A Year of Giving

By Melissa Buttin

Our culture at Herrera includes a passion for serving ourcommunities. We are stewards of the environment and we care about people thatreside within it. More than a quarter of Herrera staff contributed volunteerhours and or funds to non-profits in 2018. Many of our staff supported multipleorganizations with one person contributing to a whopping 24 differentnon-profits.

Herrera employees had the option of donating to a non-profitin lieu of receiving a holiday gift in 2015 and 2016. Given the popularity ofdonating, we redirected all holiday gift funds to non-profit donations in 2017and 2018. In addition to Herrera’s mainoffice in Seattle, there are branch offices in Portland, Bellingham, Olympia,and Missoula. Each year we vote for one regional and three local non-profitorganizations to support. Herrera employees selected Engineers Without Borders,two food banks, and one shelter to receive a donation in 2018.

We are pleased to contribute $2,000 to Engineers Without Borders whose work empowers communities by developingsustainable means for providing for basic human needs. We love that EngineersWithout Borders provide lasting solutions to better the lives of some of the poorestand underserved communities. One notable project included drilling wells to provideclean and reliable drinking water sources for villagers in Simwatachela, Zambia.

Engineers Without Borders: https://www.ewb-usa.org/

The Oregon Food Bankand Montana Food Bank Network eachreceived a $1,000 donation from Herrera. According to the Montana Food Bankwebsite, each dollar is enough to provide for 3 meals. In addition todistributing food, the Oregon food bank provides educational programs fornutrition and gardening to increase self-reliance. Both Oregon and Montana foodbanks advocate for legislation that reduce hunger.

Oregon Food Bank: https://www.oregonfoodbank.org

Montana Food Bank: https://mfbn.org

Herrera also donated $1,000 to Mary’s place, a Seattle shelter for women, children and familiesexperiencing homelessness. The non-profit provides laundry, showers, employment,and housing services. According to its 2017 annual report, Mary’s placeprovided over 175,000 overnight stays, served almost 300,000 meals, helped over1,000 children, and treated almost 3,500 medical conditions.

Mary’s Place: https://www.marysplaceseattle.org/

Organizations that Herrera staff supported in 2018:

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