Woods Coffee Donates $1500 to Skookum Kids

Woods Coffee founder, Wes Herman, sits with Skookum Kids Director, Ray Deck III, in the new Skookum Parents office in Bellingham, Wash., on Wed., Oct. 24, 2017. Since January 2017, Skookum Parents, Skookum Kids’ private Child Placing Agency (CPA), has licensed 12 families and with about 11 families in the licensing process. They hope to have 200 families licensed by the end of 2020.

BELLINGHAM, WASHINGTON-- Woods Coffee founder Wes Herman delivered Wednesday a $1500 check to Skookum Kids as part of its campaign to celebrate their 15-year anniversary.

“The key for us is that our staff of about 200 employees are all aware of Skookum Kids and they're all behind it,” Herman said. 

Woods relies heavily on staff input when choosing a charity to support.

Woods donated two dollars from every bag of their anniversary blend coffee they sold between July and September 2017. Skookum Kids is one of four Bellingham nonprofits to benefit from those sales.

“Woods Coffee is a pillar in our community,” said Ray Deck III, Skookum Kids’ founding director. “When Woods chooses to support a charity, it’s like the citizens of Whatcom County choosing a charity to support.”

According to their website, the first Woods Coffee opened in 2002 in Lynden, Washington. Since then it’s grown to include 19 locations as far north as British Columbia and as far south as Bellevue.

Skookum Kids was founded in 2015 by Ray Deck III in Bellingham, Washington. This non-profit organization is dedicated to repairing the foster care system by equipping those already affected by the system and educating those who are not. It is staffed by seven full-time and four part-time employees and over 100 volunteers. For more information, visit their website at www.skookumkids.org.