So many people gave money to The Seattle Public Library this morning that the library foundation’s website couldn’t keep up.

“The overwhelming amount of traffic to the gift processing part of our website caused it to crash.  We are so sorry for this inconvenience,” wrote Jonna Ward, executive director of The Seattle Public Library Foundation.

That’s good. It means the public is supporting the library at a time of deep budget cuts.

Because of citywide budget shortages, the library’s 2010 budget was cut by $1.17 million (2.4 percent). Next year the library faces cuts that could range from a low of 9.5 percent ($4.9 million), to a high of 14.5 percent ($7.4 million).

So it was great news when an anonymous donor offered the library foundation a grant of $500,000 if donors can match it, for $1 million in all. Our news partner The Seattle Times has a story on that announcement today.

The foundation has set up an alternate way to give, here. Or call 206-386-4130 to make a gift by phone

The 3rd Annual Seattle Brain Cancer Walk is happening this Saturday, June 26 at Seattle Center’s Mural Amphitheatre from 7 t0 10:30 a.m., where organizers, volunteers and family and friends of those affected by brain cancer will walk to build awareness, raise money and advance the search for a cure.

Walkers will get to choose between making two loops around the longer course, 1.1 miles, or the shorter course, .3 miles. The entire event will take place on the Seattle Center campus.

The Seattle Brain Cancer Walk was founded in 2008 by a group of committed volunteers and families, and has since raised over $400,000 for research, comprehensive care and clinical trials for brain cancer patients in the Pacific Northwest.

This year the Brain Cancer Walk has already raised $331,043.08. Online registration for the event will close at 5 p.m. today, Thursday, June 24. To register click here. For more information on walk-day, click here.

The 2nd annual “Stock the Pantry” food drive is underway at all Bartell Drugs locations, including both in Upper Queen Anne (1929 Queen Anne Ave N) and Uptown (600 First Ave N).

The 2-week drive, which ends on June 13, helps Northwest Harvest restock their shelves for the summer months when more families depend on the food because children are not getting free or reduced-price meals at school. Only 2 out of 5 low-income children who receive a school lunch also receive a lunch in the summer months, according to the Western Region Anti-Hunger Consortium.

Some “kid-friendly” suggestions from Bartells include tuna, instant oatmeal, macaroni and cheese, peanut butter, cheese crackers, applesauce and canned fruit in individual serving sizes.

Bartell’s aims to collect 25,000 pounds of food donations this year.

Local non-profit Successful Schools in Action, which works to provide support and resources for schools, students and teachers at seven schools in Queen Anne and Magnolia, raised just shy of $30,000 at their 4th annual community breakfast last week, making the event the most successful breakfast fundraiser they’ve ever had!

SSIA says the funds are essential to their operations, enabling them “to continue providing tutors for struggling students, debate for every student who wants to participate, and Collaborative Conversations to support our teachers, empower our families, and engage our community.”

In a letter sent out today the organization thanked the community for their continued support.

We appreciate the incredible sponsor support we received this year from so many local businesses and organizations. Special recognition and thanks to our Signature Sponsor, Vulcan, and our Table Sponsors, JAS Design Build and King & Oliason.

Read up on the some of the past work SSIA has done in the community here, here and here. If you’d like to support SSIA, make a donation here, or eat out through the Celebrated Chefs program and have 5 percent donated on your behalf. See participating restaurants here.

(Photographer: Samuel Kuntz. Photos courtesy of SSIA).

Picture Perfect Queen Anne is a volunteer-run organization dedicated to beautifying the neighborhood’s main entrances and business districts in the hopes of making Queen Anne a welcoming and vibrant community. (You may have noticed their signs up and down Queen Anne Ave N from Galer to McGraw or some of the flower beds they’ve planted).

PPQA has been working to raise $16,000 for the completion of their “Green Gateways” program (i.e. fixing up the entrances to Queen Anne, installing pavers, and covering the costs of continued gardening and maintenance). Last month the group was just a few thousand shy of their goal.

This week the 8-person board of directors got an extra helping hand when on Sunday, March 14, Noah, a 9-year-old Queen Anne-er and son of PPQA board member Jeff Parker, took to the streets to raise a little extra money for the cause. Board member Virginia Hand wrote,

Noah set up a table at the intersection of Queen Anne Avenue at Boston and started asking passing neighbors to donate to PPQA and the Green Gateways project. Along with homemade banana bread, cookies and brownies (his father says Noah is a baking machine), Noah rewarded contributors with flower seeds donated by Ed Hume Seeds. By the end of the day, Noah had raised over $150, a big accomplishment for the fourth-grader and a meaningful contribution to PPQA.

PPQA is especially grateful to Noah for raising awareness about the group’s mission to make Queen Anne Avenue greener as well as more pedestrian safe and family friendly. Projects include the installation of new cross walks, street lamps, and sidewalks such as those just completed at Queen Anne Avenue at Galer and McGraw Streets.

To sum up, PPQA deemed Noah’s fundraiser “a big success.” If you’re interested in learning more about the project or making a donation yourself, click here.

As for what the neighborhood can expect from PPQA this spring, during the last week of April the group will be installing 30 18″by 18″ pavers inscribed with the names of community members and organizations who have supported the project at the intersection of Galer and Queen Anne Ave N. And on May 1 neighbors will get together for PPQA’s big spring planting day. Anyone interested in sponsoring PPQA and getting their name on one of the last pavers left have until Monday, March 22 to do so. More information here.

Don’t be surprised if you notice a little something extra on your doorstep today. The Queen Anne Cub Scouts from Troops 70 and 72 will be walking through the neighborhood on assigned routes from 9 a.m. to noon placing door hangers on homes as part of their annual Scouting for Food drive.

The hangers will provide information on hunger in the community and ask for those who can to leave donations of food and toiletries on their porches by 10 a.m. next Saturday, March 20, when the scouts will come back to collect, weight and deliver them to the Queen Anne Helpline and Ballard Food Bank.

“In 2009 the food drive brought in over 600 pounds of donations. Our goal this year is to exceed 1,000 pounds of donations,” wrote scout parent and 2010 Scouting for Food campaign co-chair Mary Chapman. “The Queen Anne Helpline and Ballard Food Bank are especially in need this year to help hundreds of local households make ends meet as a result of the current economic situation.”

(Thanks to Mary for the tip and the picture!)

We’ve just heard that Macrina Bakery will be donating 100 percent of the proceeds from all of their locations today, Wednesday, February 3, to the Red Cross Haiti Relief Fund. Macrina has three locations in Seattle, in Queen Anne, Belltown and SODO. The Queen Anne location is at 615 W McGraw St. They’ll be open until 6 p.m. today, plenty of time to buy some bread for a good cause!

(Thanks to Seattle Times food blogger Nancy Leson and her wonderfully informative Tweets for the tip!)

Local chain Pagliacci Pizza has just announced it will be donating 100 percent of the proceeds from all of its locations today, Thursday, January 28, to the Red Cross Haiti Relief Fund. According to the owners, they decided to dedicate today to helping those in Haiti after overwhelming company-wide support for a fundraising project. They wrote on their blog,

I, like all of you, have witnessed the news footage from Haiti over the past few weeks. Total devastation. You can’t help but be moved by the images in the press. As I was deliberating what we should do as a company, several of our employees had similar thoughts. Devesh Kumar, a driver from Miller Delivery Kitchen, was the first to approach me about what Pagliacci could do as a company. The whole Sand Point Delivery Kitchen crew talked about donating their tips to aid relief efforts. Jason Cheung, the University Pizzeria General Manager, sent out an email to all of our managers asking if their crew was interested in donating tips for a day and if Pagliacci would match their donations. Our crew really wanted to help and so did I.

In addition to donating today’s proceeds, Pagliacci will also be matching all of their employee contributions to the fund and working with their vendors to encourage a donation of the food and packaging used today.

Pagliacci has 21 locations throughout Seattle, including their Queen Anne pizzeria, located at 550 Queen Anne Ave N, which will be open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. today.

(Photo courtesy of Pagliacci Pizza via Flickr. Thanks to Patrick for the tip!)