Mission Statement: Whatcom Community Builders Guild
The following is the full text of the original mission statement of Whatcom Community Builders Guild, a now defunct organization that would play a seminal role in the foundation of the RE Store. For additional background see my accounts of the Early History of the RE Store and Moving the RE Store.
Devoted to the promotion of sensible and responsible growth, increased awareness of environmental issues related to the building trades, and volunteer community service.
The Whatcom Community Builders Guild is a group of trade professionals who are dedicated to working conscientiously with the client to provide a product with lasting quality and function. We have seen a need to extend that dedication to quality beyond our isolated scope of work and out into the larger community and natural surroundings. In hopes of achieving this we have identified the following goals:
Provide a Working Network
We will provide our members, our clients, and the general public with a network of educational and practical resources, which compliment the values of the guild, through a resource library, regular meetings, and special public events.
Provide Continuing Volunteer Community Service
We will perform regular community service projects aimed at improving existing houses for people in need as well as projects aimed at the broader community.
Environmental Sensitivity in Building
We are working to build houses that are less consumptive of materials and energy, which minimize our use of old-growth lumber, and which use a lower level of toxic materials. Through our working network we wish to become and educational resource concerning environmental issues that relate to the building trades.
Encourage Cooperative and Responsible Work Environments
We recognize a need for open communication in the workplace in order to achieve quality in the finished project. We encourage women and minorities in the trades, the development of cooperative business structures, and a sensitivity to those who are learning no the job.
Responsive to Client and Community Needs
We respect the relationship between the client and builder as a creative process which incorporates the clients physical and emotional needs and a well-informed use of design in the finished building. We also seek to provide options which will help to make quality, affordable, housing an obtainable goal for everyone.
Promote Sensible and Resposible Growth
We favor, in general, a growth in quality rather than quantity. We are working to improve and maintain existing houses, and to produce new construction which has lasting value and permanence.
