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Connect to Tacoma Community: August 2020

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These “Connect to Tacoma Community” posts are a continuation of our Tacoma Events lists. Events have shifted from up close, in person, hand-shaking, food-sharing, hugging, and elbow-rubbing gatherings, to outdoor, distanced, small group, and remote gatherings. But the truth is, the focus always has been, and continues to be connection. We’re seeking ways for all of us to engage community, make changes, and get through this together (emphasis on together).

Take a look at our list of 10 events around Tacoma in August, and 5 Tacoma entities we suggest following if you’re looking to stay in touch with what happens in and around our city. We’re wishing you all health and discovery this August. Take care.

Connect to Tacoma with Events & Gatherings

1. Straight Talk - Race, Relationships, and Racial Justice

Monday, August 3rd
* (and every Monday indefinitely)
5 pm
From Home via Zoom

  • Free - register here

  • Panel discussion focusing on bi-racial couples in this time of the pandemic and race-based uprisings

  • These discussion are hosted by the Metropolitan Development Council and The Tacoma Urban League and are geared toward communities “not in the mainstream flow of information”

  • * Love this idea? Join every Monday! Straight Talk is a series you can engage in each Monday while the COVID0-19 crisis continues

2. Tangled: Why Your Hair Matters to Society

Monday, August 3rd
7 - 8:30 pm
From Home via Zoom

3. Free Food Boxes for Families

Tuesdays, August 4th & 18th
10 am
Tacoma Community House
1314 S L St, Tacoma

  • Free

  • Emergency Food Network and Tacoma Community House are partnering to offer free boxes of food for people in the community who could use some help with food security

  • First-come first-served

  • Staff offering the food boxes will wear masks and keep their distance to keep the community safe

Image from En Rama

Image from En Rama

Weekly Meals for the Community

4. Local restaurant En Rama in Downtown Tacoma offers free to-go meals every Wednesday. No questions asked!

  • Wednesdays

  • Pick-up a free boxed meal from 2 - 3 pm

  • 1102 A St, Suite 220, Tacoma

5. Tacoma Rainbow Center is Caring With Pride with support from Alma Mater on Thursdays in Downtown Tacoma

  • Thursdays

  • Fresh meals, non-perishables, hygiene supplies, and masks offered 11 am - 1 pm

  • 2215 Pacific Ave, Tacoma

6. Visit Peace Lutheran Church in Hilltop every Friday for a free to-go Community Meal with other community resources available as well. All are welcome!

  • Fridays

  • Pick-up from 5:30 - 6:30 pm

  • 2106 S Cushman Ave, Tacoma

If you have enough or more than enough food, these might be opportunities to give or volunteer. We take turns needing and being needed, giving and receiving, there’s a gift in all of these circumstances.

7. Old Town Summer Concert Series

Wednesdays
August 5, 12, 19 & 26
6:30 - 8:15 pm
Livestream from Home

  • Free

  • Bring the music home, pretend your down in the park in Old Town with the salty air, a blanket in the grass, a picnic, and a crowd - hey, you can actually recreate that on your living room floor or out in your back yard (minus the crowd)

  • Enjoy live music every Wednesday from different musicians each week, and next summer we all hope to be back in the park!

Images from Metro Parks Tacoma

Images from Metro Parks Tacoma

Fridays
August 7, 14, 21 & 28
7 pm parking, showtime at dusk
STAR Center
3873 S 66th St, Tacoma

  • $20 suggested donation per vehicle - register here

  • Come early to purchase food at food trucks

  • Make sure to read the details about the audio, parking, and other guidelines

  • Movie titles are subject to change, but here’s the planned lineup:

    • 8/7- Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, 1977 (PG)

      8/14- Hidden Figures, 2016 (PG)

      8/21- The Princess Bride, 1987 (PG)

      8/28- FernGully, 1992 (G)

9. Point Defiance Beach Cleanup

Third Saturdays
August 15th
9 am
Point Defiance Marina
5912 Waterfront Dr, Tacoma

  • Free volunteer event - register here

  • Help keep the beaches and parks we love clean and healthy

  • During COVID-19 group size is limited, so please be sure to register (a household counts as 1 volunteer within the limit)

  • Cleanup continues rain or shine, so dress for the weather

  • Also, if you miss this day, or if it’s already full of volunteers, take a look at other Tacoma park cleanup opportunities for a chance to lend a hand

10. Skill in Action: Virtual Workshop with Michelle C. Johnson

Sunday, August 30th
12 - 3 pm
From Home Online

  • 3 levels of payment: $35 community - discounted, $45 sustainer - covers your own participation (sold out!), $55 supporter - covers your participation and supports others as well - Register here

  • This is a workshop brining together social justice, yoga, and community

  • Michelle C. Johnson will lead an exploration of how we take action and respond to systems of oppression

  • Open to all levels of yoga experience and includes dharma talk, meditation, asana, and discussion

Connect to Tacoma with Ongoing Engagement

We recommend following these organizations, communities, businesses, entities, etc. There are so many more we’d like to suggest, but that’s for another month, another chance, another list. If you haven’t explored these or gotten connected, take a look. We’re pretty sure you’ll be welcome.

Tacoma Pierce/Pierce County Habitat for Humanity

Vision: “Tacoma/Pierce County Habitat for Humanity’s vision is to build and foster a community where everyone has a decent, affordable place to live. Our Christian foundation calls for us to set aside religious differences and work toward a common goal: to eliminate poverty housing in our community.

  • Everyone needs a foundation to build a future.

  • Every home is a building block.

  • Every home improvement gives children a better chance for a stronger future.

  • Every donation helps a family help themselves.

  • Every helping hand makes a difference.”

Follow Tacoma/Pierce County Habitat for Humanity on Facebook
Follow Tacoma/Pierce County Habitat for Humanity on Instagram

Image from Yoga Wild

Image from Yoga Wild

Yoga Wild

About: “We are a yoga company for students outside the typical yoga demographic. Too many are excluded from the mental and physical benefits of yoga due to cost or lack of representation. We have a studio with 20 classes a week at sliding-scale pricing. At Yoga Wild, we also encourage students to get out in nature and their community with classes, series, and volunteer work parties throughout Tacoma.”

Note: Yoga Wild is adapting to the times to keep everyone safe and healthy. The studio is closed, but you can find lots of online live classes and practices via YouTube as well.

Follow Yoga Wild on Facebook
Follow Yoga Wild on Instagram

Mission: “Our mission is to cultivate a space for professional Women of Color to nurture community, collaborate, and share professional, educational and life resources.”

Follow Tacoma Women of Color Collective on Facebook
Follow Tacoma Women of Color Collective on Instagram

Tacoma Public Schools

About: “Tacoma Public Schools (TPS) is one of the largest districts in Washington State serving approximately 30,000 children in preschool through grade 12. The district has 35 elementary schools, 11 middle schools, 10 high schools and 4 early learning centers. 19 schools are designated as innovative.  TPS has nearly 5,000 employees and is one of the largest employers in Tacoma.”

Follow Tacoma Public Schools on Facebook
Follow Tacoma Public Schools on Instagram



Grit City Magazine

About: “Grit City Magazine was founded on the notion that Tacoma has good stories to tell. We explore the places that define it, pay homage to the history that built it, and celebrate the people who make it what it is today. This is a city of makers and craftsmen, artists and philosophers, natives and newcomers, dreamers and doers, and above all, grit. If you have a story to tell, we want to hear it.”

Follow Grit City Magazine on Facebook
Follow Grit City Magazine on Instagram
Subscribe to Grit City Magazine

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Hi, I'm Michael Duggan, a licensed broker with Windermere Abode. I would love to help you through the home buying or selling process. Please contact me to set up a meeting and get things started.