Helping beautify Serenity House of Clallam County’s family shelter are (from left) Mike Anderson, Bob Grattan, Richard Gray, Lance Callin-Young, Scott Schaefer, Ron Puff and John Webb. Submitted photo

A group of men from Sequim are giving some time and effort to aid a county project.

Sequim’s Mike Anderson, Lance Callin-Young, Bob Grattan, Richard Gray, Ron Puff, Scott Schaefer and John Webb were busy last week beautifying a Port Angeles apartment building that houses families exiting from homelessness.

The group installed landscaping at 10th and C streets, site of Serenity House of Clallam County’s family shelter and Cornerstone permanent supportive housing programs, on July 28.

Schaefer, Serenity House’s fiscal director, conceived the project and applied for funding. Walmart contributed $250, which Sunny Farms Farm Store doubled into $500 worth of trees and plants.

Home Depot donated a $50 gift certificate and McComb Road Nursery gave plants.

Gray, a semi-retired landscape architect, designed the project that includes a watering system to serve both the ornamental plantings and a future vegetable garden.

The C Street project began last year when the men installed a wooden fence at the rear of the property and will be completed next year with additional plantings.

The men’s group meets twice monthly for dinner and sharing in members’ homes and take on occasional projects, Schaefer said.

“We just meet to talk about things in our lives,” Schaefer said. “This is our first big project in the community. We don’t know what the next one will be.”

The nucleus of the informal nine-man group is three men who moved to Sequim three years ago from Marin County, Calif., where they had enjoyed a similar group.

For information on opportunities to volunteer to help end homelessness in Clallam County, call Serenity House at 452-7224.