This story and photo are by community member Mike Veitenhans. If you have a story you’d like to produce on our neighborhood, please reach out to chrism@phinneycenter.org

Even before sit-down dining was suspended due to the coronavirus outbreak, The Olive and Grape was taking extra precautions to keep its customers safe. For instance, tables were cleared of condiment settings and menus were sanitized between orders.

Now, owner Paola Kossack and her husband Chris have extended those extra precautions into their takeout-only operations. They do all the order taking and food preparation themselves donned in protective masks and gloves, and everything from pens to credit cards are sanitized between touches.

To facilitate good social distancing, Paola can even take credit card information over the phone, no signature required. She also keeps her distance during pickup. Whether it’s you or a delivery driver pulling into the parking lot behind her restaurant, Paola brings the order to the car, opens a door or hatch, drops the order in and you’re on your way.

Paola says she really appreciates her customer support and believes it will see The Olive and Grape through the outbreak. She also hopes the neighborhood will show the same kind of support to other local businesses to help them get through these difficult times, too. 

Don’t forget to check the PhinneyWood Business Community Connections page, your go-to resource to view how to best support and patronize your favorite local businesses.

The Olive and the Grape
8516 Greenwood Ave N
206-724-0272
Tuesday-Sunday 4-8 pm
Take-out, curbside pick-up, GrubHub, Uber Eats, DoorDash – ordering options

Like so many other things, May’s BIG Art Walk, scheduled for May 8 and 9, will need to be rescheduled. The organizers are not sure when yet, and that decision will be made later with input from participating venues.

For April’s normal art walk, set for April 10, a few venues are going to try a virtual art walk. Details to come.

In light of the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak, Ken’s Market is now offering delivery and curbside pickup for your safety and convenience. They would love to emphasize that delivery capability is limited so opt for the curbside pickup if you’re able to safely get out. 

For questions about product selection, Ken’s invites you to call the store at (206)784-3470 and ask an associate before placing your order to ensure product availability.

For delivery, orders need to be an approximate minimum of $50 and there will be a flat $10 delivery fee. Alcohol cannot be delivered and can only be offered for the curbside pickup option with ID check required upon receipt. You can select between an early delivery window (10am – 2pm) and a later deliver window (2pm – 6pm). Please check the map here for the delivery area.

For curbside pickup there is no fee or minimum order. You can submit your order using the form here and you will be contacted to let you know when it will be ready for pickup. Orders should typically be ready within 1-2 hours. Orders placed after 4 PM may not be fulfilled until the next day.

The Phinney Neighborhood Association has created a site that our businesses can communicate their status, open hours, and best way to support them while we are dealing with Covid. The PhinneyWood Business Community Connection page is starting to fill with these details and will be updated daily as information comes to us.

At the PNA, we build, engage, and support our community; connect neighbors and foster civic engagement. This mission has been our guiding principle for the past 40 years and it continues to guide us as we work to overcome together the challenges we face today with Covid.

Throughout the days ahead, you can look here for opportunities to support the people and places that make our neighborhood amazing while practicing distancing to help keep our community safe and healthy. Let’s show our neighborhood restaurants, businesses, and artists that, when the chips are down, we have their backs.

If your favorite business is not on the page, please reach out to the business owner or manager to take 5 minutes fill out the submission form so the community knows how best to patronize or support them while we ride this out. In the meantime, please continue to buy local and stay safe!

The Woodland Park Zoo sent out this poignant missive yesterday.

“Dear Friend, from all of us at Woodland Park Zoo, we hope this letter finds you safe and sound as each of us comes to terms with this novel virus that grips our region and our world. The scariest part for many of us is the unknown. When will we know that it is safe to resume our normal lives? In this unprecedented time we are all facing, our community is in need. 

With our gates closed, the loss of earned revenue is devastating. We find ourselves in need of reaching out to all who understand that the zoo is a deeply important part of our community. Through the month of March, we have lost $1.9 million and stand to lose an additional $2.2 million if we remain closed in April.

Your support is more important than ever to keep our vital work going. Will you consider making a gift of any amount today to our relief fund? 

Your zoo manages the largest number of live animals in Washington state, with nearly 1,000 animals, and has served as a community anchor and beacon of hope for more than a century. All of our animals, large and small, are waiting out the pandemic like the rest of us, and being cared for by our amazingly dedicated animal care and veterinary teams. 

We have an urgent need for resources to continue providing dedicated care to all of our animals, each and every day, while minimizing risk to both our people and animals. 

Your gift will help us make this enormous pivot that will enable us to continue providing the best possible care for all of our animals and to connect with our community until we can open our gates once more.

If you are able, please make a relief fund gift today to support our animal care and veterinary teams. Gifts of any size make a difference and every dollar counts.

The beloved Ballard P-Patch, which has been under the threat of development for more than a year, has announced an award a $250,000 grant from the City of Seattle to bolster their efforts of acquiring and preserving the property. The ultimate aim would be to convert the property to a conservation easement, securing it as garden space in perpetuity.

Per a press release from ballardppatch.org: “We are thrilled to announce that with the support of our District 36 Legislators, Representatives Gael Tarleton, Noel Frame and Senator Reuven Carlyle, the Ballard P-Patch will receive a $250,000 Community Projects Grant in 2021.

This grant is our first public grant award. We are thankful to our community for creating the proposal, appearing at legislative town halls, and writing to their local representatives to support this application. Your support made this happen!

Additionally, a warm thanks to Our Redeemer’s Lutheran Church for their ongoing support of the Ballard P-Patch. Our Redeemer’s created this garden in 1976 and has strongly supported its mission for 44 years. They recently created and posted a lovely banner at the garden, urging support for our campaign to Save the Ballard P-Patch.”

With the cancellation of so many public events, including fundraisers, the Ballard P-Patch needs your individual support now more than ever. If you would like to pledge your support, please do so here. If you’d like to connect with the organization about a donation, don’t hesitate to send an email to info@ballardppatch.org.

A calendar has been set up to share info to the community about streamed concerts, dance lessons & virtual dances, and other events to keep us connected in this challenging time when we can’t safely assemble. See a collection of streamed events here. Most events have a “virtual tip jar” so you can support artists whose earning has been severely impacted.

If you are an artist that would like to register your event, you can submit your concert information for inclusion on the master calendar of online concert streams here.

Also, the Seattle Folklore Society has set up a way to help support working artists during this difficult time when many may face a loss of income from cancellations of events. You may find the donate button on their website home page.  

You may leave then leave a note to direct it to a specific performer or band. Alternatively proceeds will be divided up between dance bands whose date was cancelled or concert performers who did not receive adequate compensation.

Founded in 2011, the Aurora Commons was created out of friendships formed between housed neighbors and unhoused neighbors living and working along Aurora Avenue N. This community is a rare and disruptive response to the isolation that characterizes many stories of homelessness. Functionally the Commons is a day resource center lovingly called “our neighborhood living room”.

Our unsheltered neighbors are especially vulnerable to the virus as many of them already have compromised immune systems, are sleeping outside, and engaging in street-based sex work to meet basic survival needs. Given current projections it is not only likely that these individuals will get the virus but that they will experience serious, if not lethal, health consequences that the housed community is literally sheltered from.

Currently, Aurora Commons is conducting needs assessments to prepare for mobile outreach launching in the next couple of weeks. They have created a COVID-19 Community Fund, and are asking support from the community to help get through the next few months and beyond. Your monetary donations will go much farther if they are funneled through the Common’s COVID-19 fund since we will be ordering much larger quantities than individual households are able to and are working to find ways to purchase items at cost directly from suppliers.

The work of the Commons can not be done alone. They are grateful for the faithful community that has supported Aurora Commons to date and to anyone who would consider joining at this unprecedented moment in time.