Bring mind, body & emotion together. Join the Wellness Discussion Group.

Led by Cristina Clerico, the newly formed Wellness Group will gather for four sessions, beginning on Wednesday, May 23, 2012 at 7pm. 

Topics will include goal setting, stress management, family dynamics, and more. This event is free. Adults and teens are welcome.

Sweet Grief: Paintings & Poems on Love and Loss
Paintings by Senitila McKinley paired with poems by Drew Myron

Artist Senitila McKinley is founder and director of Seashore Family Literacy.
Poet Drew Myron is Seashore's writing instructor.

Sweet Grief is showing through June 20, 2012
at the Windermere Gallery in Seal Rock, Oregon
5693 NW Pacific Coast Hwy
541-563-3862

Click here to order limited edition exhibition book:

About Sweet Grief

Dying sucks. A creative collaboration began with those two words.

The collaboration is Sweet Grief — 12 paintings paired with 12 poems — and is the work of Senitila McKinley and Drew Myron, two women who met in 2005 and bonded over an appreciation for children and families in need. At Seashore Family Literacy, the nonprofit organization that Senitila created and runs, Drew serves as writing instructor.

Sweet Grief began in the summer of 2011 when Senitila’s husband of 33 years was diagnosed with cancer. David McKinley died just a few months later.  

At what turned out to be his last visit with Drew, he was clear and direct.  “Dying sucks,” he said. “I’m not gonna lie.”

Later, with her friend, Senitila was pragmatic: “Death is not a crisis,” she said firmly. “It’s a beautiful part of life.”

In that spirit, Senitila and Drew explored love and loss through their art. What was initially specific to David’s death became a larger meditation and appreciation for the weighty beauty of being with the ones you love to their very end.

“Grief is a beautiful thing,” says Senitila, “not something to be afraid of, but to enjoy because it is still a gift. We think that only mystical people have a meaningful understanding of death. But it’s not true. To look at death and grief as a gift is not reserved for those who have a defined spiritual journey, but for everyone that has known love.”

For more information, call Seashore Family Literacy, 541-563-7323.

Know your bishops from your knights? Join us for Chess Night!

Experienced chess players are invited to attend Chess Night, every Monday at 5:30pm. The weekly gathering is free, and includes dinner. Teens and adults are encouraged to attend.

Join us at the Waldport Community Learning Center.

Sign up now for Seashore Family Literacy's certified Food Handler Class on Friday, April 6, 2012, from 10am to noon. Cost is $10, with some scholarships available. Class will be held at the Waldport Community Learning Center, and is open to the public.

State of Oregon regulations require every commercial food worker who is involved in public food handling and preparation to acquire a certified food handlers card. This must be done within 30 days from the beginning of work. A Food Handler permit is good for three years.

To register, contact Cathy Bright, Seashore's Kitchen Manager, 541-563-7326 or 541-563-7323.

Happy Hour for Young Readers & Writers

Monday, April 2 — Thursday, April 5, 2012
4:15 to 5:15pm

A special week of reading & writing activities for ages 10 to 14. As part of Seashore Family Literacy's Afterschool Program, students will explore creative writing with instructor Drew Myron. This free workshop takes place at the Waldport Community Learning Center in Waldport, Oregon.

To culminate the week, students will be invited to read their work at Off the Page on Friday, April 6 at the Overleaf Lodge Event Center in Yachats, Oregon.

For more information, contact: Senitila McKinley, Seashore director, 541-563-7323.

Happy Hour for Young Readers & Writers

Monday, March 19 — Thursday, March 22, 2012
4 to 5pm

A special week of reading & writing games and activities for all ages. As part of Seashore Family Literacy's Afterschool Program, students will explore creative writing through games and activities with Drew Myron. This free workshop takes place at the Waldport Community Learning Center in Waldport, Oregon.

No writing experience is necessary. Just a love (or even tepid interest with potential for love) of reading, writing, and the magic that happens when you put pen to page.

To culminate the week, students will be invited to read their work at Off the Page on Friday, April 6 at the Overleaf Lodge Event Center in Yachats, Oregon.

For more information, contact: Senitila McKinley, Seashore director, 541-563-7323.

Advocate: Meet Senitila McKinley!

If you did a "Google" search for the name "Senitila McKinley," you would undoubtedly come up with an impressive list of search results. Phrases like "Woman of the Year" (Waldport Chamber, June 2011) and "Mother Teresa of Lincoln County" (Oregonian, February 2010) would quickly catch your eye and clue you in on the kind of service- and human-oriented woman that McKinley is.

Senitila McKinley left her native country of Tonga and came to Waldport in 1978 after meeting and marrying a Waldport local. She has made it her life's work-and passion-to help people in the areas of homelessness, literacy, and basic need. McKinley is perhaps best known for founding Seashore Family Literacy, which was originally started by putting books in a car. Today, this is a "community-based, nonprofit organization dedicated to helping children, adults and families improve reading, writing, math, computer and communication skills" (http://www.seashorefamily.org/). As stated on their Web site, "We seek to equip, encourage and empower others to enhance their lives and communities." A wide range of educational programs, including writing groups and GED prep classes, are offered through Seashore Family Literacy, all of which are held at the Waldport Community Learning Center.    

In an excerpt taken from the Seashore Family Literacy's Web site, McKinley's ambitions are partially portrayed: "In less then 10 years, McKinley mastered English, became an American citizen, earned her GED, became an ordained deacon in the Episcopal church (serving at St Luke's in Waldport and St. Stephen's in Newport), worked full-time as a family advocate for the school district, wrote a book about falling in love and moving to Oregon, and started Seashore Family Literacy, a nonprofit organization. She created Seashore in 1992, chiefly from a desire to strengthen her own reading and writing skills so she could help her children with their schoolwork." 

Beyond performing the duties of her full-time job, a typical week for McKinley is filled with activities like the "Read and Feed" dinner on Tuesday nights, taking kids home who cannot be picked up from school, and evening visitations to families and delivering meals to name a few. In further support of students' education, she and her husband established a scholarship fund ten years ago for any Waldport High or GED graduate, and have since then helped 15-20 kids every year to attend a community college or trade school of their choice.

As far as building human-focused programs, she emphasized how important it is for services to be accessible, consistent, available, and dependable. She explained that, "needs don't come and go like grants do" and it is very important to her that she take care of her volunteers' needs too.

McKinley is all about "face time" when it comes to helping people; she is not in favor of meetings, offices, and task forces that take time away from providing direct services. She embodies the word "volunteer," which-when translated into her native language of Tongan-means "Ngaue 'ofa" or "the work of love."  Thank you Senitila for your tireless effort to put love into your daily work of advancing the common good in Lincoln County!

Join us for a special Seashore Family Literacy event:

Special Valentine Dinner
Sunday, February 12, 2012 at 6pm
at the Waldport Community Learning Center
$20 per person, children 12 and under by donation

Enjoy chili prepared by high school students and community volunteers.
Musical entertainment by Joanne on cello, and Grayson on piano.
Poetry readings by teens in the Seashore Writers Group.

Proceeds of this event support Seashore Family Literacy's youth job program.

For tickets and information, call Seashore Family Literacy, 541-563-7323.