Ever since The Evergrey launched back in the fall of 2016, we’ve been all about helping you cozy up to this place we call home. One great way to do that? Giving back.

Over the next several months, we’re going to be helping you find the best ways to make this community — your community — better. We’ll be organizing volunteer field trips, shouting out people and organizations that lift us up, and getting real about the challenges and opportunities around giving in Seattle in a project we’re calling the Evergrey Giving Guide.

But before we unpack how we can all be most helpful, we should get a good sense of where we all need the most help. And to do that, we’re going to ask you to do something a little different. We’re going to ask you to send us a text. 📲

Fun, huh? Here’s how it’s going to work:

• First, text the word GIVING to (206) 785-3055, or enter your cell phone number at the bottom of this post.
• We’ll reply right back, and ask you a couple quick questions about what you want to see improve in Seattle and why.
• We’ll follow up with some of you and ask if you’re up for a quick phone call to say a bit more.
• We’ll share out your answers next week, and see what they tell us about the range of ways we can give back to our city.

Feel too new / too busy / too involved / too uninvolved / too anything to answer these questions? You’re not! The more perspectives we see the city’s needs from, the more useful our project can be. In fact, we have a request. Can you ask one person you know who has a different point of view on things to send us a text, too? Just forward this email or share this link with them.

Seattle ranks no. 1 for charitable giving and no. 12 for volunteering among 51 major metro areas in the country, according to our latest Civic Health Index. And we’ve got a lot to solve for. There’s housing, poverty, safety, inequality, health, and a lot more. But hey. We are our city’s best resource. And if anyone can make the difference, it’s us. 💪

Big thanks to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which made this project possible. We love what we do, and are thrilled that we’re able to do more of it. Got an idea you want to share for our new Giving Guide? Hit reply or email [email protected].

‘This is hitting people very hard.’ Hundreds of people — including a lot of locals — told The Seattle Times what it’s been like to follow one of the most painful stories of the summer: the mother orca who’s carried her dead calf for more than 10 days. She’s just one member of our southern-resident pod, which is down to 75 whales and is starving to death. Our governor set up a task force to try to figure out what to do, and their next meeting is in Wenatchee today (and you can submit public comments here). Meanwhile, members of the Lummi tribe — which has honored the whales for generations — are ready to help biologists feed a 4-year-old orca who’s not going to survive much longer without more salmon. But they have to find her first. 🍥 (The Seattle Times)

‘Seattle PD ran away with this one.’ Our police department wasn’t messing around when it rallied neighbors and some local icons to be part of its super-viral music video as part of a nationwide social media lip sync challenge. Now this police news blog ranked SPD’s video the best of ‘em all (and Portland’s video didn’t even make the list!). But not everyone’s cheering it on. And when local music producer Spekulation thought it didn’t square with his view of policing, he spliced in footage from protests. “I understand the reaction to people having fun and that’s all fine and good,” said Spekulation, a.k.a. Matt Watson. “But that doesn’t solve any of the systemic problems.” (PoliceOne.com, The Seattle Times)

‘I’m sorry that my homelessness upsets you!’ Photojournalist Alex Garland was walking on the pedestrian overpass along I-90 over Rainier Avenue when he came across something striking: a message from a son to his mom, scrawled over yards and yards near a group of tents where some of our thousands of neighbors without homes live. Its author writes about a time his mom told him she was proud of the young man he’d become, and how it meant the world to him. “I’m not able 2 help her like a son should as she ages and I wanna die when dope tells me that there’s no way a mom can be proud I live in a tent,” he writes. “I swear I’m sorry mom but I love u you never gave up on me.” ❤️ (Facebook)

‘Sinking ship’ rising. The weirdest parking garage in Seattle was just named the fourth coolest one in the whole world. Yep, that’s a thing, and the online contest drew loads of votes worldwide. You can’t miss the “sinking ship” parking garage in Pioneer Square, which really does look like a sinking ship. Why? In part because it was supposed to have a whole other building built around it, but protesters didn’t want it and developers canceled the project early.  (KOMO)

And Seattle’s ‘coolest hipster neighborhood’ is… Ballard. In fact, our fishy and traditionally Scandinavian ‘hood is one of the “14 coolest hipster neighborhoods in the USA,” according to travel giant TripAdvisor. Two other Northwest neighborhoods got a shoutout in that list, too — Pearl District down in Portland, Oregon, and Downtown 8th Street in Boise, Idaho. (MyBallard)

VOTEY VOTE VOTE

If you haven’t sent that lovely primary ballot to its rightful home at your county elections department, no worries. You’ve got until 8 p.m. tonight to vote then send the little fella on its way. You can postmark the mail-in only ballot by today (you don’t need a stamp to mail it!) or drop it at one of the drop boxes scattered around the county.

Need a little voting help? Crosscut’s voter guide is a great place to start, and here are endorsements from the editorial boards at The Seattle Times and The Stranger. Lost your King County ballot? You can download one here.

All hail democracy. 😎 — The Evergrey