Dunn Lumber Community Support
It takes more than lumber and nails to build a community and we at Dunn Lumber understand that. As a company and as a family we take pride in the work we do in our community and we want to take this opportunity to highlight the various community projects we support.
- AtWork!
- AtWork! is a non-profit organization that helps people with disabilities find their own personal pathway to community jobs. The Dunn Lumber connection to AtWork! Goes back some 40 years.
- Big Brothers Big Sisters of Puget Sound
- Big Brothers Big Sisters of Puget Sound partners with actively involved community members to match caring adults with children, both of whom benefit from the one-to-one mentoring programs.
- The Children's Museum
- The Children's Museum, Seattle offers a hands-on experience full of wonderment for children, birth to age 10, and families. Here you will find exhibits and programs that spark creativity, nourish the curious mind, and inspire children to discover and learn through play.
- Boys and Girls Club
- Charles Dunn began supporting the boxing club at the Wallingford Boys and Girls Club over 50 years ago. That support has continued to this day.
- Habitat for Humanity Home Improvement Outlet
- The Habitat for Humanity Home Improvement Outlet supports green living for the local community. The 25,000 square foot Outlet offers new and gently used appliances, cabinets, hardware, furniture and more, for purchase, and serves as an outlet for donations from area businesses and individuals.
- Harry Thomas Community Center at Lee House
- The newly renovated and renamed Harry Thomas Community Center is envisioned as a place where community residents and nonprofit groups can come together at an affordable price for community celebrations, meetings, receptions and other gatherings.
- CityServe
- CityServe is a count- wide volunteer effort sponsored by Youth for Christ that brought out more than 500 volunteers in Snohomish County on Saturday October 20, 2007.
- United Way
- United Way of King County mobilizes our community in ways that no single agency, individual, or government can to enhance the ability of people to care for one another.
- UW P-Patch
- Located behind Hall Health, the UW Student P-Patch Garden was founded in 2007 as a space for students living in the residence halls to cultivate their own gardens.
The AtWork! Story
 AtWork! is a non-profit organization that helps people with disabilities find their own personal pathway to community jobs. Founded 48 years ago as a day program for adults with disabilities, AtWork! has gone through many transformations and been a leader in moving from activity, to productive work in sheltered workshops, to employment in group situations like landscaping and recycling services, to supported employment in the community.
The Dunn Lumber connection to AtWork! Goes back some 40 years. Mike Dunn, President of Dunn Lumber, recalls at age 17 stocking shelves with packaged nails and screws that were put together by people with disabilities in AtWork!’s workshop. At one point AtWork! Created deck kits, milling lumber and assembling bolts and screws for home remodelers. When AtWork! Began looking for opportunities for people with disabilities to be employed in local businesses, the close association with Dunn Lumber as a partner was a logical place to start.
Dunn Lumber views its employees as if they are an extended part of its family and treat them as such. As Mike Dunn puts it, “we got into this with one or two individuals and just saw it grow. It matched our company and family values and employing people with disabilities just became an extension of that commitment to community.” Today, Dunn Lumber has a person with disabilities working in eight out of their twelve store locations and have an ambition to have at least one person with a disability in every store.
http://www.atworkwa.org/ -->
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Puget Sound
 Big Brothers Big Sisters’ donation bin program accounts for over 25% of their annual budget. Put another way, donations to the bins mentor over 400 at risk children per year, raising over $7,000 per bin. There are over 100 bins strategically placed around King, Pierce & Snohomish Counties that are maintained seven days a week by Big Brothers
Big Sisters operators who empty the bins and clean any debris in the surrounding area. The goods are then sold to a thrift operator, which retails them, recycles them as rag content, or donates the clothing to relief efforts in impoverished nations. The Big Brothers Big Sisters Donation Center creates living wage jobs for its operators while generating much needed revenue for its mentoring programs - a Big win for everyone.
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Puget Sound partners with actively involved community members to match caring adults with children, both of whom benefit from the one-to-one mentoring programs. By matching children with adult mentors in one-to-one relationships, they transform the life of a child (a Little), transform the life of an adult (a Big) and together transform our schools, our neighborhoods and our communities for the better. It is their vision to provide a mentor for every child who needs or wants one.
The Children's Museum
 Located in the heart of the city, The Children's Museum, Seattle
is on the first level of
Center House at Seattle Center. With the Space Needle soaring overhead and downtown
just a Monorail ride away, the Museum can be an exciting part of any day spent in The
Emerald City.
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| Dunn Lumber Co. Construction Zone |
The Children’s Museum, Seattle is a 22,000 square-foot environment just for children
ages birth through 10 years and their families. At the Museum, every exhibit is interactive,
which allows little hands and growing minds to explore, play and learn. Want to climb a
mountain and jump in a marmot hole? Build something bigger than you are? Jump to
different lands and explore new cultures and see how other people live? You can do all of
that and more! Spend hours exploring one exhibit, minutes at another; it’s all up to you!
The Museum features 11 permanent exhibits, an art studio, two education classrooms, a temporary traveling exhibit gallery, a story-telling circle and resource library, workshops, camps and weekend programming. The Children’s Museum, Seattle is the premiere institution in the Northwest region for informal early childhood education. The Museum serves nearly 200,000 visitors annually and over 6,000 families, including educators and community leaders, are members.
The Children's Museum Online-->
Boys & Girls Clubs
 50 years ago Charles Dunn began supporting the boxing club at the Wallingford Boys and Girls Club. Charles’ nephew Rob Dunn picked up the baton from his uncle and has devoted time as a board member for various Clubs since the 1970’s.
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| Recent renovation at the North Seattle Club |
Rob’s collaborative effort with the other board members resulted in a recently completed major remodel at the Wallingford Club. The next generation of Dunn employees have continued to be involved with the Boys & Girls Clubs through hands-on activities with the Club members and assistance with financial and material support for much needed remodel projects
The mission of King County Boys and Girls Clubs is to inspire and enable all young people to realize their full potential as productive, responsible, and caring citizens. With 12 full-service Clubs, and 28 before- and after-school program sites, the organization is one of the largest of its kind in the nation, serving 18,000+ members annually. Program areas offered to youth include character & leadership development, education & career development, health & life skills, the arts, and sports/recreation.
King County Boys & Girls Club -->
Habitat for Humanity Home Improvement Outlet
 Habitat’s past Board Chair, Bob Moore, arranged a visit with Dunn Lumber President, Mike Dunn months before the Outlet was to open. Mike Dunn immediately saw the power of the idea and offered the opportunity for Habitat to meet with the Dunn Store managers. The meeting was a great success and led to the now strong relationship with all the Dunn locations. Habitat is proud to tell its friends that Dunn Lumber is a major supplier of quality new building materials for sale at the Outlet.
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Dunn Lumber Truck loaded with 21,500 lbs
of usable building materials. |
Dunn’s marketing VP, Jim Coshow, is always on the look-out for opportunities to direct valuable opportunities to the Outlet. This Fall Dunn Lumber Worked with Ed Barnes (VP Operations) at the WSCTC to coordinate the deconstruction of the JLC LIVE Pacific Northwest 2008 show at the Washington State Convention & Trade Center in Seattle. Ed's contribution was KEY and we are all incredibly appreciative of his efforts and those of his volunteers as together we Salvaged 21,500 pounds of building materials that were packaged and trucked to the Habitat store. The vast majority of these materials would have ended up in the landfill.
The Habitat for Humanity Home Improvement Outlet supports green living for the local community. The 25,000 square foot Outlet offers new and gently used appliances, cabinets, hardware, furniture and more, for purchase, and serves as an outlet for donations from area businesses and individuals. Proceeds help Habitat build more affordable homes in Seattle and South King County. The Outlet is open Tuesday – Saturday and is located at 21 South Nevada Street, just off East Marginal Way. Learn more at www.seattlehabitatoutlet.org or by calling 206-957-6914.
Harry Thomas Community Center at Lee House
 The Seattle Housing Authority decided to restore the Lee House to help preserve a small part of the best of the old Holly Park community. Because there was no funding in the original NewHolly budget, the restoration was achieved with private fundraising.
The newly renovated and renamed Harry Thomas Community Center is envisioned as a place where community residents and nonprofit groups can come together at an affordable price for community celebrations, meetings, receptions and other gatherings.
The second floor offices are leased to Neighborhood House, a nonprofit serving low-income residents of the neighborhood.
Redesigned to be warm and inviting, yet easy to maintain, the new center is ideal for social gatherings, corporate board retreats and small community meetings. Rental rates are affordable, with special pricing for neighborhood organizations.
NewHolly Management, located nearby in the Othello Building at 3815 S. Othello St, Suite 103, manages the Harry Thomas Community Center. Call Shazia Choudhary at 206.760.3280 to reserve space.
CityServe & Youth For Christ, Snohomish County & King County
 CityServe is a county-wide volunteer effort sponsored by Youth for Christ and supported by Dunn Lumber. Every October, YFC facilitates and mobilizes the largest youth service effort in the northwest. Last year, they had nearly 700 students all out serving people in our community throughout Snohomish and King County in partnership with dozens of churches and social service agencies.
A few of the CityServe community partners
- Boys and Girls Clubs of Snohomish County
- City of Monroe
- Edmonds School District
- Habitat for Humanity
- Monroe School District
- Snohomish School District
CityServe draws youth from over 40 area churches and partners them with social service organizations for a day of serving our community. They conclude the day with food, worship and a rally allowing students to share how they saw God move in their community.
United Way Campaigns, Snohomish and King County
 For 50 years Dunn Lumber has participated in United Way campaigns. We support United Way because a very high percentage of our business comes from communities around each of our yards. Therefore both our business and our employees owe their livelihood to those communities.
United Way gives us the opportunity to give something back to those communities because all of the agencies United Way supports are within King or Snohomish County.
United Way Core values:
- Accountability
- Catalytic leadership
- Diversity
- Excellence
- Integrity
- Teamwork
United Way King County -->
 UW P-Patch
Located behind Hall Health, the UW Student P-Patch Garden was founded in 2007 as a space for students living in the residence halls to cultivate their own gardens. In so doing, they explore food sovereignty, learn about many aspects of urban food production, and participate in a community of gardeners.
After this year’s project of expanding the garden, with the help of donors such as Dunn Lumber, Cedar Grove Composting, and Raintree Nursery, the P-Patch now consists of 15 garden plots, each cultivated by an individual student or group of students. While the students decide independently how to care for their plot and what to plant in it, there are frequent collaborative work parties where students can work together on projects, learn from each other, and share ideas. Also on-site is a fruit tree orchard, a toolbox with tools, books, seeds, and other resources for student gardeners, as well as a 3-bin yard waste composting system, which gives students the opportunity to learn about compost and practice organic methods of maintaining healthy soil.
 The goal of the P-Patch is to provide knowledge and skills for creating sustainable urban communities. By being involved with the P-Patch, students learn about where food comes from and develop the tools to grow food themselves, in a way that is healthy for them and for the environment. This is particularly valuable for residence hall students, who often have little over which to take ownership – they live in a building owned by someone else, eat pre-prepared dining hall food, and have little connection to the landscape around them. The P-Patch gives students an opportunity to have ownership over what they eat, and in the process, learn how to reduce the carbon foot print of their diet, discover new ways of relating to the earth, and be an active member of an interdependent community. |
