COMMUNITY OUTREACH

BIRD HOUSES FOR THE CORVALLIS aRT cENTER 2022

Homes for the homeless - micro shelter January 2021

The pandemic has only made our Corvallis homeless problems worse but a local group has been working to get some of the vulnerable members of the homeless population off the streets and into safe housing. Unity Shelter is the umbrella organization whose mission is to “provide safe shelter through collaborative care”. The MWWG was contacted by Unity and asked to build a micro-shelter for Safecamp, a collection of tent sites and micro-shelters on the grounds of the First Congregational Church. With the addition of ours, Safecamp now has 30 micro-shelters so I feel that we have made a good contribution our homeless problem.

We started building our 8’ x 15’ shelter on January 12th in the Benton County Fairgrounds arena and finished it on January 25th, with seven members volunteering approximately 115 total hours. While it was not our usual fine woodworking it felt good to work as a team (and get out of our houses for a while). Brian Egan acted as project manager and was helped by MWWG members Jim Good, Kim Johansen, Stan Hall, Patrick McKinley, Tim Emery, Doug Ullmer and Gary Irwin.   We all found that we are not young men anymore so limited our labor to 4-5 hours a day. Then we went home for naps.

By Brian Egan

student desk & chair challenge

The Covid-19 pandemic has affected most aspects of our lives, but students have faced some unprecedented disruptions. Learning remotely challenged teachers, parents, and students. A number of elementary teachers reported that often the young students don’t have a place to study at home.  During fall and winter of 2020, guild members collaborated to build and deliver over 20 desks and chairs to local families, focusing on K-3 students.  That included many chairs as well, and a number of lap desks, to accommodate various living situations.  We were assisted by generous donations from The Hardwood Centre, and The Home Depot, and by several individuals from outside the guild that contributed their time and expertise as well. 

Participating guild members:

Brian Egan, Gary Radice, Kevin Bieberich,  Dan Youngberg, Bill Brock, Patrick McKinley, Stan Hall, Kim Johansen, Doug Ullmer