Snow angels

When it snows, Seattle can shut down, especially in neighborhoods that are particularly hilly. In Madison Park, residents created a program to help their stranded neighbors in need, called the Snow Brigade. 

The idea for the Snow Brigade was born about four years ago, when Madison Park resident Liz Brandzel’s husband, former Madison Park Community Council (MPCC) president Gene Brandzel, was out of the state with the car. It snowed, and she was stuck in the neighborhood. Brandzel was able to call a friend for help but thought about creating a program for others who may need help. They put a call out for volunteers and got a “tremendous response.” 

This year, they have about 25 volunteer families from each of the five neighborhoods the council serves. When the program began, they created a phone number and a volunteer list. If someone needs help in the snow, they call the number and Liz Brandzel or her backup person will connect them with a volunteer. 

The volunteers provide services like taking someone to the doctor, picking up a prescription or an essential grocery item, walking dogs and shoveling sidewalks. The group works with the local pharmacies and provides volunteers with a permission slip so they’re able to pick up medicine on someone’s behalf. The Snow Brigade only covers essential needs, so a teeth-cleaning appointment or a snow-covered sidewalk that’s going to melt in a day can usually wait. 

“We will emphasize, this isn’t so you don’t miss a thing in your life,” Brandzel said. 

The Snow Brigade is also accessible to people who are feeling frightened because they’re isolated. “We have people who will just support them for a short period,” she said. 

Even though the program is in place, organizers haven’t had to use it for the last few winters because Seattle didn’t get any snow. Brandzel jokes that the informational posters she puts in neighborhood businesses and condo buildings are a talisman to keep the snow away. 

Checking in

The program also encourages the neighborhood to be friendly and check in on their neighbors, Brandzel said. This was the same idea of community that came through the Safe Sidewalks program, which she was also in charge of. 

It also encourages people to have a plan if there is a lot of snow and they’re not able to get out and about like usual. 

“I think it’s a peace-of-mind issue, more than the actuality of it,” she said. 

Some program volunteers don’t have a car at all, while others have four-wheel drive and are willing to use it. One volunteer has a motorcycle that can get through the snow. And there are a few medical professionals who are able to navigate the medical system to help someone, Brandzel said. 

There are also families whose children volunteer to help. Sometimes, people hear about the program and just elect to individually help their neighbors, too, she said. 

She also encourages residents and business owners to keep their sidewalks clear and safe for people walking in the area. 

“I think that’s one of the main attractions of Madison Park, is that people somehow feel that there’s a sense of neighborhood,” she said. 

Model behavior

Restarting the program every year isn’t much work, now that the system is in place. For about a week, Brandzel reconnects with volunteers and hangs posters. It’s a program that any neighborhood could easily replicate, and Brandzel hopes other community groups create their own Snow Brigades. Brandzel shared the model with the Montlake Community Club, which created its own version last year and is willing to meet with any other interested parties, she said. 

The Montlake Community Club (MCC) reached out to Brandzel after reading an article about the Snow Brigade and replicated the system in its own neighborhood, said MCC secretary Kathy Laughman. 

Much of Montlake is hilly, with areas of broken sidewalks, both of which are difficult to navigate in the snow, she said. 

“I was quite inspired by it,” Laughman said of the Madison Park program. She had just returned from living in southern France, where there was a strong sense of community, and she missed that in Seattle. But this “neighbor-helping-neighbor program” cultivated that sense of community. 

Laughman proposed the idea to the MCC, and the group ran an ad on Montlake.net. “Before you knew it, we had 30 volunteers,” she said. This year, they have about a dozen returning volunteers and plan to recruit more as winter nears. 

Last year, they gathered the volunteers for an orientation program at the Montlake Library and went over the legal forms and the services they offer. Like Madison Park, Montlake volunteers will walk dogs, clear sidewalks, pick up prescriptions or drive someone to a doctor’s appointment. None of those services were put to use, though, since Seattle didn’t see any snow last year. 

“Every neighborhood needs these kinds of programs because it creates this sense of community,” Laughman said. “It’s an opportunity to get to know your neighbors and creates a sense of security. It’s all positive.” 

(To access the services of the Montlake Snow Brigade, call (206) 402-3192 or email snowbrigade@montlake.net.)

The topographical divide

When it snows, the Leschi neighborhood becomes very isolated, said Leschi Community Council co-president Diane Snell. The Seattle Department of Transportation typically closes the most-hilly roads, and people are forced to walk to get something from the store. 

Upper Leschi fairs better in the snow, she said, and usually keeps some of its bus services running. But the lower portion of the neighborhood, near the lake, often has less road and bus access and deals with a lot of power outages. 

Seattle Public Utilities explained to the council that the bottom of the neighborhood’s power comes from a canyon that the big power trucks have trouble accessing during bad weather. And the trucks have a difficult time getting in to trim the trees, so branches can often knock power lines down. 

“Topographically, we’re unique,” Snell said. 

Even though Leschi doesn’t have a Snow Brigade program, Snell sees a lot of neighbors helping each other out when a big snowstorm hits the neighborhood. If you’re able to venture out, you often stop to ask your neighbors if they need anything, she said. 

In previous years, the Central Area Seniors Center (500 30th Ave. S.) provided hot meals to people who were diabetic and without power. 

Not everybody is burdened by the snow in Leschi though, Snell said, explaining that kids jump at the chance to go sledding in Leschi Park. 

Even though Snell may be interested in a Snow Brigade program, the neighborhood would more likely create an emergency-preparedness system for a big emergency, like an earthquake. 

In the future, the Madison Park program will likely stay as is, but the MPCC is looking into an emergency-preparedness program for natural disasters, too. That’s a big job, though, so it’s just in the information-gathering stages right now, Brandzel said. 

Brandzel will keep the MPCC Snow Brigade program going at least through March, but its use will all depend on Mother Nature. 

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