About

Volunteer to help fix and refurbish used wooden furniture in collaboration with Zero Waste Washington, which will give the items to refugee families and others in need.

The goal is to fix 30 pieces of furniture in two days. The primary tasks will be tightening wooden joints, sanding, and final finishing. Volunteers may also need to do minor repairs, but no upholstery work. Zero Waste Washington has arranged for that to be done by students at Clover Technical College in Tacoma.

Zero Waste Washington, which is dedicated to driving policy change for a healthy and waste-free world, received a two-year grant from the Washington State Department of Ecology to keep imperfect furniture out of landfills, refurbish it, and get it to refugee families across the state, including in Kitsap County. You can read more about the project's Fix-It Events here. The Fix-It Event is a homecoming of sorts for BARN's community service program: Founders of the woodworkers' group that existed pre-BARN helped some elderly people move and thought it was silly to move their broken furniture without repairing it. That seed grew into the woodworkers' community service program and later BARN's.

Details:

• Participation is free, but registration is required. You can sign up for one or both days. To register for the first session, from 1 to 5 pm on Monday, Aug. 8, please click here.
• Ages 14+ are welcome.
• No specialized experience is needed, but volunteers are encouraged to take the free, one-hour Orientation to the Woodshop class beforehand. Multiple sessions are listed on the Woodworking Calendar.

• Please click here for BARN's current COVID-19 health & safety protocols. 

• Wear safety glasses and closed-toe shoes, tie back long hair, and avoid loose-fitting clothing and jewelry. We recommend bringing your own safety glasses.

• Questions? Please contact Marianne Spur, who coordinates the Woodworking Studio's community service projects, via wood.lead@bainbridgebarn.org.