Happening | Sept. 18 edition

Published 2:52 pm Wednesday, September 17, 2025

• EVENTS •

Editor’s note (Sept. 24) updating and correcting previous versions of this article:

A community forum scheduled for 5:30-7:30 Wednesday, Sept 24, at Vashon Center for the Arts, has been postponed due to a family emergency by one of the participating legislators and the illness by a key island forum organizer. All three state legislators representing Vashon in the 34th District — Senator Emily Alverado, Representative Joe Fitzgibbon and Representative Brianna Thomas — had been scheduled to attend and speak at the free community forum. The event will be rescheduled for a later date, and presented by Islanders for Ferry Action in coalition with the Vashon Chamber of Commerce, Vashon Senior Center, VashonBePrepared, Comunidad, Vashon HouseHold, Vashon Maury Island Community Council, Vashon Health Care District, Vashon Food Bank, Vashon Youth & Family Services and the Vashon School District.

Food bank tours: Tour the current and future sites of the Vashon-Maury Community Food Bank with the food bank’s executive director and board members. The next tours takes place from 2-3:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 19; 3-4:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 30; 2-3:30 Friday, Oct. 10; and 3-4:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 21. Each tour can accommodate 10 people. RSVPs are required — contact minta@vashonfoodbank.org, and meet at the current food bank location at 10030 SW 210th St.

Health insurance: Miguel Urquiza, representative of King County Public Health, will help islanders sign up for health insurance, food stamps, and other services from 12:30-3 p.m. on both Wednesday, Sept. 17, and Wednesday, Oct. 15, inside Vashon Library. Dates not convenient? Contact Urquiza for help at 206-477-6965, 206-491-3761, or miguel.urquiza@kingcounty.gov.

Seminar: The Vashon Care Network will host the third annual Christine Jovanovich Memorial Seminar at 2 p.m. Sunday, September 21, at St. John Vianney Catholic Church. The event is free; all are invited. Katie Zeitler, the program manager for Dementia Friends at the University of Washington Memory and Brain Wellness Center, will speak on the topic of “Taking the Stigma Out of Memory Loss” — a topic that Vashon Care Network believes is an important one, given that Vashon is one of King County’s fastest aging population. For more information, visit vashoncarenetwork.org.

VIGA Pizza Party: Vashon Island Growers Association will raise funds for its Farm Bucks program from 4-7 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 21, at La Biondo Farm & Kitchen at 20602 111th Ave SW. Tickets are $60. The night includes wood-fired pizza, salad, dessert and beverages, live music and a raffle with an array of valuable prizes. Find out more at vigavashon.org.

Brown Briefly: Join the Brown Briefly hosts and their guest Alex Bruell, at 11 a.m. Tuesday, September 23, on 101.9 FM and streaming live at voiceofvashon.org and on the VoV mobile app. Bruell will share what he learned as former editor of The Beachcomber, and memorable observations of life on Vashon-Maury Island.

DSHS Mobile Office: Washington’s Department of Social and Human Services mobile office van will be on Vashon from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 30, at Vashon United Methodist Church, 17928 Vashon Hwy SW. Apply inside the van for assistance with food, cash and medical matters. Islanders can also drop off paperwork, complete a review or make changes to an existing case or request an EBT card. Find out more at washingtonconnection.org.

Public Sector Heroes Lectures: Dr. Larry Hubbell, in conjunction with Vashon Indivisible, will offer the first of four lectures at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 30, at the Vashon High School Theatre. Subsequent lectures will occur on October 14 and 28, and Nov. 11. The lecture series is entitled “Finding Courage in Dark Times: Public Sector Heroes Rediscovered.” The first lecture will feature John Lewis, the civil rights icon and his nemesis Sheriff Justice Jim Clark, the Selma sheriff. All lectures will take place in the VHS theater. There is no admission charge, but donations to Vashon Indivisible are encouraged.

Farmers Market: The Vashon Island Growers Association’s Farmers Market runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. every Saturday at the Village Green through September 27.

Free community dinners: Held Mondays through Fridays from 5-5:30 p.m. at the Vashon Presbyterian Church (17708 Vashon Highway SW) by the Interfaith Council to Prevent Homelessness.

• SENIOR CENTER •

Enjoy a hot lunch at noon on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and the following activities throughout the week at the Vashon Senior Center, 10004 SW Bank Road, unless noted otherwise:

Talk: 1 p.m. Friday, Sept. 19. Chet Budinger, a senior living advisor from Oasis, will speak on nutrition for older adults.

Book Groups: At the Senor Center at 1:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 22. Discuss “The Wide, Wide Sea,” by Hampton Sides. Vashon King County Library and Vashon Senior Center Book Group meets at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 24, at Vashon Library. Contact the Center (206-463-5131) or library (206-463-2069) for topic and book suggestions. September’s topic of discussion is memoirs and biographies. For more information on either book group, contact Pamela Wickard at 206-463-5131.

Death Café

Meets 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. on the second and fourth Wednesday of each month at the Senior Center. It is a discussion group about death and making the most of life, rather than a grief support or counselling session. For questions, call Susan Pitiger at 206-818-4232 or Brad Davis at 206-799-7235.

Grief ritual

Islanders are invited to share and witness each other’s grief on the first Sunday of each month from 1-2 p.m. at the Senior Center. Questions? Call Susan Pitiger at 206-818-4232, or Brad Davis at 206-799-7235.

Grief support: Kenny Alton, counselor at Vashon Youth and Family Services, will facilitate the “Grief is Grief” support group, a six week group from 5-6:30 p.m. on Thursdays, September 18-Oct. 23, at the Senior Center. The group is limited to 12 people. There is no cost for the meetings; please register by calling Susan Pitiger at 206-818-4232.

Rotary Fundraiser: Rotary District 5030 (rotarydistrict5030.org), and member Club Vashon Rotary, invite islanders to join them in a fundraiser to be held from Oct. 1 to Nov. 3. The fundraising competition unites Vashon’s club and the island community to fight against hunger by raising funds for Vashon Food Bank, Harvest Against Hunger and No Kid Hungry. To be part of the Vashon Team, contact amyhugs@icloud.com.

Land Trust Talk: The Vashon-Maury Island Land Trust will host a free talk in its speaker series, “From Source to Sound: The Future of Vashon’s Creeks,” featuring Jacques White, CEO of Long Live the Kings, from 4:30-5:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 3, at the Land Trust Building at 10014 Bank Rd. Long Live the Kings is a non-profit dedicated to the restoration of wild salmon and steelhead runs in the Pacific Northwest. Come learn about restoration strategies and how Vashon’s creeks could be key to thriving fisheries throughout the greater Salish Sea.

Blood Drive

Bloodworks Northwest will hold community blood drive from 10:15 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 22, at Vashon Island Fire & Rescue’s Penny Farcy Memorial Training Center, at 10019 SW Bank Rd. Appointments are required, with photo IDs also required. Those who donate between Sept. 14-20 and Oct. 19-31 will be entered in a contest where the lucky winner will receive a free trip to Toyko including two concert tickets to see Lady Gaga, Bad Bunny or Blackpink. Find out more and register for the Oct. 22 blood drive at bloodworksnw.org/donate.

• PUBLIC MEETINGS •

Vashon-Maury Community Council: The council holds regular meetings on the third Thursday of the month. This month, that is Sept. 18. Visit v-mcc.org for more information.

Water District 19: 6 p.m. Tuesday, September 16, in the district’s board room at 17630 100th Ave SW.

Vashon Health Care District: The district will hold a hybrid special meeting at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 17, at the Penny Farcy Memorial Training Building at 10019 SW Bank Road (in the small classroom) and via Zoom, accessible at the link tinyurl.com/2vkshxps. The purpose of the meeting is a joint meeting with the Board of Vashon Island Fire and Rescue to hear, consider, and potentially act upon a proposal for a funding partnership between the two districts. There will be additional discussion of the potential for partnership and the state of health care on Vashon in general, including informally after the formal meeting. The public is invited to attend all portions of the meeting. Quorums of both boards are expected, and action may be taken. Holds regular meetings the fourth Thursday of the month, at Vashon Presbyterian Church, 17708 Vashon Hwy SW, and on Zoom. Visit vashonhealthcare.org.

Vashon Island School District: The board typically meets the second and fourth Thursdays of the month, at Chautauqua Elementary School, Room 302, 9309 SW Cemetery Road. All meetings are recorded and posted online at youtube.com/@visdpublicmeetings6034/videos. Visit vashonsd.org.

Vashon Island Fire & Rescue: See notice for Vashon Health Care District regarding a special meeting attended by the two boards at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 17, at the Penny Farcy Memorial Training Building. VIFR’s board typically meets on the fourth Wednesday evening of each month. Visit vifr.org.

King County Cemetery District #1: Meetings are typically held at 1 p.m. on the second Wednesday of every month, at the cemetery office at 19631 Singer Rd SW. Visit vashoncemetery.org.

Ferry Advisory Committee: In lieu of this month’s regularly scheduled Ferry Advisory Committee meeting, the members of the committee will be present at the Legislative Forum hosted by Islanders for Ferry Action at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 24, at VCA. The forum will include discussion of issues related to ferries, among other issues. For more information, contact Justin Hirsch at justinhirsch@gmail.com.

• NOTICE •

Happenings features community, cultural and nonprofit events; notices are free and printed as space permits. Due to the volume of entries received, we edit submissions and cannot always confirm if a submission will run. Send submissions to editor@vashonbeachcomber.com; include the who, what, where and when. The deadline is noon Thursday for subsequent Thursday publication.