Author: Jenny

Celebrate Earth Day with Sustainable Ballard at a fun and impactful fundraiser at Ballard Lofts on April 22nd from 6-8 pm! This is an exciting opportunity to learn about the incredible projects that are making a difference in our community and to help support a more sustainable future for Ballard. Plus, compete to win prizes!

The event is free to attend, and we’ll have delicious snacks for you to enjoy throughout the evening. You can also grab a $5 drink, and for just $5, get your bingo cards to compete for fabulous prizes. Each round of bingo will highlight a different Sustainable Ballard project, with proceeds benefiting these important initiatives that help promote sustainability, environmental stewardship, and community engagement.

Whether you’re a longtime supporter or new to Sustainable Ballard, this event is a great way to connect with neighbors, learn more about the local efforts to protect and improve our environment, and take part in something meaningful. So come out, enjoy a night of bingo, and help make a difference in Ballard!

Sustainable Ballard welcomes new board members Ashley Wilson, Bryn Bachman, Scout Jaech and Susan Ridgley!

They will join returning board members Andrea Fasté, Marcia Coté, Olivia Price, Polly Freeman and Judy Tangen. We are thrilled to welcome this roster with new energy and perspectives. We’re looking forward to another successful year of supporting community through engaging and meaningful projects & events.

The Ballard Tool Library is humming along with 193 new members gained in 2024!

Last year, 25 volunteers put in 500+ hours, including processing rentals, shop cleaning, tool maintenance and repairs. A small crew even built a Sustainable Ballard branded cornhole set to use at events! With a grant from Urban Artworks we have a beautiful new mural painted by a great group of students.

Our 565 active members borrowed tools 1613 times with our most popular tools being miter saws, lawn mowers, power washers and other garden tools. We are exceedingly grateful for the 100s of tool donations in 2024. Now 1064 tools are available for rent in the Tool Library inventory including some exciting new additions like a jackhammer, cement mixer, Sailrite sewing machine and a router jig. Overflow donations will be available at our next Tool Sale in late March/early April. Keep your eye out for an announcement soon!

If you would like to volunteer with the Tool Library contact manager@ballardtoollibrary.org.

Free Letters Home project has been providing stationery and postage to customers at the Ballard Food Bank on a weekly basis since January 2023. There are an average of 20-25 customers a week, and we’ve been there just about every week this year. Currently there are 6 regular volunteers going to the food bank to provide this service. The highlight of the year was December 17, when over 60 people asked for holiday cards.

1000+ estimated people served for the year, 3 volunteers attending per visit to distribute cards and stamps

We appreciate everyone who contributed cards and stamps this year. We can always use more! Our visitors particularly favor special occasion cards and cards with animals on them. We also need stamps which can be purchased through USPS.com or donate here and we’ll do the purchasing.

RainWise: making an impact one property at a time

Parties, decorations and gifts bring spirit to the holidays, but they can also create more waste. With a little planning, we can have more meaningful holidays and a positive environmental impact. Follow these waste-reduction tips to bring joy without waste this holiday season.

Decorations and Wrapping

Reuse decorations, bows, and other wrapping materials.

Make decorations and gift-wrap out of materials you already have. For crafty reuse ideas from gifts to ornaments, check out Green Global Travel or 60 Christmas Crafts from Recycled Items.

Newspapers, magazines, glossy store ads and phone book pages can by made into beautiful bows!  Find instructions at craftsanity.com.

Store decorations, lights, and gift-wrap properly, so they will be reusable next Christmas. Look to fix Christmas lights before buying new sets. Learn how to repair Christmas lights at ifixit.com.

Buying a locally-grown real tree is your most environmentally-friendly option. Earth 911 explains why: buying real vs artificial trees.

Recycle and/or compost accepted items that you cannot use again.

Shopping and Gifts

As always, remember your reusable shopping bags.

Think of gifts that will be useful and meaningful. Consider experience gifts. Shop local.

Look at your local consignment or thrift store before hitting the mall.

Buy recycled. Many local retailers create one-of-a-kind products from recycled goods. Start with our local recycled retailers: Alchemy Goods, InterConnection, Ballard ReUse and NuBe Green.

Personalize environmentally-friendly gifts with homemade food and products. Many recipes are online for bath products, baked goods, and canned gifts.

For homemade gifts visit Nourish & Nestle.  If you plan to travel, GreenHotels is a good place to start.  Shopping online?  Consider purchasing brands that limit their packaging; Organically Becca can help you find them.

Entertaining and Parties

Use real plates, utensils and napkins. If you don’t have enough to accommodate your group, consider renting, purchasing from a thrift store, or asking guests to bring dishes and silverware.

Use what’s in your pantry. Build your menu around what you already have.

Serve locally-produced foods that require less packaging.

Make a list of exactly what you will need and know for how many you are planning. For zero-waste meals and appropriate portion planning, go to Zero-Waste Chef.

Label your inside bins, so that guests know where to find garbage, recycling and food waste.

Bringing Children into the Loop

Are your children recycling savvy?  You can get them started with this Kid’s Guide to Recycling.  If you live in Seattle, you’ll want to correct a few things that don’t apply here, but for the most part there are lots of fun, educational ways to get your kids involved in recycling in your household.

Our Ballard Tool Library, located at 7549B 15th Ave NW, Seattle WA 98117, is a project of Sustainable Ballard which allows Sustainable Ballard supporting members to rent tools with a low cost donation. Current Tool Library hours are Mon & Thurs 5-7 pm & Sat 9 am – 11 am.

Background

The Tool Library first opened its doors in January 2018. At the Ballard Tool Library the term “tool” is broadly defined and may include home and garden tools, craft tools, cooking tools, boat repair tools, event equipment and more. Tool rentals are managed using MyTurn software. Tool Library members must sign a liability waiver. Volunteers meet once per month to socialize and discuss strategies for improving the Ballard Tool Library offerings.

Sustainable Ballard is seeking a resourceful, creative, committed, and organized Library Manager to oversee the long-term goals and daily operations of the Ballard Tool Library, including but not limited to: working within the budget, exploring marketing & fundraising, maintaining the tool collection and managing volunteers.

This position is more than just a job. It is a commitment to sustainability and support for the principles of Sustainable Ballard. As the leader of a group of volunteers, as opposed to employees, you will need to regularly provide appreciation and respect the differences and abilities of those who have elected to give their time and experience to the project. Your enthusiasm plus willingness to listen and offer support will be a major factor in smooth and successful operations.

Ideally, we are looking for someone with experience with non-profit organizations and a history of volunteering for community organizations. Supervisory experience is a plus but leadership experience is sufficient. Flexibility and customer service orientation is also important. Tool Library members are supporting members of Sustainable Ballard. A good experience at the Tool Library translates to an interest in Sustainable Ballard and all its projects and can lead to more members. It also creates a good sharing economy experience.

How to apply: Send as attachments: resume and cover letter to Executive Director, Jenny Heins.

Our inventory has grown!

This month we received some exciting new tools that expand our offerings. We now have a cement mixer, a pneumatic floor nailer and (due to popular demand) another brand new pole chainsaw. Thanks to our neighbors who recently donated these exciting new tools! Come check them out!

Do you have tools in good condition that you would like to donate?
Contact manager@ballardtoollibrary.org to see if they are something that we can take. We cannot take gas-powered power tools or any tools that are not in safe usable condition. Our space is limited, so please contact us before dropping by with your tools.

Are there tools that you would like to see us acquire? Let us know and we will add them to the wishlist!

Also, we are still accepting applications for our Tool Library Manager position. If you are interested, please contact manager@ballardtoollibrary.org for more information.

The Market Gleaning program, part of Sustainable Ballard, is an opportunity for volunteers to donate their time to the community by collecting donated food from vendors at the Ballard Farmers Market and bringing it to the Ballard Food Bank. Last year, we collected over 26,000 pounds of food for the Food Bank! We are currently searching for a new volunteer coordinator for the gleaning program. 

The role itself consists of coordinating communications between the Ballard Food Bank, Farmers Market, Sustainable Ballard, and of course, all of our wonderful volunteers. You could expect to spend about 2 hours per week checking/sending emails for gleaning, including: sending information to new gleaners, coordinating with the week’s gleaners and farmers market, and recruiting new volunteers. There are also some tasks that need to happen every 3 weeks, every ~6 months, and yearly that require some additional time and communication, but they are pretty minimal. 

If you are interested in this position and/or have any additional questions, please reach out to gleanballard@gmail.com.

We have a great schedule planned for the mainstage at the festival. Enjoy great music and demos all day long. Be sure to get your raffle tickets early because periodically throughout the day we’ll announce the winners of a handful of raffle prizes. See below for the schedule and raffle goodies.

Opening	11:15 – 11:25	Welcome Intro to the Fest from Sustainable Ballard and a word from sponsor BECU
Music	11:30 – 12:30	Old Glory Stringband old-timey music by Timothy Myer & Dave Kreime
Education	12:30 – 12:45	Earth Grammie With her wit and wisdom, Earth Grammie is here to show you more sustainable habits so we can help the planet by becoming real Warriors on Waste
Raffle	12:45 – 1:00	Raffle Drawing #1
Music	1:00 – 2:00	Seattle Drum School of Music Featuring two groups of young folks. The Rocktopus (formerly Reign City Rockers) and Paper Heart.
Raffle	2:15 -2:30	Raffle Drawing
Music	2:30 – 3:30	Brother Elmore Americana folk music
Closing & Raffle	3:45 – 4:00	Thank you’s and Grand Prize Raffle Drawing