As 11,907 K-12 students in Bellingham grind away at their studies this school year, some have a harder time than others when it comes to finding a comfortable workplace at home. Shawn Serdahl of A1DesignBuild in Bellingham recognized this issue for his own kids and promptly ordered desks for both of his daughters.
“When my family was getting our two girls set up at home for remote learning, we realized that our youngest did not have a great place for online learning without the distraction of the other goings-on in the house,” Serdahl explains.
Serdahl recognized that other families were not as fortunate as his, and were not able to purchase desks for their children’s remote learning.
Serdahl showed his colleagues at A1DesginBuild an Instagram post in which a construction worker donated desks to students participating in remote learning; by the end of the day, project manager Patrick Martin had created a prototype.
A1 contract manager Justus Peterson connected with Bellingham Millwork Supply Co. about costs and donations of supplies. By the next week, A1 had 25 sheets of plywood — 10 donated and the other 15 at a significantly reduced cost — and were ready to start building. The project went from idea to delivery in just four weeks.
Construction began in early November and the desks were delivered in early December. In total, more than 60 desks were delivered around the community. Instructions and plans for the desks will soon be available on the A1DesginBuild website for free.
“We try to be open to all opportunities to use our skills and resources to help those around us,” says Martin. “I think we all feel that it is our responsibility to help those less-fortunate in our community, it is a founding principle for our co-op.”
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