Caring Deeply: Missoula Couple Working to Dig a Well in Zanzibar
He's from Africa, she's from Montana, and they've recently moved to Missoula. Finishing a well, and building wellness for children…
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Caring Deeply: Missoula Couple Working to Dig a Well in Zanzibar
Clean water. For Missoula residents Said and Sara Hemed, it would be a dream come true if they could finish digging a well in Said’s native Zanzibar village so people there could have water to drink and use for washing -- without having to walk a mile to a water pump and haul it back in buckets.
Said (pronounced sye'-dee) and his wife, Sara, a Montana native, have other dreams too. They want to provide classes for adults and children on the six acres Said owns in Mchekeni, a village of about 300 people in Zanzibar, a small island off the coast of Tanzania.
Along the way, they’ve launched a group, Artisans for Africa, and are selling handmade arts and crafts -- batik purses, screen-printed fabrics, leather baby booties, jewelry -- to raise the money needed to finish digging a well on the property.
Stimulated!
Downtown Missoula Snags $1 Million From Feds
The Missoula Downtown Association today announced that the federal government is sending more than $1 million in economic stimulus money to downtown Missoula. The money will be used to beautify and boost user-friendliness on North Higgins Avenue between Broadway and Circle square, providing more safety for cyclists and pedestrians.
The ultimate goal? "Creating a more inviting, attractive and interactive street environment" to stimulate the downtown economy, according to the announcement from the MDA. Another chunk of the allotment money will pay for repaving three blocks of downtown Higgins, the association says.
Tendril Loving Care
Mulch Obliged: Missoula Volunteers Vow to Plant 1,000 New Veggie Gardens
Got lawns? Yep, most homeowners do, in Missoula and nearly everywhere else. Thanks to a national lawn obsession that has roots deeper than leafy spurge, America holds about 40 million acres of lawns and turf, a vast green carpet that’s a huge source of wasted water, CO2 and air pollution (thanks to gasoline-powered mowers), and toxic run-off from pesticides, insecticides and fertilizers.
Enter former Missoula Redevelopment Agency director Geoff Badenoch, who had an idea this February during a meal with Max Smith, a freshman at the University of Montana: Why not get a group of gardeners, a generous bunch at heart, to help other people grow foods instead of lawns?
The notion took root and grew. By April 26, dozens of volunteers for a new group, 1000newgardens, held a “Dig Day” and helped transform 10 local backyards into food plots.
Deja Boo
Missoula City Council Hears Nays and Yeas About Zoning Rewrite
After more than five hours of hearing public comment Monday night, the visibly exhausted Missoula City Council sent the proposed zoning rewrite ordinance revision back to the Plat, Annexation and Zoning committee for re-evaluation.
If passed, the new zoning ordinance would replace the existing zoning ordinance, which Office of Planning and Grants Director Roger Millar described as confusing and contradictory.
“Everything we do depends on zoning, and our regulatory foundation is broken,” Millar said during his brief presentation last night. “It’s time for a change.”
Following Millar’s presentation and continuing until past midnight, about 50 Missoula residents representing commercial, organizational, neighborhood and personal interests lined up in the aisles of the Council Chamber and, one by one, voiced their concerns before the weary Council members, Mayor John Engen and City Attorney Jim Nugent. The meeting was adjourned at 12:30 a.m.
Holy Frappuccino!
Downtown Missoula Starbucks Grinding to a Halt
Here's the skinny: the Starbucks coffee shop in downtown Missoula is slated to close. The three-year-old business in the Trailhead building is the only one of the five Starbucks in the area that will shutter its doors owing to the global financial slowdown, which (apparently) no amount of caffeine has been able to cure. Last summer the company announced it would close more than 600 stores in the U.S.; this winter, it announced it would close an additional 300 locales in the U.S. and abroad, due to lackluster performance.
Children in Crisis
Watson Children’s Shelter Gets Needed Money
There’s good news this week for the Watson Children’s Shelter, a 16-bed emergency shelter in Missoula for abused and neglected children in Western Montana.
Montana Congressman Denny Rehberg announced today that he’s secured $500,000 for the shelter, which has suffered dwindling donations amid a crisis of need.
In addition, KPAX’s Angela Marshall reports that the Missoula City Council and Mayor John Engen on Monday awarded the shelter $215,000 in grant money for construction of a much-needed second 16-bed children's facility on Buckhouse Lane in Missoula. The funds “are included in the Community Development Block Grant and are restricted to the construction of the new facility,” KPAX says.
Geoff Badenoch said: "One of the great opportunities that comes with this North Higgins project is not only doing the streetscape which will look nice and add bicycle…