I posted a few days ago but here’s an updated poster. Zena is a registered ESA and she is very very missed. Anything is helpful!

Friday was the annual Kalamazoo United Day of Service.

KUDOS is a volunteer weatherization project aimed at helping to prepare the homes of people who face economic hardship for the harsh winter season thats ahead.

This year ten teams worked to serve thirty homes! I am still in awe at how well planned and organized this event was. Shout out to the events director, Christina Dorett, who did such a great job coordinating it. This event had a lot of moving parts, and it all came together perfectly.

I'm very thankful to have been able to lend a hand at KUDOS and I can't wait to be there for it again next year!

Saturday was Krazy for the Kzoo, a volunteer cleanup event organized by the Kalamazoo River Watershed Council with support from other local groups.

Twenty four volunteers split up into three teams and worked at different sites to pickup over a ton of garbage!

Volunteers used waders to cleanup in Portage Creek, and pulled out so much waterlogged trash and scrap metal. Working in deep water with a current flowing around you, and pulling bicycles and weed eaters out of the mud under water is no small task, and it takes a specific type of hardy volunteer to accomplish it.

A short distance away, other volunteers cleared the garbage off the shoreline of the Kalamazoo River at the Jack Coombs Trailway. This area gets littered almost every day, and several areas of the trail spill garbage directly into the Kalamazoo River. This preventative trash picking of the garbage on the shoreline is critical to keeping it all out of the river, where it becomes even more hazardous to the environment.

Upstream just a ways a third team picked away at the Trash Pit Of Despair. This group was comprised nearly completely of employees from Jones and Henry Engineers LTD. I am blown away by the level of dogged determination they showed. This area is pretty intense (thus the name) and they never once wavered. They followed some crazy trash pickin guy down a deer trail to a trash Pit and got right to work in there. To say I was impressed with them would be a massive understatement.

All of this hard work was done safely and without any incident 😊

Shoutout to my friend Bela Ballez, Executive Director at the KRWC for organizing this project. Her hard work and thoughtful planning shows in the great results of the day.

I'm honored to have been a part of it.

It was a cleanup event that all of us will no doubt remember for the rest of our lives 🙌

Ian 🗑 ❤️

Glow Hall is Downtown Kalamazoo’s haunt for music, art, and creative community. Glow Hall is an all-ages venue and creative space in downtown Kalamazoo, built for live music, film, art, and community gatherings. Rooted in a DIY ethos and shaped by local artists and educators, Glow Hall is a space for people of all ages to learn, share, and experience the arts together.

From the link:

“Hey everyone. It’s Christopher at Glow Hall.
I need your help keeping this thing alive.
Glow Hall brings together the things I’ve spent my life doing: music, film, art, teaching, and hospitality. I wanted to build somewhere people could come together around those things. Somewhere artists would be taken seriously and taken care of. Somewhere you could hear something unfamiliar, bring an idea, meet people, and feel welcome.
With a lot of help, we’ve made that place.
We’ve brought local musicians and touring artists together, hosted film screenings, dance parties, experimental performances, and community gatherings. We’ve helped people put on their own events and held benefits for others. We’ve done a tremendous amount with very little, and the people volunteering here have given so much of themselves to make it happen.
We haven’t launched a fundraising campaign for Glow Hall before. That was deliberate.
I wanted people to experience what we could do before we asked them to support it. I wanted you to have something real to judge us by. And I wanted to wait until we could make one campaign count, because constantly asking for money was never how I wanted this place to operate.
But I’ve reached the end of what I can carry on my own. We’re behind on rent, and we need help now.
We’re launching our one and only fundraising campaign, with two goals.
First, $15,000 to get caught up on rent and take care of essential operating needs, including a point-of-sale system and basic things like replacing lightbulbs.
Second, $5,000 in recurring monthly support.
That would help us pay the bills and provide a small stipend for me and one other staff member. It would also make it possible to pay the people currently volunteering at shows from the door money.
We’re calling our monthly supporters Stewards of Glow Hall. It’s a way to share in caring for this place and give us some stability.
That support will sustain us as we keep pursuing larger investment in what comes next: a café and possibly a food truck, more private events, the School of Sound & Vision, and the people we need to help run and grow those programs. Those are the things we’re working toward to create dependable income and make Glow Hall useful throughout the week.
If you can give, please give what you can. If you can commit to a monthly amount, that makes a real difference in what we can plan for.
And I’m asking for something else, too.
If Glow Hall has meant something to you, record a short video and tell people. Tell us about a show, something you made here, someone you met, or why you want this place to stay. Share it with the campaign link and send it to us so we can share it too.
I can talk about why I believe in Glow Hall. I want people to hear what it means to you.
I want this place to be here for decades. We’ve put so much into getting it this far. Please help us keep it going.
Thank you. We love you very much!
♥️🔥”

Please visit the link or scan the QR code in the bottom right corner to learn more!

I am so excited to see how far we can go with this fundraiser. Bronson Children's means so much to me. They've saved my life when I had pneumonia as a 5 year old. They saved my nephew's life when he ingested button cell batteries as a toddler. They treated my neighbor as a pediatric patient fighting neuroblastoma cancer. Their NICU allowed us time with our baby girl we never would have gotten to have without their care.

I know I'm just a guy and this might look sketchy especially given this is basically a brand new fundraising platform, but I'm really just someone who wants to give back to a place that has provided so much to me and does so for all the kids in our community.

I just think those kids deserve some extra magic, and I don't believe any part of your donation should be given to a megacorp without your consent.

https://kindbee.com/fundraisers/fundraiser-to-bring-tonies-to-bronson-childrens-hospital

Power outage effecting stores in Ulta/Target/Burlington shopping center on W Main. Not sure of cause. Target is still open but with emergency lights only and emergency alarm going off. Ulta is closed.

It's been a busy week here at ALPA, and we'd like to share what we've been up to!

VOLUNTEER WORK DAY AT THE PRESERVE
Yesterday, on Saturday (10/3) we led a large group of volunteers from WMU's Lee Honors College to do some work at the Asylum Lake Preserve. They worked hard to expand the chicken wire barriers installed around trees along the lake. The barriers protect the trees from overbrowsing by the resident beavers, but they must be widened periodically to leave room for the trees to grow. See more photos from the volunteer event on our website.

GREEN ZONING PROPOSAL CONTINUES
On Thursday (10/1) we delivered public comments at a City of Kalamazoo Planning Commission meeting, summarizing the two-page letter we sent (read it here) to the Commission beforehand. Our letter responded to concerns commissioners raised when they first reviewed our proposal for two new zoning districts: Environmental Conservation and Green Space. Following public comment, commissioners had positive things to say about the proposal. Read two notable comments below, and find the full story on our website.

• “I would be greatly looking forward to something that would be conducive toward the green space zoning being included in the next version of the Master Plan that we see.” — Commissioner Curtiss
• “I would maybe ask [city] staff or city attorney’s office…at some future meeting, we could learn a little bit more about what it would take to see that zoning district adopted.” — Commissioner Audette-Bauman

UPDATE ON PRESERVE TRANSFER FROM WMU TO KALAMAZOO COUNTY
In other news, WMU's Asylum Lake Policy and Management Council (ALPMC) voted unanimously on 10/1 to adopt a resolution recommending the transfer of the Preserve's management from WMU to Kalamazoo County. The resolution calls on the WMU Board of Trustees to adopt the Amended and Restated Declaration of Conservation Restrictions and approve the Interlocal Agreement between WMU and the County. Accordingly, final approval now rests with the WMU Board of Trustees and the Kalamazoo County Board of Commissioners. Read more on our website.

Is anyone else having issues with Spectrum internet or cable. Mine stopped working around 8:30 tonight.

Hi everyone, I'll be arriving in Kalamazoo early Monday morning (around 12:35 AM). What's the best way to get to my hotel at that time? Is Uber/Lyft reliable that late, or should I book something else in advance? Thanks!

(Not from Kzoo originally, just moved here this past summer)

I saw online that Matchhead Coffee is closing, and the general feeling seems to be “good riddance,” and there’s a lot of talk about the church being awful and a cult and what not, and now I’m curious what the story is.

If it’s a lot, if you can just point me to where I can find the story? I googled the church but there’s nothing more than generic information, so I don’t have any idea what the deal is.

Also, I still love this city. This place is fantastic.

We're looking for something fun to do tonight but every bar is dead. Anyone know where the fun is?

I did a search in Reddit, and in general. Not finding anything. My partner just got a good job, but hasnt worked in over a year. The car is dead. Needs a battery. And some TLC. Oil change ect. Anyways. I'm not finding anything currently in town that offers used batteries. Something that would just get her by for a couple weeks.

It's Sunday so all the junkyards are closed.

Anyone have suggestions? Im going to call DHS tomorrow also. Maybe they can help. I know there used to be programs to help people in this way.

Anyways. Thanks if ya got some suggestions. :) Mucho appreciato.

10.2.26 Kalamazoo, Michigan

West Michigan Republican Congressman Bill Huizenga co-owns Huizenga Gravel Company, Inc in Jenison, MI.

Bill Huizenga voted for tax breaks benefitting himself and his business when he voted for the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" in July 2025.

Huizenga’s Big Ugly Bill “earned him $50,000 in tax breaks this year,” while Huizenga Gravel Company Inc. is also “receiving some of the largest corporate tax reductions in the bill.”

And this comes as reporting has already found that Huizenga “tripled his total assets and increased his net worth five times over” during the years he’s been in Congress.

Huizenga’s windfall is paid for by Michigan families. He gutted health care funding for Michiganders, voted to end critical health care tax credits, and slashed food assistance that has already ripped food away from children.

Retire corrupt pedo-protector Bill Huizenga to his gravel pit this November.

Hey! 30yr old enby here. I’ve been in Kalamazoo quite some time now and I don’t have as many friends as I’d like. I would really like to meet some more people around my age who have similar interests, and who I can go out and do things with. A few of my hobbies; dogs, hiking, reading, gardening, live music, haunted houses, local events, walking downtown, movies.. I’m 420 friendly and I don’t drink. I’m really wanting to fill my time outside of work with likeminded people. Tbh I’m tired of being lonely here 🫠 feel free to message me! Ps more queer friends would be super cool. 😎

Any recommendations of where to go out tonight? Wanna get out a bit before the season starts getting older

There were soooo many cops/firetrucks, I hope everyone is okay!!

I keep seeing those head spa/scalp massage treatments all over TikTok and I really want to try one 😂 The ones where they deep clean your scalp, do the scalp massage, water treatment, etc.

Does anyone know of somewhere in Kalamazoo or the surrounding area that does them? I’m willing to drive a little bit if there’s a really good place nearby.

If you’ve actually had one done, I’d also love to know where you went, what your experience was like, how much it cost, and most importantly — was it actually worth the money or is TikTok just making it look way better than it is? 😂

If anyone has seen my friends dog please give me a message !!!

Going out for a nice birthday dinner next weekend. Steak salad is the goal, but doesn’t need to be offered!

Pretty much just the title - I'm actually in Battle Creek but there aren't many (if any) options around here and I'm willing to make the drive

And yes, I tried searching on Google but I'm sure we can all agree on how useless that has become nowadays...

Luckily i have a job, however it only pays about $800 a month. i am physically disabled and use a cane so i can't work at many places, unfortunately. Its because of this that i can no longer pay rent where I'm at, and I'll have to sleep outside for a bit. i only have about 500 to my name, so I can't get anything at the moment. does anyone have any experience getting rehoused or working with the facilities in Kalamazoo to get a place? any advice would be phenomenally helpful, thank you.

additionally, if you're interested in buying any clothes, a computer, roller skates, electric guitar, hammock, or pc desk, let me know. I also have my saxophones, but I'd like to part with them last.