Every year, Windermere offices across Seattle and the Eastside close their doors for a day to give back to their local communities. Brokers and staff members volunteer their time on projects ranging from local cleanups to food banks — all in the name of serving their neighbors.
This year was no different, as our local Windermere offices strove to make a positive impact. Here are just a few of their projects:
Madison Park: This office participated in a landscape cleanup at the Washington Park Arboretum.
Ballard: This office served at Golden Gardens. The group removed trash from the park and trails. They also removed an overwhelming about of blackberry bushes and other invasive species from the beach.
Northgate: The Northgate office volunteered at Meadowbrook park. They cleared weeds and debris before mulching the cleared area.
Wedgwood: The Wedgwood brokers and staff cleaned up the sidewalk and overgrown plants on 35th Ave NE. They chose this project because it benefits the local community, as this stretch of sidewalk gets overgrown and nobody tends to it. By cleaning up the space, they increased the walkability for pedestrians.
Seattle Northwest: This office went to Carkeek Park, a local park in Broadview. There, they helped the Green Seattle Partnership team, led by Forest Steward Loren. The team worked in two groups to remove invasive species in the park, which is vital to maintaining the health of local forests. One group removed blackberry bushes, and the other group worked on removing English Ivy. Everyone worked extremely hard, and despite the rainy weather we had a great group turnout. The team managed to have some smiles and laughs while doing some hard but rewarding work.
Midtown Marketing: This marketing team volunteered their time with NEST (North East Seattle Together) for the day. This non-profit grassroots community provides a strong support network for older residents to stay in the homes of their choosing and remain engaged in their local neighborhoods.
West Metro: A total of 17 brokers and staff from this office volunteered at WestSide Baby and toured the facility. They broke into three teams to help tackle sorting and filling orders for formula, sorting and packing wish lists for babies and toddlers, youth looking for clothing/books/toys, and putting together strollers and high chairs for easy pick-up. The team from WestSide Baby were very organized, which helped the team get through more than they were expecting. In addition to this, the team also had a fundraiser for brokers that were not able to attend the event and raised over $2,600 for the West Seattle Food Bank.
Mount Baker: This year, Windermere Mount Baker took a divide-and-conquer approach to service. They split into two teams of roughly 15 people each and worked on two different projects.
The first team returned to a project they are familiar with at the campus for Wellspring Family Services. The Mount Baker office has volunteered here for the past several years, doing everything from organizing donations of children’s clothing to packing up supplies for their baby boutique, to cleaning the children’s play areas in preparation for Wellspring’s Family Resource Fair.
The second team rekindled Windermere Mount Baker’s relationship with the Rainier Valley Food Bank. The pandemic and a new location for the Food Bank put a temporary hurdle in the way of the two groups working together, but 2023 saw them join in partnership to fight food insecurity in South Seattle. The Mount Baker team here aided in the distribution of food, breaking down cardboard and preparing reusable bags for distribution to the patrons of the food bank.
Bellevue: The Bellevue office volunteered at Jubilee REACH — a program created to bring healing, build community, and transform the lives of students and families in Bellevue. Whether serving families with groceries, equipping adults with English skills, or connecting with students throughout the school year, Jubilee staff and volunteers are committed to prioritizing the core values of relationships, education, assistance, community and hospitality.
Kirkland: The Windermere Central office cleaned up Kingsgate Park in Kirkland. The team removed invasive ivy, saving trees and native plants from strangulation. They also laid mulch and cleaned up the hiking trails.
Redmond: The Redmond office followed up on some gardening and landscaping projects they began last year with the Friends of Youth. The residents have been gardening in the beds they started last year and wanted to start a few more. The volunteers built two new garden beds, complete with rabbit-proof fencing. They also tidied up the area around the beds to keep weeds at bay. Generous donations from several brokers got the new garden beds off to a great start with nine tomato plants, four serrano peppers, two tomatillos, three strawberries, mint and rosemary plants.
Bellevue West: This office volunteered at the Cougar Mountain Zoo. The projects included landscaping (moving rocks), painting and general upkeep of the facilities. As an added bonus, the volunteers got to see alpacas, lemurs and reindeer in the rain.
Yarrow Bay: The Yarrow Bay volunteers worked with local nonprofit Attain Housing on a variety of landscaping projects as well as the organization of storage sheds. This helped one of the many family housing complexes that Attain Housing represents.
Bellevue South: For their Community Service Day activities, this office helped clean up Oxbow Farm and Conservation Center in Carnation. They helped to remove harmful plants and weeds so that the habitat would be restored for wildlife in the area.
