Washington State Medal of Valor ceremony awarded to Donnie Chin
“Donnie watched over us for nearly 50 years. He saved hundreds of lives and made the world a better place. He was humble and thought that he was just doing his job. Donnie ultimately gave his life protecting our community. He was our hero, our brother, our friend. He was a hero, but not for how he died but how he lived.” (Connie Magorty, February 21, 2024)
Donnie Chin was awarded the Washington State Medal of Valor at a ceremony in the Washington State Capitol Building on Wednesday morning –A bittersweet and emotional gathering to honor and remember our beloved CID guardian angel and hero, Donnie Chin. Thanks to Donnie’s sister, Connie, for helping everyone understand who Donnie was and what he meant to our CID community. And thanks to Washington State Representative, Sharon Tomiko Santos, for nominating him.
Clean Water, Sustainable Building, Green Jobs Symposium & Career Fair
Clean Water, Sustainable Building, Green Jobs Symposium & Career Fair
Hands-On Demonstrations | Breakout Sessions | Networking | Resume Help
March 6, 2024
4-7 pm
South Seattle College – Georgetown Campus
6737 Corson Avenue South, Seattle, WA 98108
You are invited to meet in-demand employers in the fields of clean water, sustainable building, and green jobs! Attend and participate in hands-on demonstrations, break-out sessions, networking, resume help, and other skill-building activities. This event is free and open to the public, including people in all stages of careers and education.
Job Seekers: RSVP with this QR code or click here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/VM8KH5J
Sponsored by King County Wastewater Treatment Division and South Seattle College – Georgetown Campus / Sustainable Building and Science Technology program.
PDF of the flier: https://sustainablebuildingscience.technology/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2024/01/Final_Green-Jobs-Symposium-and-Job-Fair.pdf
JPG of the flier: https://sustainablebuildingscience.technology/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2024/01/Final_Green-Jobs-Symposium-and-Job-Fair-scaled.jpg
Exhibit Application/Interest: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/R8NNYPS
2023 Gift Drive! ~ Thank you donors, supporters, volunteers, CID and InterIm CDA
The Chinatown International District is one of the most impoverished communities in Seattle. InterIm CDA serves many of the neighborhood’s low-income, immigrant, refugee, Asian, and Pacific Islander residents through all our community-building programs and services. To further provide emotional and material support, InterIm initiated an end-of-the-year gift drive for our clients and community residents.
InterIm CDA and CID residents would like to thank our supporters for the many thoughtful gifts we received. We initially hoped to get 200 gifts for our gift drive; however, with our supporters’ help, we could provide 441 clients and residents with gifts. We would also like to thank the score of volunteers who helped to organize our holiday party and wrap, transport, and hand out gifts.
The gifts embraced and provided cheer for many of the recipients. We are grateful for those who participated in this effort to make the holiday season and New Year good for our community.
We want to thank the following companies and individuals for providing gifts to this project:
- Marpac Construction
- Enterprise Community
- Gates Foundation’s Gates Asians in Philanthropy Employee Resource Group
- Expedia Group Volunteers in partnership with Asian Community at Expedia
- Starbucks Pan-Asian Partner Network
- ProvidenceSwedish
- Sound Transit
- King County Metro Transit
- Walsh Construction Company
- Site Workshop
- International District Emergency Center
- Mai and Rob Ketcherside
- Elaine Ikoma Ko
- Leslie Morishita
- Teresa Woo
- Elaine Ishihara
- Family of Carl and Marie Ooka
- Mercedes Luna
- Ann Kawasaki Romero
- Liana Woo
- Vivian Chan
- Valerie Pang
- Sharon Tomiko Santos
- Ken Daffon
- Anca Boldan
- Lynette Seigafo
- Sarah Mac
- Peter Kim
- Jilian Carlo (for Jaysen and Qilian)
- Anhkhoa Lam (for Alfred)
- Gary Lee
- Erin Shigaki
- Cindy Domingo
- Erin Demmon
- Sharon Maeda
- Delight Roberts and Ethan Im
- And several anonymous folks
Caption: On December 10th and 11th, InterIm Community Development Association and volunteers delivered gifts to Chinatown International District Residents.
Photos of the 47th annual pig roast in the Danny Woo Garden in July 2023
Thank you to all who joined us at the annual pig roast last month! And huge thanks to those who provided financial support and donated food and time, including our pig roast sponsor Enterprise Community Partners, our gardeners and community members, Tai Tung, Fort St. George, Uwajimaya, and Starbucks. And very big thank you to our garden staff, KaeLi Deng and Kathryn Tehl for all their work on the event!
47th Annual Pig Roast Volunteer Recruitment
47th Annual Pig Roast: July 21 and 22
Summertime’s in the air – and in the CID! Which means the pig roast is coming up! Join us on July 21 and 22 for the 47th annual pig roast. Volunteer registration for the pig roast is now live; see shifts here. We roast the pig all night long Friday into Saturday morning will be in need of help all 24 hours. Contact volunteer@interimcda.org for more information. And come one come all for the Friday community gathering with food and drinks and enjoying the garden. We can’t wait to see you and catch up with you all!
Special thanks to Enterprise Community Housing for their support of the pig roast!
Connecting with Community Dinner
Join InterIm CDA for an evening to connect with our community. Please come share a delicious multi-course meal with new and old friends hearing stories of activism in the CID
Hi, friends! Well, it’s been a while (three years!), but the time has finally come for us to get together in person, share food together and be with one another. We can’t wait to see you. InterIm CDA’s annual community dinner is a chance for us to catch up, learn about Uncle Bob’s Place and other things InterIm CDA has been doing and to celebrate our strong history of activism in the community. We’ll keep the stage program short and the social time long since we know we’ve all got a lot of catching up to do with one another!
Joyale Seafood Restaurant: 900 S Jackson St, Seattle, WA 98104
Date: Friday, November 3, 2023
Time: 5:00 PM
Tickets: $100 (check back for ticket sales link later this spring)
RSVP by October 16, 2023 to Lynette Seigafo at lseigafo@interimcda.org
Enterprise Article
Building community resilience through placemaking! Enterprise recently showcased InterIm CDA’s real estate development director Leslie Morishita and a few of our buildings in the CID including Hirabayashi Place and Uncle Bob’s Place: “Housing is fundamental,” Morishita said, “but we also want to take every opportunity to serve this community. We include a focus on art to lift the history and culture of the place and engage the community that’s here.” Check our the full article! Photos by Channing Johnson Photography.
WILD Program
WILD has an after-school program focused on environmental, social justice, community, and leadership building.
Community-driven victory in the CID
On Saturday, Oct. 15 hundreds gathered in Hing Hay Park to celebrate King County’s announcement the day before that they would not be expanding services at the Salvation Army-operated shelter in SODO.
King County and Seattle opened the shelter two years ago without a word to the community or any kind of engagement or outreach. The community then recently learned the county was planning to expand it into a 5-block, low barrier 500-person ‘mega shelter’ with an RV parking lot, tiny house village, sobering center, and acute behavioral crisis center. Again, there had been no outreach the CID neighborhood about the expansion.
This became an issue of systemic racism the Chinatown-International District has faced time and time again. From I-5 splitting the neighborhood in half, to the construction of the Kingdome to neglect regarding public safety issues (why are the lights still off in the InterIm CDA parking lot under the freeway, Seattle City Light?), this was yet another example of, as InterIm’s statement to Seattle City and Council and King County Council said, “an intentional ploy to keep the poorest people of color down, to concentrate them in one small area away from whiter more affluent areas, and to pit them against each other.”
Initial community notification was started by Tanya Woo, Gary Lee, and Julie Neilson after they learned about it in a Public Safety Council meeting. Tanya then took the lead on uniting the community to push back against the expansion. Elders in the CID joined their efforts and marched in protest and testified at City of Seattle and King County Council Meetings to make their voices and concerns heard. InterIm CDA was the first of several agencies who publicly approved of the pushback and provided financial support of their efforts.
Activists planned a protest and rally to take place in Hing Hay Park on Saturday, Oct. 15. But before they could hold it, on Friday, Oct. 14, King County Executive Dow Constantine announced the expansion project was canceled due to our united efforts. What started as a protest turned into a celebration of community activism, community pride, and a reflection of those past and present who have continued to advocate for and protect the CID.
Photos by Randy Wo-Eng
InterIm CDA statement to Seattle City Council and King County Council on SODO shelter location adjacent to Chinatown-ID
The King County Regional Homelessness Authority says it stands for racial equity and social justice, however, their planned homeless megaplex next to the CID looks like an intentional ploy to keep the poorest people of color down, to concentrate them in one small area away from whiter more affluent areas, and to pit them against each other.
Stand up for racial equity and social justice! Learn more and take action: https://www.friendsofseattlecid.com/
For InterIm CDA’s letter to the Seattle City Council: To Seattle City Council regarding the planned homeless megaplex next to the CID
For InterIm CDA’s letter to the King County Council: To King County Council regarding the planned homeless megaplex next to the CID
Photos by Eugene Tagawa.
