Seattleites we are in a holding pattern. After almost a month of social distancing under our belts it looks like we’re stuck here for at least another month more. Thankfully the April weather forecast seems to hold more sunny days in our future than not. And as a city there are so many great things our community is doing to keep us all from going crazy while staying at home. It’s physical distance we need to keep enforcing, yet it feels like we are becoming more social again as a city. Hello’s are becoming more genuine” How are you actually doing’s?” so maybe through this crisis we’ve finally managed to un-freeze a bit of our Seattle ice. Our community support for local Seattle businesses is heart-warming and this is where even if we feel like we can’t do much right now we can still do A TON for the city we call home.
First of all, if you or someone you know is in need of resources, the Seattle city website has a list of places and resources that can help during this time. There is everything from food support, internet support and help for creatives and freelance artists. The list doesn’t cover everything but it might be a good place to start if you’re looking for help or if you’re looking to help others out too-you can read about ways to help and volunteer on this website as well. This Crosscut article also has a lot of ideas like donating blood and helping out your neighbors too.
If you want to support our local economy in other ways there are so many businesses and restaurants that are doing incredible things. Piroshky Piroshky one of our favorite Pike Place Market spots has created Catch22delivery a delivery service that allows small businesses to keep more of their profits and still help get their product to the community as an alternate to other delivery services 3rd party platforms that we have in our area. I have ordered Piroshky Piroshky a couple times now and I noticed that you can add market flowers, Pike Place Chowder and fresh fish to the order as well so it’s a really easy way to support the Pike Place Market community while still staying at home. Savor Seattle Food Tours who also usually does Pike Place Market tours is also helping to coordinate food deliveries so people can still support market businesses and eat local while staying at home. I also just ordered a pantry box from Eden Hill Provisions and I’m excited to see what it looks like.
For food delivery, Stephanie Forrer has a great list of Seattle restaurants that offer delivery or takeout on her blog. The Intentionalist also has a great list of delivery and takeout options in Seattle too. We’ve been trying to order out from our favorites to support them while we’re staying at home. Tutta Bella one of our favorite pizza places has some really fun delivery deals for Seattle families lately like buy 3 pizzas and get one free. And Byen Bakeri, a local bakery that we have loved for a while is also doing local home delivery and it was a treat to have their cake one day as well as a bunch of their other yummy pastries.
Local athletic store Brooks Running announced this morning that they’ll be giving 100,000 shoes to healthcare workers and by this afternoon they had already fulfilled that goal. Seattle-based Nordstrom is also making masks for hospitals and there are a few other Seattle-based businesses that have gone into mask-making as well. I’ve seen food donations from Oberto, Shugs Soda, Macadons, Starbucks and Taste of India in Seattle to local hospitals and it is so amazing how we all come together when we are in need.
Even at home, If you can donate a tweet, Verizon (a company I’ve partnered with in the past) has twice weekly streaming events on twitter to help out small businesses during this difficult time.
If you live in Tacoma, you might want to try Tacoma Shout Outs started by a former Sous Chef at the Hotel Murano, an artsy hotel in downtown Tacoma that we’ve stayed at before. You can read more of his story on the News Tribune, but it’s cool to see how people pivot and do amazing and innovative things when we are in uncertain times.
Orca Running has a Mother’s Day run that they’ve made virtual. This one helps Virginia Mason Hospital and Girls on the Run. The kids and I are signed up to participate and because it’s next month, it’s good motivation for all our daily walks and runs to have a goal to work up to and two awesome causes to support.
As much as I love writing about travel, there is nothing in me that could write about leaving our city right now and I hope that you like me are staying safe at home. This is where we need to be right now. And we can totally do this. We got this Seattle.
(And if you know of people doing cool things in our community to help out, please let me know. I’m trying to shout out as many community helpers as I can. #wegotthisseattle )
Terumi Pong is a Seattle-based family travel writer and mom of twin teenage boys. She loves coffee and pastries, shopping local and looking for greener ways to live. She is also known as Scout’s mom (Scout is a 5ish pound little black yorkie-poo)
Thank you so much for the mention girl! Hope you’re staying sane during this crazy time.