ArtFeeds Organizers, Sheana Sisselman and Marie Biondolillo

ArtFeeds 2009 benefitting the Slum Doctor Programme was a huge success!  The art gallery/auction/music event held at the Eagle’s Hall raised money for our great causes in Kenya and Uganda and brought the art and non-profit communities together.  Thank you to everyone involved!

On Wednesday, August 5th, Slum Doctor Programme will partner with the Bellingham Downtown Partnership to present one installment in the Downtown Sounds Summer Concert Series.

Dikki Du and the Zydeco Krewe, and Monday Night Project will be performing.

5-9pm @ the corner of Bay St. and E. Holly

There will be food, music and community, all for free!  Come down and bring a friend.

Art Feeds – A Concert/Gallery Event/Auction
Saturday, July 11th, 7:00 PM
Eagles Hall
1125 N. Forest St. (catty-corner to the Co-Op)
$3.00 suggested donation
21+

Art Feeds is a charity benefit for the Slum Doctor Programme, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of those impacted by HIV/AIDS by providing education, food, healthcare, and hope. Arts Feeds’ mission is to forge connections between Bellingham NGOs and local youth, artists, and businesses in order to make a space for art that creates social change.

On July 11th, Art Feeds will present an arts exhibition on the theme of hunger at the Eagles Hall. Bands Biagio featuring Anna Arvan & Kat Bula, carcrashlander, Go Slowpoke, Karl Blau, and Wooden Wings will play. Local and amazing artists Luke Anthropy, Brittany Beug, Marie Biondolillo, Shelly Browder, Charissa Engstrom, Genevieve Gonska, Corey Greenwald, Melanie Hindman, Katy Houseman, Nora Hughes, Amanda Kalkwarf, Brad Lockhart, Nico Lund, Jonathan McIntyre, Willow Misterly, Matt Rathkamp, Katie Rickard, Michelle Schutte, Corey Urlacher, Mellissa Watt, and Scott Winters will be featured.

We also will have an auction/raffle featuring donations from our lovely community. Current sponsors include: Bellingham Fiddle, Blessings Salon Spa, Corridor Records, Eva Salon, Everyday Music, Fair Trade Haven, Four Starrs Boutique, Fresh Start Espresso, Georgie Girl, Hi-Jinx Audio Recording Studio, Hooligan’s Tattoo & Barber Salon, Ideal, Idiom Theatre, Innate Snow & Skate, Katie’s Cupcakes, Little Cheerful Cafe, Mallard Ice Cream & Cafe, Merch-Bot, Old Fairhaven Wines, Paper Dreams, Pepper Sisters, Pink Nail & Skincare Studio, Poetry Night, Seattle Mariners, Sojourn Jewelry & Clothing, SWELL, Tart Beauty, The Big Fat Fish Company, The Copperhog Gastropub, The Hempest, The Inkwell, The Winter Commission, and Village Books.

Adult beverages will be served. Proceeds of the night’s festivities will go to Slum Doctor Programme. Hope to see you there!

The annual Slum Doctor Programme Ethiopian benefit dinner, catered by the fabulous Mulu Belay, was the best it’s ever been, raising over $20,000 for people affected by HIV/AIDS in Kenya and Uganda!  Juba Marimba enchanted us with their upbeat rhythmic delights and guests enjoyed beer by Chuckanut Brewery.  Thank you to all of our corporate sponsors, volunteers, and everyone who attended.  Good company, delicious eats, great cause!

Slum Doctor Programme’s annual A Place at the Table Ethiopian Benefit Dinner is Sunday, June 7^th from 6 – 8 pm at the Depot Market Square, 1100 Railroad Ave.

You will enjoy authentic Ethiopian cuisine, local beer and wine, and a wonderful community of friends and family acting globally.  Tickets are $35 and available at the Community Co-Op, Village books and online at www.slumdoctor.org

Hope to see you there!

This year’s EndFair was bigger and better than ever.  The annual music festival took place in the Fairhaven Dorms Main Lounge and Courtyard May 15-17, and included 17 musical acts, a bouncy fun house, dunk tank and cotton candy.  Lizzie Lamb and Jen Moore, coordinators of the free event, brought the amazing musical entertainment of No Fi-Soul Rebellion, The Senate, Madrid, Common Market and many more.  All donations, and a portion of shirt sales, benefitted Slum Doctor Programme.  Thank you to Jen and Lizzie for all their hard work and dedication!

Global HIV/AIDS: Local Communities Addressing World Concerns
COST: $12 A.L.L. members, $17 non-members
LOCATION: St. Luke’s Community Health Education Center, 3333 Squalicum Pkwy.(click for map)
One session: Wednesday, March 11
2:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Registration: You can pay at the door

This two-hour course will give a brief overview of the AIDS pandemic in Sub-Saharan Africa, where 70% of all people infected with HIV live. We will move beyond the mind-numbing statistics and personalize the impact this disease is having on already fragile civil societies, using a “notes from the field” format with video, slides and lively conversation. With so many problems facing our more interconnected global society, this course will ask the question, “How can communities across the United States respond?” Do small and generous acts really matter?

Tim Costello is the founder and director of the Slum Doctor Programme, a grassroots nonprofit organization in Bellingham, that was organized in 2000 to address the impact of AIDS in Africa. Slum Doctor Programme provides hope, medicine, food and education to people living with AIDS, and orphans at five project sites in Kenya and Uganda. Tim is the director of the Center for Service Learning at Western Washington University. He has received recognition for his commitment to the local and global communities, including the 2007 Whatcom County Human Rights Award.

Plus News is a great site for multi-media resources regarding HIV/AIDS news and other humanitarian stories surrounding the epidemic.

http://www.plusnews.org/

Found this on the National Public Radio (NPR) website, was inspired by her story and hoping that the work Slum Doctor Programme does is spreading this courage and confidence to all of our Kenyan and Ugandan partners.

Read the story here:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100677646&ps=bb4

On Monday Feb 9th, five Kenyan students visited WWU for a day of cultural exchange, learning and fun. Sponsered by Kenya Airways and Boeing, the girls, all from different high schools in various parts of Kenya, were chosen for this opportunity based on their outstanding academic achievements.  The day of events was co-planned by Cameron Harsh, Slum Doctor Programme intern and member of Students for SDP, and Natalie Washington from WWU Admissions.  The girls were given a guided campus tour, ate lunch in the Viking Union Commons, participated in a discussion in Sociology professor Liz Mogford’s Global Health class and played team-building games led by the campus group E.D.G.E.