Meet ReBuild's Board and Staff

RB:  What is your position on the Board and how long have you been a Board member?

DS:  I am currently Chairman of the Board and I've served in this position since January 2009.

RB:  What attracted you to become affiliated with The ReBuild Warehouse?

DS:  What attracted me to ReBuild was the recycling of used building materials, keeping good quality materials out of the landfills, having an opportunity to train youth for jobs offering permanent employment in environmental and construction trades, and just helping people in general which I enjoy very much.  Hopefully, this will enable us to make a have at least a small impact on America's environment.

DS:  Growing up as a native Washingtonian on the streets in Upper Northwest and watching so many of my friends repeatedly making bad life choices, I wanted to set up programs to help youth in their same circumstances get off the streets and do something better with their lives. Working through ReBuild, I can help the youth achieve this through our job training program. Giving back to the community is the Number #1 priority for me.

RB:  How do you see ReBuild evolving over the next 2-3 years? 5 years? 10 years?

DS:  With the right kind of support and commitment from various combinations of contributors, I can see a great future for ReBuild.  If we get a sufficient number of dedicated volunteers, a steady stream of donated materials from building suppliers and contractors to help provide revenue for our training programs, and sufficient funding from donors and other grant sources, ReBuild should be a continued success far beyond the next 10 years.

RB:  What ways have you found to be involved with ReBuild that gives you the most pleasure or satisfaction?

DS:  I enjoy watching "high end" items that our deconstruction crews remove from whole house take-downs and renovation projects and that are donated by the owners to  ReBuild and purchased and reused in lower income housing.  ReBuild's deeply discounted prices enable residents in blue collar communities to have quality building materials in their homes. 

RB:  How would you encourage folks who might be interested in ReBuild to become involved?

DS:  It all boils down to whether or not the person is environmentally friendly enough to understand ReBuild's mission. If they are, they would automatically want to join ReBuild and help save our environment.  ReBuild is a great place, it has earned the reputation to stand on its own, and it's quadruple bottom line of benefiting the homeowner, customer, our living wage workers, and the environment pretty much speaks for itself.

RB:  What do you see as ReBuild's biggest challenges over the next several years?

DS:  ReBuild's biggest challenge is to increase our customer with our limited advertising funds.  We know we provide we provide a valuable service but it's been hard to get the message out with our limited resources and manpower.  We could definitely use more volunteer help to enable us to fulfill our mission.  It has honestly been a challenge since day one, so it's kind of hard to say about the next several years. But in my eyes "nothing beats a failure but a try".  And I surely plan to keep trying!

RB:  What kinds of activities do you enjoy doing when you're not working with ReBuild?

DS:  I enjoy spending quality time with the family, watching sports, and my various hobbies like bowling and fishing.

.