Local News for 3/25/22
Brewocracy Now with John Mauro ~ 3/24
Today on Brewocracy Now KPTZ host Tim Quackenbush was joined by City Manager John Mauro and Cherish Cronmiller, Executive Director of OlyCAP. Topics discussed included an update on the 43-unit affordable housing project called 7th Haven, OlyCAP’s work with other non-profit partners, and the upcoming open house to discuss the “streateries program.”
Local News for 3/24/22
The Chimacum Center – Cultivating and Sowing Equity
(Airdate: March 22, 2022) Working in partnership with land and farming partners, along with grassroots and organizational allies around the region, The Chimacum Center works towards cultivating relationships, sowing sustainability and growing a more vibrant and equitable rural community. Through land-based interconnection, arts, advocacy, and education their vision is broad and their impact deep. Host Missy Nielsen talks with Executive Director Melissa O’Neill about the vision they have for our community and the place we all call home.
Nature Now #559
Finding Port Orford Cedars
(Airdate: March 23, 2022) Nan Evans talks with Maggie Baker and Suzy Elbow, this year’s AmeriCorps Service Members who are sponsored by the Friends of Fort Worden. Learn about their care of the parks natural resources, their public education activities, and about the Port Orford Cedars found up near the bunkers this past year.
Local News for 3/23/22
Joe Euro Candlelight Concert on KPTZ
KPTZ partners with Trinity United Methodist Church‘s Candlelight Concert series to present finger-style, Neo-Classical guitarist Joe Euro, live on the radio! Port Townsend’s own Joe Euro will be performing on Thursday, March 24 from 7 to 8pm. This radio concert is also being presented as an in-person event at Trinity United Methodist Church. More info here.
Local News for 3/22/22
#197 Becky Steffens
(Airdate: March 22, 2022) Becky Steffens, Physical Therapist. Our Town host Maryanne McNellis interviews Becky Steffens, a Physical Therapist with Jefferson Healthcare. Becky grew up in rural Iowa in an agricultural town of about 100 people. But this farm girl wanted to get off the farm and travel. She was fascinated by the medical world. But after working part-time as a CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant) as a student, she realized nursing wasn’t for her. But there are other opportunities in the medical field – if you are willing to work hard to get there. You might not realize it, but physical therapy certification requires a doctorate these days. But Becky didn’t let that – and a mountain of student debt – hold her back. After graduation she first became a “traveling physical therapist” zigzagging across the country on assignments. That helped her see the country. Traveling physical therapists also make more money than full-time staff people. She really wanted out from under that debt load. Port Townsend was one of her stops but it really caught her attention. Now she has joined Jefferson Healthcare full time. Her start date at Jefferson Healthcare was supposedly March 2020. She had already moved here when the job was put on hold due to the pandemic. Single and new in town, she threw herself into working for the Food Bank. When the worst of the crisis eased she started with Jefferson Healthcare. She loves working one-on-one with patients on their road back to mobility and health.
Northwest Maritime Center Connects People to the Sea
In March, KPTZ celebrates the Northwest Maritime Center (NWMC). In the broadest sense, they’re a nonprofit organization that engages people in the powerful experiences of the sea, to make them stronger people, connect them and their communities to the blue parts of the map and, in so doing, authentically address the larger issues of our world.
The Northwest Maritime Center’s roots are in the golden age of the Wooden Boat renaissance of the 1970s when an intrepid group of “Back to Sea” hippies created the Wooden Boat Festival. Since then the NWMC has added programs, events, publications, and expanded their campus. They’ve helped revitalize school districts, are helping connect communities of color to experiences on the water, helped birth and sustain great ideas like the Port Townsend Maritime Academy, and crystalized delightfully bad ideas like the Race to Alaska. Today they have over 2,000 program participants annually and tens of thousands more that engage in-person and online through the Wooden Boat Festival and their adventure races, and another 20,000 people who read 48° North every month (a regional sailing magazine that joined the Northwest Maritime Center family in 2018). All told, there are around 60 employees who work at the NWMC year round, another 40 or so that are added during the summer, and over 700 volunteers who support their events and initiatives throughout the year.
“It’s a beehive down here, and regardless of your age or depth of interest in maritime activities, there is something for you here,” says Jake Beattie, Executive Director. You’ll find students as young as 5 and as old as 80. The NWMC hosts trainings for the most senior professional mariners and also opens the waterfront for people who just want to have their morning coffee in the breathtaking beauty and sounds of waves on the beach. NWMC offers maritime and boat-building classes. They celebrate the spirit of adventure during Race to Alaska and SEVENTY48 in June, and at the Wooden Boat Festival in September. And if you’re looking for a way to get involved and give back to the community, the NWMC offers a multitude of ways to volunteer. All are welcome at the NWMC. Learn more here.
