It is both eerie and remarkable to observe the smoke blanketing the Duwamish river, Port of Seattle and SoDo.  However, the smoke is more than just a curious sight or eye irritant.  It is a signal of inconvenience, hardship and even danger for some fellow members of our community, particularly those that live close to impacted areas.

As many of you know, Barker Martin maintains offices and staff in both Seattle and Portland.  We have clients in or near affected areas of Washington and Oregon.  This week, in lieu of our normal weekly email, we wanted to express our thoughts and well wishes to those communities literally in the line of fire.

We also wanted to thank and support the people and organizations that are helping to save lives, defend property, and assist on the front lines.  To do so, we have made donations to the Community Foundation of Kittitas County (http://www.kittitasgiving.org/), as well as the American Red Cross - Cascades Region (http://www.redcross.org/local/oregon).  We encourage our readers who have the means to do so to consider donating to relief efforts.