Space to Create

At Large in Ballard: Hot Meal

Guest — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 17:44:00 +0000

Guest (not verified) Wed, 02/27/2013 - 9:44am

Sammy Smith, Jamie Smith and Natalie Fernandi making breakfast at Compass Center.

Photo by Kelly Fernandi

The Sunday breakfast menu sounds simple. The pancakes are from a mix. Orange juice will be purchased, not hand-squeezed, the egg casseroles baked in advance. But it’s not the menu that’s matters. It’s the ingredients. Teenagers and neighbors who have answered the Smith family’s call to become part of preparing and serving a monthly hot breakfast at a men’s shelter In Pioneer Square.

As parents and community members, Barb and Kip Smith have always felt strongly about involving their children in ways to help those who need a helping hand. Kip Smith grew up in a family that helped through their church. Barb Smith’s background is in social work, as is that of friend and business partner Lauren Malloy-Johnson. They co-own Space to Create on 70th St NW, where they have always managed, through various events, to support the nonprofit Solid Ground.

There’s a common tendency to use the holidays as an opportunity to help at a food bank or a shelter but the Smiths, and many of their friends, wanted to find a way to contribute year-round. However the Smiths are realists and their desire to do more wasn’t always easy to navigate between work, school and sports. Enter another ingredient, a free Internet organizing software called Sign-up Genius.

Barb Smith had long been wrestling with how to connect a shelter’s specific need with an extended network of folks who also wanted to help in thoughtful ways. The Smith family helped prepare a meal at a shelter on Thanksgiving and were re-inspired to commit for after the holidays. Barb’s contacts led her to a shelter open on weekends that said what would be wonderful was a hot breakfast for men who normally just eat cold cereal. Once a month the Smiths decided on a starting point: Surely they could coordinate a Sunday breakfast once a month.

Once Barb Smith discovered the Sign-up Genius software it made every soccer snack list or classroom telephone tree look like a relic. By simply sending the dates and a shopping list of needs to interested families, they could commit to as little as a gallon of orange juice to serving pancakes as often as once a month. The software even uses the checkmark icon. Egg dish for March? Check. Cleanup? The Bente Fernandi Family. Check!

For oldest daughter Sammy Smith, the shelter breakfasts will be a way to stay close with longtime friends who are now in different high schools. If she can’t go on a Sunday morning she could have a baking party the day beforehand instead. Meanwhile, it was her younger sister Jamie who saved the day at Thanksgiving by forming sausage patties from 15 pounds of meat that Cascioppo Brothers donated. “The house smelled like sausages for weeks.”

Participants know ahead of time that the men staying in transitional housing at the shelter are having a tough time; helping in-person is not for everyone. Donations of money, time, supplies, transport and helping in person are equally needed.

Barb Smith’s dream is that the idea will spread. “I want it to be replicable,” Barb Smith said, “Simple enough that it just becomes something that you do.” For high school students the volunteer efforts can be logged for community service but the Smiths believe that many families really want to volunteer together.

“When you’re volunteering it’s important that it’s something you actually like doing,” Kip Smith added. With everyone so busy the ability to volunteer together helps friends and relatives socialize while filling a need. “And the need is always there.”

So far the Sign-Up Genius sheet only extends until June, but slots are filling -- task-by-task and gallon-by-gallon. Barb Smith’s next goal, “I want there to be more people volunteering than there is need.” Which of course would allow the program to expand to other shelters, more weeks per month, more generations showing another generation the importance of giving.

“Sobering, eye-opening, gratifying, it took a bit to learn to work the stoves …” Those are just a few initial impressions. The first shelter breakfast was served on Feb. 10.

The Smith Family is as busy as any family, juggling jobs, schoolwork, lots of sports and an excitable dog. But they know that if they can make the time so can anyone else. With lifestyles that don’t always include the church, Scout troops or organized opportunities to help others in the community the Smiths and friends want to create a new path for giving.

Every contribution is appreciated, by both participant and recipient. How often can you gain so much return from making a coffeecake or giving 2-3 hours of time several times per year? With the help of Sign-Up Genius and a few hours per month, it cooks into hot meals that fill bellies, hearts and teenage souls.

If you are interested, contact Barb Smith at bssmithbarb@gmail.com or 206.595.3474

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At Large in Ballard: Space to Create

michaelh — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 18:33:50 +0000

michaelh Mon, 12/07/2009 - 10:33am

Space to Create co-owner Barb Smith with a furry critter.

Peggy Sturdivant

She was spotted by a mutual friend in the Cash-n-Carry pushing a flat cart stacked with boxes of Altoids, but she wasn’t buying them for the “curiously strong mints.” I needed to know more.

Barb Smith (she of the Altoids) is co-owner of Space to Create at 1414 N.W. 70th St. Although she and co-owner Lauren Malloy-Johnson try to repurpose many materials in their arts and craft programs, Barb has a particular weakness for containers.

Space to Create is a multipurpose studio in its own building on what used to be the block that time forgot. That is until the woman behind one of the most popular English-language food blogs in the world, Orangette, opened a restaurant with her husband.

Delancey nestles between Honoré Artisan Bakery and Bella Umbrella on the south side of the block. Space to Create shares the north side with Tarasco’s and A Caprice Kitchen. Barb and Lauren are practically senior residents now that they have been open for almost four years.

Space to Create is far more than its varied creations: bottle cap magnet in a mint tin, furry critters, felted soap or jewelry. The studio fulfills its name, providing a space and materials for nearly anyone to create, from open studio through party rentals and summer camps.

The business is the lovechild of two women who met when their children were in preschool co-op together and bloomed once their daughters “were firmly ensconced in elementary school.”

By coincidence both Barb and Lauren originally hail from the East Coast, have Masters in social work, have two towheaded daughters apiece and love art.

As their friendship (and that of their daughters) progressed from preschool to youth soccer sidelines, they discussed the lack of a studio space in Ballard where children and adults could create in various mediums, and where teachers could give classes based on their own passions, be it felting, oil-painting, textile arts or “Zentangle.”

In deciding what to do next with their lives, they decided to do what they loved doing.

Beyond the fact that Monday afternoons are for elementary school students and Thursdays for middle school, most things are flexible, from their arrangements with teachers to their birthday party themes.

Some children like a project with structure; others just follow where the varied materials beckon. One child may want to make a cat toy and another create a rain forest with plywood and wire mesh, feathers, beads and felt. All ages want to sew.

It’s the adults who tend bring self-judgment into the studio with them. Barb and Lauren emphasize that it’s just supposed to be fun. Adults can take a six-week oil painting class or attend an afternoon of scarf-painting. There’s no critique involved, just joy in combining materials in their bright, high-ceilinged space.

When Barb and Lauren decided to combine their love of all things creative with studio space, they were blessed by supportive husbands and the ability to buy the building.

As Barb says, “There was always a Plan B.” They could always rent it out, plus the space wouldn’t be subject to rising rents.

Most of the teachers in addition to Barb and Lauren find them by chance. One woman was led in by her dog.

People tell them, “You have to offer this class.” So they do. They are flexible in so many ways, their days, their hours, their participants. The only thing they are not is an alternative to day care.

Their varied class and camp offerings are never longer than half-a-day and geared to those who find creating fun. The products could be tote bags or pajama bottoms, fuzzy critters or marble mazes.

For those who don’t have time to create for themselves this year, Space to Create will hold a Studio Sale on Dec. 11 through Dec. 13. The sale lasts from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. It features blankets, knitted wear, jewelry, art kits and more.

Sitting in the space with Barb as she prepared materials for what would be journals, I wanted to start cutting and gluing, making my gifts instead of buying them, buying Altoids again without feeling guilty about the empty containers.

The wait has always been too long for me at Delancey – I think I belong on the other side of the street with Barb and Lauren.

For more information visit www.spacetocreate.net or call 206.784.0401.