Work Parties and Extra Effort

Written by: Vern Francis (Way Back Inn Board member and volunteer extraordinaire)

Way Back Inn relies on the support of many organizations, groups, churches and individuals to keep our eleven homes in good working order and safe for our guests.  We are blessed by the generosity of time, money and materials by all of these sources of support. 

The weekend of April 17^th, Way Back Inn had the generous volunteer help from two different Church groups. A group from the Kent United Methodist Church who painted the interior of one of our two bedroom houses in Tukwila. The second group was Mars Hill Church in Bellevue.  The Church furnished trenching equipment, and installed underground wiring for a security light at a Tukwila unit, and install drainage pipe in our Kent Unit. 

A good example of the generosity of our volunteers is Brett Jantzen, President of 203Group Construction. He had been a volunteer in the work party from Mars Hill Church.  During informal discussions about what WBI provides and what we try to accomplish each year in upgrading and improving our units, I mentioned the desire, when more funding is available,  to gravel a turnaround providing easier access to our Barn that holds our excess furniture.  We use the furniture to outfit our units, and also make this furniture available to our guests when they leave our programs.

A few days after the work party, Brett called and said he would like to bring in a couple of loads of gravel and have his crew spread it around.  All I needed to do was show him exactly where it should go.  I couldn’t believe the offer, as it had been on the to-do list for a couple of years.  Brett said he was impressed with the work we did, the effort we put in, and wanted to help where he could.  This generosity and commitment is greatly appreciated.