Honors for The Dougy Center

It's been a challenging summer, to say the least, for the staff and volunteers and clientele of The Dougy Center, the nonprofit board I'm privileged to be a part of.

An arson fire in June virtually destroyed the main building that housed the staff and grief support programs for kids and other family members coping with the death of a loved one. No one's been arrested. Meanwhile, the staff had to scramble to find smaller, temporary quarters, where grief counselors could continue holding therapy groups for children and their families.

So, it came as wonderful news recently to learn that The Dougy Center had been named to Oregon Business Magazine's inaugural list of the Best 100 Nonprofits to Work For in Oregon. Even more impressive, Dougy was recognized as the third-best nonprofit organization in the state in the "small" category (10-25 employees).

(It was equally cool to see two other nonprofits I'm familiar with make the top ten list: Portland YouthBuilders (No. 3, medium), one of the alternative high schools our daughter visits as a college/career counselor; and the Native American Family and Youth Center (No. 2, large), where a couple of friends work.)

The October issue of the magazine lists the winners, with a column on what makes the top programs successful. Read the press release and the winning workplaces sidebar, and check out Dougy's website: www.dougy.org

Here's what the magazine said about Dougy:

Healing help
No. 3 Small: The Dougy Center

Perhaps because the Dougy Center has provided grieving services and support to children since 1982, the dedicated staff was uniquely prepared to face a major trauma themselves — the near destruction of their main center in Southeast Portland in an arson attack in June.

But the 11 employees can also count on their leader, Donna Schuurman, executive director of the center. The team has remained as tightly knit as ever and not a single employee was lost, thanks to her efforts. “Times of crisis pull people together,” she explains. “We have a mission and we are going to find a way.”

Schuurman believes that mission is what makes her employees — some of whom have been with the center for more than 18 years — persevere, even though 12 now have to share a space designed for four. But employees also enjoy ample insurance coverage, flexible schedules and periodic retreats such as kayak trips.

Schuurman says her staff has spoken at length over the years about how helping families deal with the heavy burden of death is enormously fulfilling. Instead of bringing them down, it has the opposite effect, helping them all appreciate life. “We get to see a lot of healing and progress,” she says. “It’s quite an honor.”