826 Seattle was thrilled today to learn that two custom-made and hand-painted bass guitars were sold at auction for $8,501 each, with all the proceeds going to the non-profit tutoring and writing center.

Jeff Ament, bassist for Pearl Jam, asked his favorite guitar maker, Mike Lull, to build the guitars, then Ament painted them. They were each valued at $5,500. Below is the guitar Ament called “Green Noise.”

The guitars were auctioned through the CharityBuzz website. As soon as the auction ended this afternoon, 826 Seattle sent out this tweet:

THANK YOU to everyone who helped support today’s auction. You’re ALL rockstars to us. Final bids? $17,000. Holy. Moly. We are SO GRATEFUL.

826 Seattle later told us each guitar sold for $8,501, for a total of $17,002.

Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament and guitar maker Mike Lull have created two bass guitars that are currently being auctioned online at CharityBuzz, with all proceeds going to 826 Seattle, Greenwood’s tutoring and writing center hidden inside the Greenwood Space Travel Supply Co.

As of Monday afternoon, “Green Noise” (signed and hand-painted by Ament, with an estimated value of $5,000) was going for $2,200; bidding ends at 12 p.m. (Pacific Time) Thursday.

“Red Splatter” (signed and hand-painted by Ament, with an estimated value of $5,500), was going for $2,450; bidding ends at 7 p.m. (Pacific Time) Thursday.

The memorial Facebook page set up for the family of Prudence Hockley, the Phinney Ridge woman who died Christmas Day after allegedly being assaulted by her boyfriend the day before, reports that an online donation account is being closed. However, donations can now be made to a fund set up at BECU.

Checks can be made out to the Prudence Hockley Benevolent Account, and mailed to BECU, PO Box 34044, Seattle, WA 98124-1044.

Two days ago, Hockley’s oldest daughter told me that the family would like to use the money to install a memorial bench at Green Lake, where Prudence loved to run, and to pay for 13-year-old Maggie’s future schooling. They also need help with funeral expenses.

Update: A memorial service for Hockley will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Jan. 21,  at the Center For Urban Horticulture, at the University of Washington, 3501 NE 41st St. A friend of the family tells us that the family is asking for donations to the memorial fund, instead of flowers at the service.

Friends of Prudence Hockley, the Phinney Ridge woman who died Christmas Day after allegedly being assaulted by her boyfriend on Christmas Eve, have set up an online donation account to raise money for Hockley’s children.

Hockley has two adult children, and a 13-year-old daughter in middle school. Willa Hockley-Smith told me by email that the money will likely be used for her sister Maggie’s schooling, and possibly a memorial bench at Green Lake, where their mother used to run.

The account was originally set up to collect money for supplies for a memorial mural at Woodinville High School, where Hockley was a teacher. (Organizers say the money will now go straight to the family, even though the page still has the old information about the memorial wall supplies.)

The Phinney Neighborhood Center tried to raise $30,000 from the community to help pay for an elevator to make the building more accessible – and ended up raising $40,161.

Those funds come from 249 households and businesses, 11 company matches, 33 Beer Taste patrons, a generous donation from the Phinney Neighborhood Preschool Co-op and $2,443 worth of potholder sales at the Winter Festival. Thank you for all you’ve done to help put an elevator in the Blue Building.

We expect to start construction of the Blue Building elevator by July 2012. In addition to the elevator, we also plan to do seismic retrofitting on the building, an improved entryway and a small community plaza. Barring any unforeseen complications we hope to complete the project by late fall. In the meantime, thanks to a grant from 4Culture, brickwork on the two small outbuildings on Dayton Avenue – the former fan building and the boiler room – is being restored and both buildings will be reroofed.

For a quarter of a century, the PNA has had a vision to create a living, enduring place that allows people of all ages and abilities to gather together and share their lives, ideas and experiences, creating a sense of belonging and a deeper commitment to our community. Our Community Begins Here Campaign has successfully raised $5.3 million in a very difficult economy, allowing us to purchase the Phinney Neighborhood Center campus from the School District, preserving a neighborhood landmark, and ensuring its ability to serve our extended community for generations to come. We are proud of our accomplishments to date!

Ruby Smith, the 17-year-old daughter of Couth Buzzard Books co-owner Theo Dzielak, is battling Burkitt’s lymphoma, and the community has rallied to support her family while she undergoes chemotherapy. To help pay her treatment expenses, friends held a musical fundraiser in October. And now others are hosting a music and dance workshop this weekend.

“An Introduction to Middle Eastern Music & Dance Workshop” is a family-friendly class for all ages and abilities. It will be from 1-2:30 p.m. Sunday at MKG Seattle, 10722 5th Ave. NE in Northgate. (MKG used to be located where the new Couth Buzzard is now.)

Organizer Charina Pitzel is a friend of Ruby’s family, and wanted to help out however she could. She asked award-winning Middle Eastern dance performer Elisa Gamal to lead the workshop. Gamal will be accompanied by world music band Hejira. Following the class will be an improv performance by Elisa and Hejira.

Gamal says that Middle Eastern dance is for everybody, including men and children.

“People tend to naturally think that bellydance is just for women, but ‘over there’ everybody does it. (D)ance is a universal language that we all share — a way to express and communicate joy with each other, and the arts of music and dance are a lovely way to bridge cultures.”

The workshop is free, with donations of any amount accepted.

For more information, check out the event’s Facebook page. And you can listen to a performance by Hejira here.

Family and friends of Suzanne Pierce have set up an account to help the long-time Phinney Ridge resident with medical expenses after she was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia last Friday. She starts chemotherapy tomorrow.

Pierce’s sister-in-law, Susan Pierce, also a Phinney resident, tells us that Suzanne is the sole breadwinner for her family.

Suzanne works for the UW. While they do have health insurance which will cover 80% of the medical bills, they do not have short term disability coverage, which would have covered living expenses such as house payments, garbage, sewer, etc. We have set up a “Chip In” account for Suzanne and Jim and I would like to share this information with the broadest community possible.

The Chip In website for Suzanne Pierce is: http://suzannepiercefund.chipin.com/

The Phinney Neighborhood Association (PNA) needs about $6,000 more to install a new elevator as part of its Capital Campaign.

The Capital Campaign has raised about $5.3 million so far to purchase the site and buildings from the Seattle School District, create a more accessible campus both inside and outside, construct a more welcoming entry way and community plaza, perform seismic upgrades, repair the Brick Building’s slate roof and the main sewer line between the two buildings, update the boiler, insulate both buildings, and install an elevator in the Blue Building to make it more accessible to everyone.

The elevator will be installed in the current front entryway, about where the soda machine is now. The PNA received a grant from Wyncote Foundation NW several months ago, and is using part of that grant for the elevator. Community leaders, including Red Mill Burgers and several individual donors, also contributed, for a total of $60,000, and are challenging the community to come up with an additional $30,000 to help pay for it.

PNA Development Director Ann Bowden said 157 community members have contributed $23,840 towards that goal, leaving $6,160 to go by the end of the year.

The total cost for the elevator, entryway, community plaza and seismic work is expected to cost about $1.6 million, and the PNA still needs about $175,000 to meet that. Bowden said they are working on a few more grants and will probably have another fundraiser in the spring.

“We’ve raised almost $5.3 million, we’ve done some pretty significant repairs, and we’ve done all this in the middle of the recession,” PNA Executive Director Lee Harper said proudly. “We’re incrementalists here at the PNA. This is the next increment. We’re getting the elevator so we don’t have to carry 95-year-old women up the stairs to the Beer Taste.”

That actually happened last summer. Harper said Jeannette Miss came to the Summer Beer Taste with her granddaughter to celebrate her 95th birthday , and both were dismayed to find steep stairs to the second floor. So a group of men got together and carried Miss in her wheelchair up the stairs.

Four men carry 95-year-old Jeannette Miss in her wheelchair up the stairs to last summer’s Beer Taste. Photo courtesy of the PNA.

“You always talk about accessibility, and that right there is the problem. We cannot serve our whole community,” Harper said.

The PNA hopes to begin construction of the elevator in spring of 2012.

(Disclosure: We’ve donated to the Capital Campaign.)

By Next Door Media Intern Mwiza Kalisa

Inside the drawers of Seattle, some socks are destined for the garbage, but one person is using old socks for a good cause.

Lauri Serafin, who makes potholders out of recycled socks, is raising money for the Phinney Neighborhood Association. Serafin would like people to donate old socks that she can use to make potholders to sell at this year’s Winter Festival.

“I know there are people out there that don’t have the means to donate money, but maybe they can give us their old socks,” Serafin said. “We can turn them into something.”

Serafin is among 115 vendors who are taking part in the Winter Festival, held on Dec. 3-4. The festival is one of the largest community events where vendors sell homemade crafts. Serafin and her daughter, Amelia, have been vendors at the PNA Winter Festival twice.

“Typically we’ll sell 400 potholders at Winterfest; we’re hoping to do that again,” she said.

The proceeds from the potholder sales will go toward the PNA Capital Campaign elevator project. The campaign has already raised $5.2 million for the Phinney Neighborhood Center. They’re now looking to add an elevator in the Blue Building,” one of two Phinney Neighborhood Center buildings.

“Our goal is to raise $30, 000,” said Ann Bowden, the PNA’s development director. The elevator project has already received a $60,000 challenge grant.

Serafin says that one of the biggest challenges is finding enough socks to make the potholders. Each potholder needs a minimum of four socks. In some cases as many as seven socks are used to make one potholder, if the socks are small. The only requirement for the donations is that they aren’t nylon or soccer socks.

“It’s a great way to get rid of socks that are worn out or that have holes in them,” she said.

Stacks of recycled sock potholders ready for sale at the PNA Winter Festival, and the small loom they’re made on.

Serafin has been making potholders out of recycled socks for the past 30 years. The idea started in college, where she had socks that were too small but had refused to throw them away.

“I found my little plastic loom I had when I was small and I cut [the socks] up,” she said. “I had those potholders for years and they lasted forever.”

In the past Serafin has made monetary donations, but she now wants to donate her time and effort.

“This is important because we can make something productive and useful out of something that was going to be thrown away,” she said.

The majority of socks for the potholders come from Goodwill. Serafin has mastered the craft of creating potholders; it usually takes her 20 to 30 minutes. As the Winter Festival approaches, Serafin is hoping to have 500 potholders. She already has 350 potholders, but to achieve her goal she needs about 600 more socks.

“It’s really satisfying to take somebody’s old sock and make something pretty out of it,” she said. “As a fiber artist, I knit and spin, too, but I also want to do something for the PNA.”

If you are interested in donating socks to help Lauri and the PNA Capital Campaign, you can drop off your old socks at the Phinney Neighborhood Center, at 6532 Phinney Ave. N.

Woodland Park Zoo is offering some unique holiday experiences at its annual Zookeepers’ Holiday Silent Auction on Friday Nov. 18: behind-the-scenes animal tours (like watching an elephant take a bath), animal feedings, photos with a raptor, or meeting an orangutan up close.

Photo by Ryan Hawk, Woodland Park Zoo.

The auction is hosted by the Puget Sound Chapter of the American Association of Zoo Keepers.

Guaranteed bidding, preview, lunch and a bake sale is from 12-2 p.m. Silent auction, dinner, bake sale, and wine and beer cash bar are from 4-8 p.m. in the zoo’s Education Center near the South Entrance at North 50th Street and Fremont Avenue North. (Entrance to the auction is free, but access to the zoo is not included and requires zoo admission.)

By Next Door Media Intern Mwiza Kalisa

For the past 20 years, Couth Buzzard Books has been a center for the community. The bookstore at 8310 Greenwood Ave. N., which sells new and used books, is a place where people not only go to browse books, but to socialize and listen to live music and poetry.

But now, Couth Buzzard needs the community’s help. This Saturday, Couth Buzzard Books & Espresso Buono Café is hosting a benefit cabaret for Ruby Smith, daughter of Couth Buzzard co-owner Theo Dzielak and Kate Smith. Ruby was recently diagnosed with Burkitt’s Lymphoma.

“Since [August] our lives have been very different; it’s very moment to moment,” Dzielak said.

Friends and family want to raise money for the 17-year-old’s treatment expenses. Dzielak says that the benefit cabaret grew out of “civil strength.” As a community organizer and performer, Dzilak has contacts in the arts community, most of whom offered to perform on Saturday. Dzielak used to organize house cabarets in the 1990s.

“When I opened this place I knew that had to be an important part of the vision, not just to sell books but to have community events,” he said.

Couth Buzzard gives the neighborhood an opportunity to showcase their talents. The bookstore has writing workshops, open mic nights and music events.

“It’s become a community gathering place for the neighborhood,” he added.

Kenny Mandell, a music teacher and performer, has known Dzielak since the store re-opened in 2009 after closing its original location at North 73rd Street and Greenwood Avenue a year-and-a-half earlier.

“I think why we became friends is because of a similar philosophy; engaging the local community through art,” Mandell said.

Mandell, who performs every first Friday of the month, has developed a jazz following at the bookstore. When he learned of Ruby’s illness he said that it had a profound effect on his life.

“I think it’s critical that people need to help each other, we’re all in this together,” he said. “If we don’t help each other out it’s a sad statement.”

There has been a tremendous amount of support from the community. Mandell sent out 100 e-mails to his own mailing list and is among the group of performers who have stepped forward.

“I think Theo’s vision goes way beyond selling books; it’s much more inclusive of the local community,” Mandell said. “I just hope to see people opening up their hearts and helping out in whatever way they can.”

Kate Smith says that the communities they’ve been working with for many years are indeed coming forth.

“It’s the community that’s going to save us. It sounds so simplistic but it’s true,” she said. “There’s no better proof of that than what has happened with our daughter, Ruby.”

Smith has heard from people in California, where Ruby was born, and from friends who are located as far as Scotland.

Ruby, a Senior at Nathan Hale High School, plays bass and loves to write. The 17-year-old has posted honest journal entries through CaringBridge, an organization that offers websites to people facing serious medical conditions.

Victoria Millard, the host on Saturday, has known Ruby since she was 2.

“Wherever Kate and Theo have lived they have created community around them,” she said.

Millard is the board president of Ear to the Ground, a clown and physical theater company.

“I think that’s what we’ve learned in our work, that laughter is medicine,” Millard said.

Millard and Smith worked together at Children’s Hospital as clowns for 11 years.

“If you can laugh even at the darkest things it’s a way to keep the spirits up and it does make a difference in health and outcome,” she said. “That’s what we’ve learned through our work in the hospital and that’s what I’m hoping to do to help now, not only for Ruby but for Kate.”

Millard says that Ruby’s family has created community in ways that are important to sustaining human life.

“Movies are great, listening to music is great, but there’s something about a small intimate experience of musicians who are playing just for you,” she said. “They’ve given artists a place to express themselves, to be able to do their work in a non-commercial way. They’ve reached the neighborhood through art and have brought people into their home, because they know that art makes people happy and it’s vitally important.”

The benefit cabaret is this Saturday, Oct. 22nd, starting at 7:30 p.m., at 8310 Greenwood Ave N.

826 Seattle, the nonprofit writing and tutoring center hidden inside the Greenwood Space Travel Supply Co., is kicking off a fundraiser today to raise money to provide healthy snacks to students.

Once school starts, 826 Seattle provides one-on-one after-school tutoring to about 100 students per week, and they provide healthy snacks to those students to keep their minds and bodies fueled.

You can donate to 826 Seattle’s special snack drive here. You can give in any amount, of course, but the website shows certain levels, such as: $10 provides daily snacks for one student for two weeks; $18 provides snacks for all tutoring students for one day; $75 will pay for snacks for all students for one week; and $195 will provide snacks for one student for a full year.