINTER | DECEMBER 2012

29

A hidden paradise . . . right here on the peninsula!

Fabrics • Notions Thread • Fine Scissors Patterns & More!

Come see our selection.

Happy crafting!

Hours: Mon. Noon - 4pm ~ Tues. - Sat. 10 am - 5 pm

Creative Union Fabrics

112 Kala Square Place, Port Townsend

360-379-0655

Open 7 Days a Week

Mon-Fri: 9-6 • Sat & Sun: 9-5 321 Four Corners Rd., PT 360-379-0807

Discover a Winter Wonderland Kelley Shields Inc. Custom Building & Design Building Design Services

15% Off Plant Purchases • 2 Acres - from protected annuals to large trees

• Our prices & quality will make it worth the trip!

Oral Sedation Dentistry See NO Needle ...

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Lot Analysis Remodels/Additions Turn-Key Construction 260 Kala Point Drive Port Townsend, WA 98368 360-385-7156 . www.kelleyshields.com

CIRCLE of quality Carol Katuzny and Misty in front of her ’01 Audi

SQUARE deal • Car Wash and Vacuum with most services • 40-Point AAA Inspection with every visit • Ask about our Loaner Car Program & Shuttle Service

It’s as simple as taking a pill and waking to a beautiful new smile!

Home of the 3-year, 30,000 mile

W A R R A N T Y

Admiralty Dental Center Dr. Edward Savidge, D.D.S. 360-385-7003 • www.admiraltydental.com

“When Circle & Square Auto Care fixes something, it’s really fixed! They check every little thing with a 40-point inspection, so they not only fix the problem, but also can anticipate any future problems or concerns.”

5 Star Business

10953 Rhody Drive

360-385-2070

www.circleandsquare.com

right here in Jefferson County ...

A Quilter’s Paradise Large Selection of Batiks • Notions & Thread Invisible Web and Interfacing Electric Quilt Software • Books & Patterns Find us on Facebook!

Open Wed-Fri: 11-6, Sat: 10-4

1004 Lawrence in the back of Potpourri • 360-385-3299

Explore Your Options . . .

SWAN SCHOOL

Jefferson Community School

NOW ENROLLING

Full Academic Program for 7th - 12th Grade

Preschool, K - 6th Grade Full Day Kindergarten Balanced Calendar

Engaged Academics - Experiential Learning Commitment to Community

360-385-7340 360-385-0622 swanschool.net

Creative Independent Education since 1983

jcs@jeffersoncommunityschool.com jeffersoncommunityschool.com

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Mufflers • Welding • Custom Exhaust • Steel Fabrication Mike Madison, owner 8 am-5 pm Mon.-Fri. • 9495 State Rte. 20 Unit B , Port Townsend www.ptmuffler.com • info@ptmuffler.com

Community at Home, Kinship with the World

NOW! Here’s data, voice and power for high-speed internet conferencing … or, when you simply need a suitable place to meet … "for the naturally sophisticated"

"It is our mission to bring joy into the lives of others through the beauty of fine arts & crafts."

Robert Held

Limited Edition Certificate of Authenticity

914 Water St. Port Townsend, WA 98368 360-385-3630 www.williams-gallery.com

Do you have Pain?

1233 Lawrence St. 360-379-6798

Port Townsend, WA

■ Teleconferencing via high-speed Broadband ■ 55-inch monitor internet-ready for streaming content ■ Blue-ray Player and surround sound for presentations

photo here

Insurance Accepted

Acupuncture

1136 Water Street

■ Display projection for PowerPoint presentations

We can help Nourishing Life Chinese Medicine

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■ 12-foot wired custom built conference table ■ Wi-Fi equipped room; seating for 16 Perfect for employee training sessions, board meetings, performance reviews, depositions, workshops, interviews, skull sessions, seminars and offsite meetings.

www.sanderlingofficeproperties.com Contact Ron Khile at 360 531-4900 for information on conference room usage and office suites available for lease.

THE Living END

The Value of Nonprofits

Nonprofits enrich our lives and our communities in a multitude of ways.

Address unmet needs

Foremost, nonprofits fulfill unmet needs. In the human service sector, they feed and shelter needy community members. They invest in permanent solutions, moving individuals toward self-sufficiency. Nonprofits provide care for seniors enabling them to remain in their homes longer and later providing assisted living and end-of-life care. Nonprofits care for and mentor children and youth, helping children to be successful in school and graduate from high school; they impart parenting skills to young parents and grandparents who are parenting again; they help youth and adults recover from addictions. They deliver medical, dental and behavioral health care, saving people’s lives.

They prevent abuse and violence and address the causes of these terrible problems. They provide legal and mediation services and help people gain job skills. They offer educational opportunities to promote education and enhance local schools and colleges. Nonprofits serve as a connector to animals; our beloved pets often come to us through a nonprofit; and they rescue those animals that have been mistreated. They beautify and preserve our natural world, creating outdoor opportunities for all; our waterfront trails, our clean beaches and our national state and local parks are supported by nonprofits and volunteers. Nonprofits also research diseases and find cures that no regular business model could afford to address.

Support for local government and other public services

dy

ss , Mo

At half the cost!

And nonprofits do all of the above on a shoestring budget. Despite that e-mail circulating about high salaries and misspent funds, most nonprofits operate very efficiently with lower salaries than in business or government sectors. They rely on dedicated volunteers and staff who have chosen this work because of commitment to mission.

Nonprofit leaders have learned to be frugal, to partner and collaborate and stretch our resources.

Teach us how to play nice!

Nonprofits have learned how to collaborate with one another, with businesses and with government to assure the most efficient use of resources. There are many examples of these collaborations, including our Clallam County Homelessness Task Force, which has reduced homelessness by 65 percent! Our broad early learning community works together across our region to strengthen families, help children have the best start possible and begin school ready to learn. By doing this, nonprofits don’t duplicate work but share scarce resources and serve even more clients.

Give us a place to volunteer

Nonprofits rely heavily on volunteers and these resources cannot be underestimated. Last year, the 25 United

f ay o dW

EDUCATION Assist people of all ages to reach their potential through education

Clallam Coun ty

Boys & Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula Camp Fire USA — Juan de Fuca Council Concerned Citizens for Special Children First Step Family Support Center Girl Scouts of Western Washington North Olympic AmeriCorps Parent Line, Lutheran Community Services Parenting Matters Foundation Peninsula Dispute Resolution Center

INCOME Assist people to meet their basic needs and to achieve self-sufficiency

American Red Cross, Clallam County Chapter Clallam Bay/Sekiu Crisis Center • Forks Food Bank Olympic Community Action Programs Pro Bono Lawyers • Salvation Army Serenity House of Clallam County

32

Way partner agencies reported almost 3,000 volunteers, donating 164,000 hours of service valued at close to $3.5 million! This is only one small sector of our local nonprofit community. Can you imagine the value of our collective volunteerism in animal rescue, environment and our faith communities? An astounding value and huge, huge return on investment! And we don’t just gain the value from the donated time and work of our volunteers, we also gain new skills, new friends, sometimes a new job, and shared opportunities with one another. Ultimately the act of volunteering can lead to the great feeling of a life well-lived.

Employers, return on investment, outcomes-focused & drivers of economic development

For 25 years, nonprofits have been the largest growth sector in our country, significantly outpacing for-profit sector job growth. In 2011, United Way’s 25 partner agencies employed 233 people full time and 400 people working part time. Their budgets exceeded $19 million. Nationwide, 1 in 10 individuals work for a nonprofit, generating $1.9 trillion in revenues! Nonprofits are working toward demonstrating value to their clients and to their donors.

Good nonprofits are focusing on research-based best practices and delivering outcomes they can report back to the community. By nature they are working on sustainability and return on investment. For example, based on research, for every dollar invested in best-practice early learning experiences for children, there is a return up to $17 — much better than the stock market. Combining efficiency, best practice/outcomes-focused work, employment statistics, and results, nonprofits are a key component to economic development and to a thriving community!

United Way partner agencies by areas of service:

executive direc tor ,U n

i te

By Jo

Our local cities, counties, schools and health care systems are overburdened and often underfunded. These challenges do not look to be getting easier in the near

term. Imagine if they also were suddenly charged with delivering all of the services listed above because there was no one to do this work. Imagine the drain on police and court resources if more people did not have their addictions addressed or the state of the emergency room if all free clinic patients received services there. Nonprofits reduce the need for investment of public dollars and save taxpayers money.

HEALTH Provide opportunities for people to have a healthy life

Forks Abuse Healthy Families of Clallam County Olympic Peninsula YMCA Peninsula Community Mental Health Center Mosaic (formerly SNAP) St. Andrew’s Place Assisted Living Volunteer Chore Services Catholic Community Services Volunteers in Medicine of the Olympics Clinic West End Youth & Community Club

UNITED WAY COMMUNITY SOLUTIONS INITIATIVES Mobilizing the caring power of communities to create solutions that improve lives; creating lasting change and preventing problems from happening in the first place.

New in 2012!

Great Beginnings — Early Learning Grants Clallam County Literacy Council Access to Health Care Coalition Peninsulas’ 2-1-1 Help Line

For more information about United Way of Clallam County, call 457-3011, e-mail info@unitedwayclallam.org or visit www.unitedwayclallam.org.

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | WINTER | DECEMBER 2012

business DIRECTORY ilding supplies, home furnishings and lots more!

Used bu

Products, services and ideas from across the Peninsula.

To advertise in Clallam County, call Debi Lahmeyer at 360-683-3311.

In Jefferson County, call Sara Radka at 360-385-2900.

Our business is growing, thanks to your support.

A 501(c)3 non-profit

Recycle – Re-Use – Re-Purpose

On the web: www.aroundagainstore.org

Now at 22 Gilbert Road • Sequim • 683-7862 (Just west of the Dungeness River at Highway 101)

French Cuisine never gets old ... it only gets better!

Class Reunions | Fund Raising | Weddings

. . . Check With Us First

452-8888

C’EST SI BON

10 miles west of Sequim (Across from Deer Park Cinema)

www.cestsibon-frenchcuisine.com 360.681.4411

By Appointment Marie-Claire Bernards M.Ed., ATP®

FAMILY HEALTH CLINIC Our physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician’s assistants specialize in care of the whole family.

Productivity Life Coaching

808 N. 5th Avenue, Sequim Olympic Medical Center Campus Phone: 360-683-5900 Hours: 8-5 Mon. - Fri.

Our nursery nurtures inspiration, education, and vision for all who visit.

131 Kitchen-Dick Rd., Sequim 360.683.2855

www.visionlandscapenursery.com

Certified Hearing, Inc. Family-owned • In P.A. 15 years Insurance • L&I • Financing Free screening at 819 Georgiana St., Ste. B, P.A. also Wednesdays in Forks • 51 Spartan, #D

360-452-2228

1-800-723-4106

for increased wealth and happiness in your professional and personal life. Stop suffering and get to creating the life you want, now!

Currently taking a limited number of new clients. Listen to your heart and soul.

Call Marie-Claire at 360.460.4364

willowpond@olympus.net • www.thewillowpond.com

CAMPING Year-Round Full Hookups Dry Camping

calendar

event

campground

fair

facilities

contact

www.jeffcofairgrounds.com

Olympic Peninsula Performance Horses Lessons & Training at Olympic View Stables Call Sara Richerts 360-775-5084 email: sararicherts@gmail.com sararicherts@gmail.com

Asian Bistro Mon-Thurs: 11am-9:30pm • Sun: 12pm-9:30pm New Extended Hours Fri & Sat: 12pm-12am

990 E. Washington St., Ste G, Sequim

360-681-0721

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | WINTER | DECEMBER 2012

Over 30 years experience Jeff Howat - 681-3451 jeff@hfww.biz • www.hfww.biz

Quail Hollow Psychotherapy PLLC

Joseph L. Price, PhD • 360.683.4818 www. QuailHollowTherapy.com

33

&

NOW Then Sequim Avenue/ Washington Street intersection

N

ow housing Hurricane Coffee Co., the building at the northwest corner of Sequim Avenue and Washington Street in downtown Sequim (at far right) was, at the turn of the 20th century, home to the Sequim Trading Company. Owned and operated by prolific area businessman Charles Franklin Seal, namesake of nearby Seal Street Park, the mercantile offered customers a one-stop shop for groceries and an array of dry goods, including seasonal fashions. The Sequim Trading Company also holds the historical distinction of having employed Sequim’s first mayor, Jilson White, who worked as resident manager. One of the city’s oldest commercial buildings, it has stood adjacent to the Sequim Opera House, which Seal also owned, for more than 100 years.

Historical photo from the Mary Dittmer Collection, Museum & Arts Center in the Sequim-Dungeness Valley.

Current photo by Reneé Mizar, Museum & Arts Center in the SequimDungeness Valley.

Townsend Laundry & Cleaners

T

ownsend Laundry and Cleaners ran the dry cleaning operation in the old concrete block building off Monroe Street in downtown Port Townsend. The dry cleaning plant wasn’t much to look at, but its phone number was easy to remember – just three digits – 444. All of the buildings in this photo have pretty much survived as is over the years except that the dry cleaner gave way to a blacksmith shop in the late 1970s when Dean Mook started the business. Twenty years later, Mook was back working for Steve Lopes, who since has established a larger shop elsewhere.

Today, Mook is where he started, at the Town Forge. The forge is located almost in an alley off Monroe Street, wedged between a brick medical clinic and Point Hudson’s Sail Loft building with its trademark tower rising above this tangle of buildings.

Historical photo from The Leader collection. Today’s photo by Fred Obee.

34

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | WINTER | DECEMBER 2012

Serving:

Port Angeles • Sequim Port Townsend • Discovery Bay Kingston • Edmonds • Greyhound Amtrak • Downtown Seattle Sea Tac Airport • Seattle Hospitals Olympic Bus Lines is an independent agent of Greyhound.

You can now purchase your Greyhound tickets locally at your only nationwide reservation location on the Olympic Peninsula.

• Free WiFi on board • Providing complimentary home-made chocolate chip cookies from the “Oven Spoonful” in Port Angeles.

Port Angeles/Sequim

(360) 417-0700

Outside the area toll free

(800) 457-4492

www.dungenessline.us

Late night or early morning flight?

Ask us about special hotel rates!

We’re going the extra mile so you don’t have to.

Get quality care around the corner at Jefferson Healthcare Clinics.

•

Jefferson Medical & Pediatrics Group 915 Sheridan Suite B-103 Port Townsend (360) 385-4848

•

• •

Jefferson Healthcare Family Medicine 1010 Sheridan Suite 101 Port Townsend (360) 385-3500 •

•

Jefferson Healthcare Internal Medicine 934 Sheridan Port Townsend (360) 385-5330

Jefferson Healthcare Walk-In Clinic 934 Sheridan Port Townsend (360) 379-0477 Jefferson Healthcare Primary Care 915 Sheridan Suite B-103 Port Townsend (360) 379-8031 South County Medical Clinic 294843 US Hwy 101 Quilcene (360) 765-3111

•

•

•

Jefferson Healthcare Port Ludlow Clinic 9481 Oak Bay Road Suite A Port Ludlow (360) 437-5067 Jefferson Healthcare Women’s Health Clinic 915 Sheridan Port Townsend (360) 379-8031 Port Townsend Surgical Associates 1010 Sheridan Suite 201 Port Townsend (360) 385-5444

Whether you or a loved one are ill, injured or in need of a check-up, you’ll find the convenient, quality care you deserve at Jefferson Healthcare Clinics. Located throughout your community, our comprehensive network of neighborhood clinics offer services from Primary Care and Pediatrics to Urgent Care and Internal Medicine. And because our lab and radiology tests are tied electronically to Jefferson Healthcare, you’ll receive quick, expert diagnosis from our dedicated team of specialists.

Now accepting new patients. Call or stop by today.