As the economy continues to tank, you might find it comfortable to assign an evolutionary framework to your environment. The weakest fade away. The strong survive. But as one neighbor recently pointed out to me in e-mail, it’s not the weakest that we lose. It’s the exotic. In these challenging times, we must work to preserve our freaks.

Home Alive is a weird organization. The nonprofit is a martial training ground in the middle of tolerant Capitol Hill and run in a fashion that seems more like it is organizing all-ages rock shows than women’s self-defense courses. But its cause of fighting back against violence is worthwhile. Unfortunately, after 16 years, Home Alive is being forced to close down at the end of this month unless it can get out from under a massive pile of debt and find its financial footing. Its days with an office on 10th Ave are surely over but there may still be time to keep Home Alive on the Hill. Here are two events you might want to consider getting involved with if you’d like to help:

• Home Alive Garage Sale Fundraiser
  Home Alive will be holding a fundraiser garage sale Saturday 2/21 from 1p.m.-3p.m. at their studio:
  1415 10th Avenue upstairs, #3 (between Pike and Union. All of their furniture has to go–their office space will be converted into a storage unit.
• Benefit at Shorty’s
  Slog reports that a local football club is hosting a benefit for the org at Shorty’s in Belltown on Feb. 26.
• Give via homealive.org
  Web site is looking a little worse for wear but there is a donate button on the page that still works.