This January, reader Kristen Corning Bedford and a group of her neighbors are planning to give whopping $10,000 to a local org helping fight homelessness in West Seattle. How’re they able to drop so much 💰? Because they joined forces to create a neighborhood giving circle this year.

Her group, Impact West Seattle, is made up of about 100 local women who want to do something about the issues impacting their neighborhood, like housing, environmental sustainability, and immigrant rights. They’ll be handing over their check to a rad neighborhood org in January.

“It’s easy to feel disconnected,” she told us. “I can’t write a $10,000 check [on my own], but I could write a $100 one with a bunch of other women and do something bigger.”

Want to amplify your dollars to help local causes you’re passionate about? Kristen gave us this handy, four-step guide to kickstarting your own giving circle:

Step 1: Wrangle your core group of givers. They could be friends, neighbors, coworkers, or anyone else in making a difference in Seattle.

Step 2: Set the rules. Think about who else you’d want to join your giving circle and how much each person would have to give. You could set a certain amount givers would have to donate or let ‘em pay what feels right for their budget.

Step 3: Figure out your goals. Know what specific causes or communities you want to support and let your group narrow it down from there. To Kristen’s group, it was key to consider work being done by local nonprofits already working on the issues they were interested in, she said.

Step 4: Pick a time to meet. You can choose to meet annually, quarterly, or monthly — whatever feels right for your group — to decide what cause or local org or you want to support. Give yourselves at least an hour to talk, and let people know ahead of time if they should come prepared to write a check.

Step 5: Make that donation. You did it! Give each other a round of high-fives for working together and doing something awesome.

BONUS: Keep exploring. Still stoked about the org or cause you supported? You can keep learning about local issues and maintain your charitable momentum by looking for local volunteer opps related to your giving circle’s interests. Need help getting started? Check out Seattle Works, The World is Fun, VolunteerMatch.org, and One Brick for some volunteer inspo.

Want to meet like-minded folks excited to give back to Seattle? Make sure you’re RSVP’d for our 2nd birthday and Evergrey Giving Guide launch party on Thursday, Nov. 29. Want more inspo for giving back to Seattle before then? Check out our round up of reader recommended volunteer opportunities and testimonials about giving to local orgs. Thanks to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for making our Giving Guide possible.

‘It all happened too fast.’ When someone asks how Amazon’s changed Seattle, where do you even start? Local writer Hanna Brooks Olsen laid out the angst piece by piece for a whole new audience — New Yorkers. Queens, New York, will be the home of one of the two new headquarters Amazon is opening around the country. And Seattle has a lot to teach the Big Apple about what not to do to prep, she writes. Her most important bit of advice: Don’t leave it entirely to the private sector to handle the crush. “Learn from our mistakes,” she writes. “Start. Now.” (New York Daily News)

OMG the viaduct. Seattle’s traffic flows are going to get a huge, tricky makeover in a matter of months. A new four-lane tunnel is going to sub in permanently for the Alaskan Way Viaduct, a waterfront highway we’ve been driving on since 1953. This has been a looong time coming, but it could land like a shock on our commutes… unless we get a head start on what to expect. Can’t read this guide to locals’ burning questions on the project right now? Bookmark it for the bus/car ride/walk home. (The Seattle Times)

Above the law? The top cop in Republic, Washington, is saying no to I-1639 — a.k.a. the state initiative we just passed to make our gun laws way stricter. “It’s totally against my oath of office,” Republic Police Chief Loren Culp told MyNorthwest, “and I will not enforce it.” His beef? It violates our constitutional right to bear arms, he said. And he’s not just complaining: The city council in Republic, a town out east of just 1,100, is considering at a resolution he wrote to make Republic a “2nd Amendment Sanctuary City.” Curious about that growing political gap between urban and rural America? Culp’s Facebook thread on this is a fascinating read. (MyNorthwest)

Bark and Brew and more. Seattle loves its dogs and its beer. So naturally, there are a bunch of places that serve both, and gladly. Here’s a rundown of great pooch-loving pubs from the Voff Bark and Brew in Greenwood to the Slow Boat Tavern in Hillman City. Are you 👍 or 👎 with having a pup near your pint? Let us know in our Facebook poll. (Eater Seattle)

Gratitude break. It’s that time of the year to call out the things that make life all right. And naturally, we’re asking for your shoutouts to your city. Who or what are you glad you’ve got around you? Add your 🙏 to this collection from fellow Evergreyers, and we’ll share some of ‘em back in our special holiday edition on Thursday. 🦃 Go say thanks, y’all.

We messed up: In Friday’s newsletter, we told you about a local rise in hate crimes, including anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim vandalism and harassment. We wrote that these crimes were especially concerning in the aftermath of last month’s shooting inside a Pittsburgh mosque. But the attack, in which 11 people were murdered, happened inside Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue. Thank you to reader David Streeter for catching that. We’re sorry about the error.

‘THIS HAS BEEN A SICK BURN BY JEFF BEZOS’

Feeling wound up before the holidays? Like everything from work to travel to all the Big Important Debates™ in our city are just a lot to process?

You’ve got to watch this quick clip from Saturday Night Live. It features Jeff Bezos. Or rather, the one and only Steve Carell playing Jeff Bezos. And the number of really, really good jokes — often at the expense of Bezos rival President Trump — are gonna loosen you up. Guaranteed.

‘Til tomorrow, y’all. — The Evergrey