'Challenge Grant' Sets Youth Center Project into Flight

The Barn Youth Center will move a big step closer to opening day if all goes well the next few months raising money to match a grant.

Brian and Leeann Bunn, founders of The Barn Youth Ministry, recently learned that Boeing Co. Employees Community Fund had awarded their project a $25,000 "challenge grant." To receive the money Barn supporters must raise $35,000 on their own by Aug. 1.

The money would be used for electrical work at the youth center, a work-in-progress for almost seven years.

"We were very excited to hear about the grant," Brian Bunn said. "We were hopeful that we'd get something, but you never know whether other people will embrace a project that you believe in."

8 years in making
The center came about in 1993, when the Bunns moved to Lynden from Littleton, Colo., and bought a farmhouse, former dairy barn and adjacent acreage 2.5 miles north of Lynden on Guide Meridian. Their vision: Develop 16,000-square-foot, L-shaped barn into a drug- and alcohol-free center for young people.

"A place where it's safe for kids to come and build relationships with other kids and with caring, responsible adults," Leeann Bunn said. "Our ultimate goal is to share with them, in a non-threatening way, the good news of Jesus Christ."

A board of directors made up of the Bunns and six other local residents oversees the ministry, a Christian nonprofit organization.

Progress has been slow, as the ministry relies on donations and volunteer labor to complete the massive remodeling job. To date, the complex has been reroofed; concrete flooring has been poured; the hay loft floor has been raised; sheet rock has been hung; a furnace, heat ducts and a fire sprinkler system have been installed; doors and windows are in place; and the plumbing is almost complete.

Work so far has cost the organization about $160,000.

"It would be at least double or even triple that amount if it weren't for all of the donated labor and materials we've received," Brian Bunn said. "This is a community with a great heart."

First phase under way
Bunn said the first phase of the remodel is about 75 percent complete. That phase includes work on the central and south sections of the barn's ground floor and a huge loft.

The central part of the ground floor will house an office, large kitchen and a coffee bar with an unobstructed view of Mount Baker, and a game room fitted for a game of pool, table tennis and table soccer.

The cavernous south barn, about 4,000 square feet, and the expanded loft area will offer high ceilinged open space for concerts, worship gatherings and indoor sports.

The second phase, a longer-term goal, will see the west section of the barn equipped with video games, a television, comfortable furniture and a study room. Outdoor recreation fields will be built west of the building.

Once open, the center will continue to rely mainly on community support and grants to cover its operating costs and might be rented to outside groups when it's not used for youth activities.

"We've already had a few calls from families interested in renting it for their reunions," Brian Bunn said.

Board members are discussing whether to charge youths a small fee when they use the center.

"We don't want to exclude any kid who can't pay," Brian Bunn said, "but we also know that when you contribute to something yourself, you value it more."

So far supporters have raised $5,000 toward the $35,000 match.

"The amount seems more overwhelming if you think of the total," Leeann Bunn said. But if you think that it only takes 350 people to give $100 each, or 700 people to give $50 each, then it doesn't sound as difficult to do."

Volunteer Work Gives Dunster Plenty to Do

At age 82, John Dunster rises early each morning excited to begin the day. The first four hours of each of his weekdays are filled with purpose.

"I mow lawns. I paint. I clean. I plant flowers," Dunster said, ticking off his numerous responsibilities volunteering at The Barn Youth Center, located north of Lynden at 9273 Guide Meridian Road.

The Barn project began in 1993 when Brian and Leeann Bunn bought an old dairy barn with the dream of remodeling it into a youth center. Barn Ministries was organized as a nonprofit Christian organization with an eight-member board of directors.

Remodeling the barn has been a slow but steady project. The end is in sight, however. The ministry's leaders have been challenged to receive a $25,000 matching grant from the Boeing Employees Community Fund if The Barn raises $35,000 by Aug. 1.

Money aside, work on The Barn continues to get done with the faithful support of volunteers such as John Dunster.

John and Vivianna Dunster moved to Lynden one year ago from Seattle because of the "beauty of this place, the safety, and the cleanliness of this town. It's unbelievable to us," Vivianna said.

The Dunsters were married six years ago. Both of their spouses had died and they were introduced by mutual friends in the early 1990s. John lived in Blaine at the time and Vivianna lived in Seattle. John offered to help Vivianna (Biesen) with some chores around her house. steady projects at her place kept them in close contact.

"He didn't want to get married again," Vivianna said. "When he met me, he sort of tumbled."

The couple's strong Christian faith is evident. Together, they attend two churches to accommodate each of their worship preferences. John calls himself an "old-time" Roman Catholic. Vivianna attended a Presbytyerian church in Seattle and now attends First Reformed Church in Lynden.

Vivianna said their overall prayer is simply, "Lord, keep us moving."

John said he's never been happier than he is right now. "We are having the best years of our lives," he said. Life with Vivianna is "unbelievable," he said.

"I can't tell you how many times the Lord has blessed me," John said. "It just continues and continues."

John was born July 8, 1918 in Rome, N.Y. He served his country in World War II, married, raised three children and worked in a variety of jobs, including sheet metal and construction appraisal. Various jobs brought him some famous clients including President John and Jackie Kennedy and President Lyndon Johnson, although he hates to recall attention to those stories.

Vivianna called her husband an "idea man. He lives his life giving unto others," she said.

One only has to visit with John a short time to recognize that he wouldn't be happy if he weren't helping someone. Idleness would likely drive him mad rather than relax him.

Shortly after the Dunsters settled into their Homestead condominium, John set out to find people in need of his help. He said he's always done plumbing and handyman work for widows, even purchasing the needed supplies for a project.

It was his Lynden doctor, Dave Dickson, who suggested that John volunteer at The Barn. John said he knew it was where he belonged when he first walked onto the site this spring. He said he was overwhelmed by The Barn's potential, he cried tears of joy. "It's unbelievable what they are doing," he said.

The Bunns are as impressed with John Dunster as he is with them.

"He's an example of faith in action," Brian Bunn said. "You want a definition of a role model, look at someone like John Dunster. He's even a role model for someone in their 40s."

Vivianna chuckled about her husband's eagerness to get to work each day. She said she hardly has time to give him a proper goodbye before he hustles out the door.

"I figure I am supporting a missionary," she said. "He leaves my every day between 8 a.m. to noon." She said he return home tired eats a hearty lunch and then takes a nap for a few hours. Nevertheless, she said her husband's overall health has improved since he started volunteering.

Dunster prefers not to draw attention to himself. He emphasized throughout the interview, "Please this is not about me. It's about what an old man can do and could do with a little more help," he said.

Dunster said he would love to see more retired people volunteering their time at The Barn. "The younger generation needs the older generation to take an interest in them," Dunster said.

Anyone interested in volunteering may call the Bunns at 354-1409.

"If you can't work, come give us some good conversation," Dunster said, adding that he's willing to arrange transportation for those who need it. "I just would like to stress that we need more help up there."

"It's really going to be a big benefit to Lynden," Dunster said of The Barn. "I think people should know it's a first-class structure." A large kitchen and shower facility could even serve as a youth hostel for traveling visitors.

"I'm just so happy to be a part of this," Dunster said.