Whitman Students Ending Holiday Break on Streets of Seattle

WALLA WALLA, Wash. -- Thirteen Whitman College students will spend the final days of their semester break on the streets of downtown Seattle, working as volunteers for a variety of agencies that serve the poor and disadvantaged, including at-risk children and young people.

The Whitman students will gather Tuesday morning, Jan. 11, at Seattle's Westminster Presbyterian Church, where they will spend their nights through Saturday, Jan. 15.

Their daytime volunteer activities, which begin Tuesday at the Atlantic Street Center's Southeast Family Center on Beacon Hill, will include other projects at the Northwest AIDS Foundation, Lambert House, Daybreak Star Center, and El Centro de la Raza.

Next week marks the second consecutive year, and the third time in six years, that Whitman students have spent part of their winter break as volunteers for Seattle social service agencies. The volunteer projects are organized by the Center for Community Service (CCF) at Whitman.

Even though she has lived her entire life in the Seattle suburbs, Whitman senior Ann Marie Jonsson says next week's service project will give her a much better understanding of the inner city, its people, problems and possible solutions.

"I've done quite a bit of volunteer work, but much of it was in my own community, in the schools," says Jonsson, a resident of Woodinville, Wash., and a graduate of Shorecrest High School in Shoreline. "This week I hope to learn about different needs and new ways that I, as a volunteer, can impact my community."

Jonnson, a biology major, also works as a service learning intern in the Whitman CCF, which coordinates a wide range of volunteer service opportunities for students.

While at the Atlantic Street Center facility on Tuesday, the Whitman students will help with painting projects in addition to learning more about its family counseling service.

On Tuesday evening, after returning to Westminster Presbyterian Church, the students will host a guest speaker, Rick Reynolds of Operation Night Watch. That agency sends a van and medical personnel into areas where homeless people gather, offering health care and other services.

On Wednesday, the Whitman students will divide their time between the Northwest AIDS Foundation and a Head Start program located in the Daybreak Star Center in Seattle's Discovery Park. The students will assemble AIDS prevention and education packets in the morning at the AIDS Foundation. In the afternoon, they will help with three Head Start classrooms of multi-ethnic children between the ages of three and five.

On Thursday, Whitman students will do more painting and prepare the evening meal at the Lambert House, an activity and resource center for lesbian, gay, bisexual and questioning youth between the ages of 14 and 22.

On Friday, the Whitman contingent will help with the food bank and child development programs at El Centro de la Raza. The students will spend Saturday as a "free day" in Seattle before returning to the Whitman campus for the start of classes next week.

The two participating students who organized next week's Seattle project are Nicole Bendotoff, a sophomore from Palo Alto, Calif., and Sarah Pulliam, a senior biology- environmental studies major from Portland, Ore. Pulliam, a graduate of Portland's Lincoln High School, works as an intern in Whitman's Center for Community Service. Bendotoff, a graduate of Palo Alto High School, lives in the Community Service Co-Op on campus.

Other Whitman students helping with next week's Seattle project are:

* Cait Alexander, sophomore, San Jose, CA; graduate of Notre Dame HS, San Jose.

* Jennifer Allen, senior, Bellevue, WA; graduate of Newport HS, Bellevue.

* Beth Bray, sophomore, Chesterfield, MO; graduae of Clayton HS, St. Louis, MO.

* Kevin Erickson, sophomore, Yakima, WA; graduate of West Valley HS, Yakima.

* Kate Leslie, junior, Seattle, WA; graduate of Shorewood HS, Shoreline WA.

* Kathy Moore, sophomore, Bainbridge Island, WA; graduate of Bainbridge HS.

* Shelley Pearson, sophomore, Salem, OR; graduate of Sprague HS, Salem.

* Heather Shadley, senior, Berkeley, CA; graduate of Thousand Oaks (CA) HS.

* Adriana Vanbianchi, sophomore, Kingston WA; graduate of North Kitsap HS, Poulsbo, WA.

* Allee Willhite, freshman, Sandy OR; graduate of Sandy HS.

CONTACTS:

Dave Holden, Whitman Communications Office, 509 527-5902
Email: holden@whitman.edu

Abby Hulme, Whitman Center for Community Service, 509 527-5765
Email: hulmeab@whitman.edu