Community Projects
|
AtWork! is a non-profit organization that helps people with disabilities find their own personal pathway to community jobs.
|
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Puget Sound partners with community members to match caring adults with children.
|
The Children's Museum, Seattle offers a hands-on experience full of wonderment for children, birth to age 10, and families.
|
|
Charles Dunn began supporting the boxing club at the Wallingford Boys and Girls Club over 50 years ago.
|
The Habitat for Humanity Home Improvement Outlet supports green living for the local community.
|
Camp Korey’s mission is to honor the courage, strength, and determination of children living with serious and life-altering medical conditions and their families
|
|
The Mission currently has bed space for 100 women and children.
|
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.
|
Rampathon is an annual program of the Master Builders Association where members and volunteers build free wheelchair-access ramps for low-income homeowners throughout King and Snohomish counties.
|
|
REST was founded in 2009 by a group of men and women who wanted to take action against the commercial sexual exploitation of girls and young women in Seattle, WA.
|
Homelessness is no longer a hidden issue in our community. Vision House currently provides stable housing for 35 families, but there is still a high demand for more housing. With your help more homeless moms and kids can be served.
|
|
|
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 six out of their ten store locations and have an ambition to have at least one person with a disability in every store.
Learn more at the AtWork! website.
Top of Page
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.
Learn more at the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Puget Sound website.
Top of Page
The Children's Museum
Located in the heart of the city, the Children's Museum is found 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.
Kids playing in the Dunn Lumber Company 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 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.
Learn more at The Children's Museum website.
Top of Page
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.
Happy Boys and Girls Club Members
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
Recent renovation at the North Seattle Club
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.
Learn more at the King County Boys & Girls Club website.
Top of Page
Habitat for Humanity Home Improvement Outlet
Dunn Lumber Company formed a meaningful relationship with Habitat for Humanity years ago, which has evolved into a powerful, charitable partnership. Habitat for Humanity believes everyone should have a safe and durable place to live in dignity. Habitat seeks to eliminate homelessness in the Pacific Northwest by providing training and access to resources, which allow families to have a shelter of their own to call home. This is all made possible through donations and their tens of thousands of volunteers, such as Dunn Lumber.
Dunn Lumber has contributed to Habitat through donations, volunteer events, and by leveraging their business connections. One way Dunn Lumber has accomplished this is through their quarterly "Dunn Cares" events. At these events, Dunn employees spend the day assisting HFH team members in building houses and other various construction projects.
Another significant event was the donation of deconstruction materials from the JLC LIVE Pacific Northwest show at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle. Dunn Lumber coordinated with the VP of Operations at WSCTC, who allowed Dunn to bring their own truck and employees to load up all reusable materials and deliver them to Habitat. This donation totaled 21,500 pounds of usable material, which otherwise would have ended up in a landfill.
Dunn Lumber Truck loaded with 21,500 lbs
of usable building materials.
For more information on Habitat for Humanity donation centers- view the links below
http://www.habitatskc.org/store/donate/
http://habitatsnohomish.org/the-habitat-store/material-donations/
Top of Page
University of Washington 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 the garden expansion project, 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.
Students Gardening at the University of Washington P-Patch
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.
Learn more at the University of Washington P-Patch website.
Top of Page
Everett Gospel Mission
 The fastest growing segment of Snohomish County’s homeless population is women and children. Whether fleeing domestic violence, losing a job, dealing with substance abuse or other issues, women and children who are desperate for safe shelter are welcomed at Everett Gospel Mission with open arms.
Dunn Lumber was able to help with the renovation of a new space by arranging for donations of materials and providing $20,000+ of building materials at "cost" for the completion of the project.
The Mission currently has bed space for 100 women and children.
However, the Women and Children’s Shelter offers much more than safe warm shelter. Each person who arrives at our shelter undergoes a detailed intake assessment which helps us evaluate her individual needs.
Based on this evaluation, we develop with each person - a customized program to help them and their family pursue stability and a future of hope and promise.
Each adult residing at our women and children's shelter is offered intensive one-on-one case management, Bible studies, Life Management classes, and a specialized 12-step recovery group. Our goal is to provide everyone who comes to us with a new set of tools around which to build a transformed life.
Learn more at the Everett Gospel Mission website.
Top of Page
Camp Korey
Camp Korey’s mission is to honor the courage, strength, and determination of children living with serious and life-altering medical conditions and their families; and to provide them with a safe, friendly, medically sound environment in which to simply have fun and be kids.
They are committed to providing care and programming that emphasizes safety, love, respect and empowerment. At Camp Korey, campers have the freedom they need to challenge themselves and reclaim their childhood, and families receive the respite and support they need to heal.
Learn more at the Camp Korey website.
Top of Page
Rampathon
Rampathon is an annual program of the Master Builders Association where members and volunteers build free wheelchair-access ramps for low-income homeowners throughout King and Snohomish counties. Since its inception in 1993, members and volunteers have built more than 370 ramps contributing to more than 1.7 million dollars of in-kind contributions to our community.
Building a ramp.
Dunn Lumber has partnered with the MBA in supporting this worthwhile event for many years. That partnership has grown significantly, with Dunn Lumber now providing Ramp Captains with the majority of their ramp materials each year.
Deck complete, Group Photo!
We are extremely grateful for our valued vendor partners, and know that the growth of this program would not be possible without their ongoing commitment.
Dunn Lumber would like to thank our vendors: Hall Forest Products, Exterior Wood, Oldcastle, Simpson Strong-Tie, Paint Sundries Solutions, Woodtone, Gaco Western, Hampton Affiliates, & International Wood Products for their generous participation. Learn more at the Rampathon website.
Top of Page
REST
Human trafficking is modern-day slavery and the fastest-growing criminal industry in the world. REST was founded in 2009 by a group of men and women who wanted to take action against the commercial sexual exploitation of girls and young women in Seattle, WA. They work to provide a path to freedom, safety and hope for victims of sex trafficking and people involved in the sex trade.
Each year, REST provides direct services to hundreds of people exploited by the sex trade in Seattle and the greater King County area. Through their holistic continuum of care (prevention, intervention, and aftercare), they serve those who are at-risk, actively in, and those taking steps towards exiting a life of sexual exploitation. Their desire is to see Washington become hostile to traffickers and to work themselves out of a job.
Learn more at the REST website.
Top of Page
Vision House
Homelessness is no longer a hidden issue in our community. Just drive into Seattle and you will see tents and tarps lining the freeway illustrating the urgency and seriousness of this issue. In these temporary shelters are single mothers and small children trying to stay warm and dry.
Jacob's Well - Building A (Shoreline) Ribbon Cutting - February 2014
Being homeless wreaks havoc on a person's emotional and physical health. Consider the single mom and her three children who just moved into Vision House in Shoreline. The youngest child had been living in a car since the day he was born. Today he is sleeping in a crib for the first time and his mom is receiving the support and guidance she needs to take the first steps to turning her life around and to finding permanant housing for her and her children. She can break the dangerous cycle of homelessness because of the sure foundation, safety and resources she has found at Vision House.
Even though Vision House currently provides stable housing for 35 families, there is still a high demand for more housing. In January of 2016, the King County One Night Count found 4,505 homeless individuals sleeping on the streets - a 19% increase over last year. The need for housing is great. Vision House plans to continue what they've been doing for over 25 years, saving lives by addressing the lack of affordable housing and support services in our community. In an attempt to provide more housing, they have partnered with HomeAid Puget Sound to build 10 additional transitional housing units at the Vision House Shoreline complex ("Jacob's Well"). The total cost to fund this project is $3 million. In their sixth collaborative project, HomeAid Puget Sound will donate $1.3 million in labor and materials if Vision House can raise $1.7 million in cash contributions.. With your help, more homeless moms and kids can be served.
Jacob's Well Building B
Dunn Lumber is proud to support Vision House in their efforts to provide housing and support for homeless women and children, as well as adult males that are committed to achieving self-sufficiency.
Please consider contributing to the fundraising effort for Jacob's Well, Building B.
Learn more at the Vision House website.
Top of Page
|