Pancakes, Black Cats and more.

[Ibu Oni]

Dear friends: greetings from the men, women and children of
Nickelsville.

FIRST THINGS FIRST: THE PANCAKES ARE BACK. This is a friendly
reminder from all of us at Nickelsville that our Pancake Breakfast
Fundraiser will be held this coming Saturday, May 7th from 8 to 11 am.
The location is Keystone Congregational Church, 5019 Keystone Place in
Wallingford. For more information, call 206-450-9136. All donations
are greatly appreciated. An anonymous benefactor told us they would
match the first $500 donated! That’s a lot of pancakes, so please
bring your friends too.

Last weekend was a wonderful one. Saturday night there was a
performance in the Community Room (previously the main fire truck bay)
of IMPRINTS, by a Butoh Dancers’ troupe. We would like to thank
Sherry Brown, Mary Cutera, Will Fredo, Joan Laage, Douglas Ridders and
Helen Thorsen for an excellent evening.

On May Day, we marched with our comrades in the May Day Parade for
Immigration and Labor Rights and not only renewed ties with old
friends from the labor movement but also made new ones.

THE UPCOMING WEEK WILL BE CRUCIAL TO THE SURVIVAL OF NICKELSVILLE AND
WE ARE URGING OUR FRIENDS TO HELP US.

Another City Council Meeting about Resolution #31292 will be on
May 11th from 2 to 4 PM. That is when Councilman Licata's Human
Services Committee will hear from Members of the Mayors Encampment
Panel. Both Councilman Licata and Encampment Panel Members have
steadfastly focused on the emergency facing the thousands of Seattle
Citizens without shelter nightly, and the immediate value of
supporting Nickelsville. Support them on May 11th if you can.

Jim Page and Joe Martin will be performing at 6:30 PM on Thursday
5/12/11 at Nickelsville. The Black Cat Caravan will leave
Nickelsville for City Hall at 2:00 PM on Friday the 13th – we need you
desperately. Last week we pleaded with the Council to speed up their
timeline – presently no action is planned until the summer. On Friday
the 13th we will visit them to see if they are doing so.

We are planning to make this event go viral in real time so if you
cannot be there in person, follow us online and pass it on to your
friends. Tweeters and pages covering the event will be announced
shortly. If you have a digital camera and are able to broadcast the
Black Cat Caravan in real time, please contact our organizer
sc...@nickelsvilleseattle.org

Last but not least, since we will be moving from an indoor location to
an outdoor encampment, we need tarps, blankets and tents desperately.
Needed even more is plywood and 2 by 4’s so we can start building our
small simple sturdy sleeping structures.

Nickelsville’s contract at the Old Fire station 39 will be over on May
15th. Join us one last time at #39 for either\both the 3:00 PM
Interfaith Service and the 5:00 PM Move.
(It was our hope that SHARE/WHEEL would be allowed to stop in and
operate a shelter there beginning when we move out.) Unfortunately,
word has it that the Mayor’s Office is seriously considering letting
the UGM occupy the location when we depart. We have tremendous respect
for the staff of the Union Gospel Mission but those of us who would
like to remain in the Lake City neighborhood are hoping that SHARE/
WHEEL would be allowed to set up a self managed shelter the model with
which are most familiar and which empowers us.

We are asking our friends to email his office as well as the City
Council and ask them to let the site continue as a self-managed and/or
staffed shelters to be facilitated by SHARE/WHEEL when we move out. We
believe that they have the best experience working with homeless
communities in a manner that is respectful, empowering and
compassionate.

Thank you, and please keep letting us know if you can help with either
the Move or the Black Cat Caravan - especially with transportation.
Our staff person can be reached at (206) 450-9136.