St. Paul’s, Skookum Kids to Partner for Spring Concert

skookum kids
The Skookum team had fun doing a little "research" at Perch & Play. Photo credit: Nick Graves.

Submitted by Skookum Kids

St. Paul’s Academy announced they will partner with Bellingham nonprofit, Skookum Kids, to provide a spring concert for families featuring award-winning children’s music artist, DANA, which is open to the public. Forty family tickets will be free for foster families and available for pick up at the new Skookum’s office.

DANA has performed interactive children’s music concerts across the U.S. for over 20 years, recorded six albums and won 22 national awards. She currently resides in Blaine, Washington and teaches music and movement classes for young children through her Music Playground program at Opus Performing Arts School in Bellingham. Her latest release, “Dana’s Best Jump & Jam Tunes” has been lauded by critics and families and inspires kids to get moving and healthy.  Visit www.danasmusicplayground.com to hear Dana’s tunes and learn more about her music and classes.

The lawn concert will be held Thursday, May 17 from 5 – 5:45 pm at St. Paul’s Academy. Foster families can pick up their donated (free of charge) tickets at Skookum’s office at 316 E. McLeod Road, Suite 108 until May 10. Tickets are limited. General admission is $10. More information can be found at St. Paul’s EventBrite page.

St. Paul’s Academy was founded as a nursery school in 1971 in Bellingham, Washington. Today, it serves as an independent preschool through middle school. St. Paul’s provides academically capable and willing students a rigorous course of instruction, emphasizing leadership, achievement, moral and spiritual development. More information can be found at www.stpaul.academy.

Skookum Kids was founded in 2014 by Ray Deck III in Bellingham, Washington. This non-profit organization exists to repair the foster care system by eliminating the pain points that cause unnecessary stress for foster parents. It is staffed by eight full-time, six part-time employees and over 130 volunteers. For more information, visit their website at www.skookumkids.org.

Sue Boynton Poetry Contest Announces 2018 Winners and Awards Ceremony

Photo credit: Kate Galambos

Submitted by Sue C. Boynton Poetry Contest

A total of 224 Whatcom County residents participated in the 13th annual Sue C. Boynton Poetry Contest, and judges Richard Widerkehr and Jane Wong have chosen 25 winners.

The public is invited to honor the winners and to hear the poets read their entries at the contest’s awards ceremony, 7 p.m. Thursday, May 17, at Bellingham Cruise Terminal, 355 Harris Ave. The event, and parking, are free. Bellingham poet Kevin Murphy will emcee, and the judges will present award certificates.

The 10 Walk Award winners are six adults – Marie Eaton, Felicia Clemmons, Alandra Barker, Donald Antenen, Tanner Abernathy, and Nancy Canyon – and four students, Madeleine Joyce Patterson, Mason Cash, Izetria Grace-Lind, and Emma McCoy.

The 15 Merit Award winners are eight adults – KJ Vande Bossche, Elizabeth Vignali, Bonnita Lynne, Roger William Gilman, Leslie Wharton, Nora Whitley Abelite, Stephen Palmer, and Barbara L. Weed – and seven students, Meagan Gillikin, Jackie Lomas, Jacob Murphy, Ellie Osterloh, Grace Moore, Allie Haugen, and EmmaThario.

A chapbook of poems from this year’s contest will be available for purchase, and all poems entered in this year’s contest will be on display at the ceremony.

Copies of each poem- on placards designed by Angela Boyle, Megan Carroll, Christian Anne Smith, and Kim Wulfestieg – will be displayed for a year inside Whatcom Transportation Authority buses circulating throughout the county.

Also, Walk Award winners will be displayed for a year on engraved plaques on the Poetry Walk in front of Bellingham Library—one of a few permanent poetry installations in the United States.

Visit http://boyntonpoetrycontest.wordpress.com/ for more information.

Industrial CU Shreds Over 10,000 Pounds

Submitted by Industrial Credit Union

Industrial Credit Union hosted a free Community Shred Event on April 21st to allow community members the opportunity to securely discard of documents with personal or sensitive information.  Whatcom County residents brought over 5 tons of paper to be shredded on-site by A-1 Shredding.   

Industrial CU provides this opportunity in an effort to prevent fraud and identity theft.  The Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) stated that the number of credit card numbers exposed in 2017 totaled 14.2 million, up 88% over 2016. In addition, nearly 158 million Social Security numbers were exposed in 2017; an increase of more than 8 times the number in 2016.

While stealing from trash cans and intercepting mail are still popular methods for fraudsters, there is an ever-growing list of scams to be aware of, including ones that originate right here in Whatcom County.  For more information on how to protect your personal information, click here.

Since 1941, Industrial Credit Union has been dedicated to serving the financial needs of its member-owners.  For information about how Industrial CU can be In Your Corner, please call (360) 734-2043 or visit IndustrialCU.org. Industrial CU is federally insured by the NCUA.

Avoid Summer Learning Loss with Launching Success

Launching Success is brimming with creative ideas for teachers, parents and kids alike. Photo credit: Janine Johnson.

Submitted by Launching Success Learning Store

It’s the time of year where children look forward to the end of school so they don’t have to do school work anymore.  But did you know that there is the possibility of summer learning loss?  Summer learning loss is the loss of knowledge that children experience after a summer of not participating in school-related subjects.  While this loss is not spread universally across geography, grade level, or subject, some level of it does happen to many children. Achievement scores, on average, decline over summer vacation by one month’s worth of school-year learning. Ninety-seven percent of teachers say it’s important for students to practice the skills they learned in school during the summer.

While children may not want to do “school work” during the summer, even simple activities of reading a book will help alleviate the effects. Getting children to interact with learning over the summer, in one form or another can be crucial to their success in school the next year.

Launching Success, in their mission to support the education of children, offers many resources to help prevent summer learning loss.  They offer many summer workshops that are not only educational; they are an activity for kids to participate in.  From craft workshops to summer camps, these activities will all help kids interact with learning in a fun and engaging manner.  The free Summer Reading Club is a good way to keep kids reading over the summer.  Launching Success also carries multiple different comprehensive workbooks, which are set up to be done a page or two a day, and will help keep the information fresh. These books are meant to review what was learned in the previous grade so that the knowledge does not slip backwards.

One of the comprehensive workbooks Launching Success carries is Summer Bridge Activities® by Carson Dellosa.  These books are available from Pre-K to 8th Grade and provide hours of exciting activities to keep kids mentally and physically active during the summer.  Each book is designed to be one back-to-front worksheet per day, taking an estimated 15 minutes each sheet, and covers a range of subjects each day.

For more information on Summer Bridge, or other summer learning options, visit Launching Success today!  Or, connect with them online at LaunchingSuccess.com, or by phone at 360-527-2641.

“Rainbow Larry” Takes Care of Volvos and Their Owners

Rainbow Larry Sign
Larry Watson has been working on Volvos for 32 years at his shop just north of Lake Whatcom. Photo credit: Cassandra Darwin

For over 32 years, Larry Watson of Rainbow Auto Service and Sales has been servicing Volvos in Whatcom County. He believes having your car worked on doesn’t need to feel like a visit to the dentist. Watson knows there’s an element of fear when something is wrong with your car. “I see myself as the human connection between a person and their car,” he says.

Watson and his team have the depth of knowledge to take over when you need help. Many Rainbow Auto customers have brought their cars to the shop for 20 or 30 years and are now on their third Volvo after passing one or two down to their kids.

Humble Beginnings

“I see myself as the human connection between a person and their car,” says Watson. He and his team have the depth of knowledge to be able to take over when your Volvo needs help.
Photo credit: Cassandra Darwin

Describing himself as “just a regular guy with humble beginnings,” Larry is like an open book, ready to share a story or describe the intricacies of restoring a 1982 Volvo wagon. He met his wife, Virginia, on the New York City subway in 1978 just months before he moved across the country and set up life in Bellingham. They were pen pals for four years before she was ready to move to Washington. Together they built up Rainbow Auto in the beautiful Squalicum Valley.

The business’ name was a happy accident. Larry was at the Department of Revenue office securing a business license when he realized he needed a name. On the spot, he came up with Rainbow Services, because at the time he was doing just about everything under the sun. Larry changed the name to Rainbow Auto Service and Sales after he started specializing in Volvos, repairing all models, new and old, and even selling pre-owned.

“Nobody has a bad association with a rainbow,” says Larry as he opens his arms to displays of rainbow photos, stickers and souvenirs he’s received from customers. In fact, he’s known in automotive circles as “Rainbow Larry”, while working the phone with suppliers and customers he started identifying himself as Rainbow Larry. The nickname stuck.

Human Connections

C Darwin Rainbow
Although the name of Rainbow Auto Service was a happy accident, Rainbow Larry and his team have a very loyal following.
Photo credit: Cassandra Darwin

Larry likes to care for people just as much as he cares for their cars. There’s a reason his customers travel to Rainbow Auto from Seattle, the San Juan Islands and Vancouver, BC. He’s happy to speak with customers at length about their cars because he wants them to feel just as comfortable with the work being done as he is doing it. Honest and open communication are key to his building relationships with his loyal customers.

One customer came to Rainbow and wanted to know if her car could handle a cross-country drive. This wasn’t any old car; the local performer had turned her older Volvo into an art car. “It’s been painted elaborately; it’s a very eye catching old sedan,” says Rainbow Larry. “She came to me and said she needed to drive to a gig in Boston, attend an art car parade in Houston and make another stop to see family in Nebraska.” After taking a look at the car, Larry had to break the bad news: “I wouldn’t drive this car across Bellingham, and you cannot take it to Boston,” he said. He ended up replacing the transmission and brakes, to make the car safe to drive. He got word a couple months later that the trip had been a success.

Rainbow Auto Cars
Rainbow Auto Service’s motto is, “Your Volvo is our specialty.” They can fix up any model, young or old.
Photo credit: Cassandra Darwin

Many people enjoy coming into the shop to share a mug of Rainbow’s gourmet coffee and catch up on life before getting down to the business of car repair. Many customers have become great friends. And his skill for human connections is not limited to customers — Rainbow Auto’s employees are treated well and make up a team that is one of the best in the business.

Most employees in the automotive industry are paid based on the number of jobs they complete in an industry established amount of time. Larry doesn’t want to just crank out work without ensuring that it’s been done properly the first time. This means the team at Rainbow Auto isn’t rushed, and customers are happy when problems are solved after their first visit. His team receives an hourly wage and paid time off. “I believe their lives are best spent not entirely at work,” he says.

Evangelical Customers

Rainbow Auto Volvo
“Volvo owners really love their cars,” says Larry Watson of Rainbow Auto Service. He enjoys working with them because they want to keep their cars on the road just as much as he does.
Photo credit: Cassandra Darwin

Some Rainbow Auto customers have taken their passion to the streets and started recruiting others. Many new customers tell Rainbow Larry that they were stopped in a parking lot and asked, “Do you take your Volvo to Rainbow Larry? If not, you really need to.”

When you find someone, who takes good care of your car and cares about making a human connection, it’s priceless. It’s no wonder Rainbow Larry has such a loyal following.

Fairhaven Wednesday Market Opens with New Hours

Fairhaven Market
Photo Courtesy of Bellingham Farmers Market

The Bellingham Farmers Market is pleased to announce new hours for the Wednesday Farmers Market at the Fairhaven Village Green, which opens for its 19th season on June 6, 2018.  To create a win-win for both employees working in the area and residents returning to the area after their work day, the Market is shifting its hours to 3pm-7pm every Wednesday through June, July and August (the Market will not be open on July 4th).

Their popular Fresh Local Music series will continue with live music scheduled from 4pm-6pm each week. The Moving Hats, a folk trio featuring mandolin, guitar and accordion, will kick off the season. The musical line-up includes several locally loved performers including Amber Darland, Lindsay Street, and The Elopements, to name a few.

“Each year, we count the days to the return of the Bellingham Farmers Market to the Fairhaven Village Green,” says Village Books co-owner Paul Hanson. “It’s pretty incredible to walk out Village Books back door and into the vibrancy of the Wednesday Market where the community gathers to listen to music, to buy mid-week meal ingredients from local farmers, or to pick up one-of-a-kind, hand-crafted products. It’s a great amenity for the people who live and work in Fairhaven, but we hope everyone — no matter where they live in Whatcom County — will experience this intimate, welcoming Market this summer”

There are 11 farms participating in this year’s Wednesday market, providing a wide variety of vegetables, fruit, meat, honey and plants.  New this year, Wild Acre Farms will be selling their own farm-fresh chicken in sandwiches as well as rotisserie-style for convenient take-home preparation. Other ready-to-eat options include breads, pastries, Indian food and frozen treats.

The Market also features crafters providing local, hand-crafted jewelry, all-natural bath and beauty products, henna tattoos and more.

“We feel fortunate to have the support of the Fairhaven community in our endeavor to provide an additional opportunity for customers to have access to fresh, local food.” says Market Director, Caprice Teske. “The beauty of this Market is we can take advantage of the existing Village Green to create a vibrant and comfortable gathering place for our customers.”

Grand Canyon’s Nick Hull to Join Bells for Summer 2018

bellingham bells

Submitted by Bellingham Bells

The Bellingham Bells are excited to announce the addition of right-handed pitcher Nick Hull to the 2018 roster.

Hull is currently a freshman at Grand Canyon University but is originally from Bothell, Wash.

“We are thrilled to be adding Nick to the 2018 roster,” Bells’ general manager Stephanie Morrell said. “Nick’s name seems to come up in the conversation whenever you are discussing strong local talent in Northwest Washington, and we were thrilled to have the opportunity to add him to the roster this summer.”

As a senior at Edmonds-Woodway High School in 2017, the righty went 6-1 with an ERA of 2.02 across 66 innings. He mowed batters down, striking out 101 hitters which was the top mark in the state of Washington.

This helped Hull to be named to the WIAA All-State first team in 2017.

His success did not just start his senior year, as he was terrific as a junior as well, throwing seven complete games and finishing with a 1.13 ERA.

This dominance included a no-hitter against Shorecrest High School in which he struck out 15 batters.

Hull has been heavily relied upon during his freshman year at Grand Canyon. He leads all GCU freshman with 26.2 innings pitched. He is 0-1 with a 9.11 ERA through nine appearances and six starts. He has struck out 22 while walking just 12.

Hull’s best performance of the season game in his first collegiate start. He threw five innings against No. 7 TCU allowing just one run on four hits while striking out four.

“Nick is a tremendous young talent who is fortunate enough to be gaining valuable experience right away in his freshman year,” Morrell said. “We are confident that with a season under his belt, he will be ready to help the Bells this summer.”

The right-hander will join a loaded Bells’ pitching staff when they take the field for the first time in 2018 at Kelowna on June 1.

 

Providers of Diverse Backgrounds Join PeaceHealth Medical Group Bellingham Practices

Photo credit: Taylor Bailey

Submitted by PeaceHealth Medical Group

PeaceHealth Medical Group (PHMG) has welcomed five new board-certified providers to Bellingham practices.

Avneet Rattan business portrait. Bellingham, WA. © 2017 Mark Turner

Avneet Rattan, MD, joined PHMG’s Center for Senior Health team of providers. Dr. Rattan earned her Doctor of Medicine at St. George’s University School of Medicine in Grenada, West Indies, and completed her Family Medicine residency at JFK Medical Center in Edison, New Jersey. Her area of interest is community medicine with a focus in geriatrics. She employs a holistic, team-based and non-judgmental approach to patient care. She is a member of the American Geriatric Society and the Canadian College of Family Physicians.

 

 

Gina Dado business portrait. Bellingham, WA. © 2018 Mark Turner
Gina Dado business portrait. Bellingham, WA. © 2018 Mark Turner

Gina Dado, MD, joined PHMG’s Obstetric Hospitalists team of providers. Dr. Dado earned her medical degree and completed her Obstetrics and Gynecology (OB-GYN) residency at Loyola UniversityChicago Stritch School of Medicine in Maywood, Illinois. Prior to joining PeaceHealth, she previously held a private OB-GYN practice in Scottsdale, Arizona. In addition, she served as attending physician for St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona, supervising and working with medical students, residents and midwives. She has been named a TOPDOC in Phoenix Magazine.

 

 

Trina Koudelka business portrait. Bellingham, WA. © 2018 Mark Turner
Trina Koudelka business portrait. Bellingham, WA. © 2018 Mark Turner

Trina Koudelka, ARNP, joined PHMG’s Center for Senior Health team of providers. Koudelka completed her Master of Science in Nursing: Adult Nurse Practitioner with specialization in geriatrics, at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio. Koudelka previously practiced at the Cleveland Clinic for 20 years– most recently as a nurse practitioner in Internal Medicine and Urgent Care. She credits her many years as a registered nurse for providing her with a solid foundation to compassionately serve patients of all backgrounds.

 

 

Carla Savinon business portrait. Bellingham, WA. © 2018 Mark Turner
Carla Savinon business portrait. Bellingham, WA. © 2018 Mark Turner

Carla Savinon, DNP, FNP, joined PHMG’s Internal Medicine team of providers. Savinon earned both a Master of Science in Nursing: Family Nurse Practitioner and a Doctor of Nursing Practice at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. Savinon’s areas of special interest include chronic disease management (diabetes, hypertension, congestive heart failure), prevention/health promotion and women’s health. During her 20 years of experience in the medical field, she has served as an associate professor, health care consultant and associate medical director.

 

 

Scott LeTellier business portrait. Bellingham, WA. © 2018 Mark Turner
Scott LeTellier business portrait. Bellingham, WA. © 2018 Mark Turner

Scot LeTellier, MD, joined the PeaceHealth St. Joseph Cancer Center team of providers. Dr. LeTellier earned his medical degree from the Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara in Guadalajara, Mexico; completed his Internal Medicine residency at Staten Island University in Staten Island, New York; and completed his Hematology/Oncology fellowship at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, Mississippi. Dr. LeTellier is dedicated to general hematology and oncology in the community setting with special interests in bladder cancer, renal cell carcinoma, prostate cancer, colon cancer, lung cancer and malignant hematology. His research has focused on acute leukemia. His goal is to offer the most up-to-date medical knowledge, as well as emotional support, to all patients. He values opportunities for participation in clinical trials.

More information about each of these providers can be found using the “Find a Doc” tool at www.peacehealth.org.

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