A Vietnam Veteran named Mike recently received a memorable 80th birthday gift: his own tiny home.

Mike’s tiny home is the culmination of over a decade of work by a nonprofit called Operation Tiny Home, which celebrated this milestone with a ribbon-cutting ceremony last Friday.

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Over the weekend, a small group of Washington Rock team members volunteered at the Tacoma Rescue Mission’s family campus kitchen to serve lunch to those in need.

The group included Washington Rock founder Harry Hart, who is a passionate advocate of the Mission. The service project was a great opportunity to kick off a season of giving.

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For the past two years, a black lab named Daisy has spent every day with her trainer learning to become a service dog. Daisy’s past life at a shelter is a distant memory. Now that she has learned tricks like turning on light switches and alerting, Daisy will soon leave her trainer’s care.

Daisy’s trainer, Mae, has learned valuable skills too. Over several years, Mae has become certified as a dog trainer through the Prison Pet Partnership. She already has a job lined up after she completes her sentence at the Washington Corrections Center for Women in Gig Harbor, Washington.

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With no other place to go, a mother pulls her van into a newly graveled lot. It doesn’t look like much, but it’s a godsend. It’s lit with a streetlight, and there’s running water, portable bathrooms, and outlets where she can charge her phone.

The entire lot is fenced, and the gate locks at night. Her kids can play in the field nearby. In the morning, there will be a hot meal ready at the church next door, and her whole family will be given bagged lunches filled with sandwiches, fruit, chips, drinks, and treats.

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You would probably recognize the Carnation name off of a can of sweetened condensed milk. After all, that’s the origin of the town’s name. But some locals prefer the original name: Tolt.

Occupying just over one square mile with a population of 2,220, you wouldn’t be the first to dismiss Carnation as a blip on a map. For the past century, the main street of Tolt Avenue has been less of a Disneyland-kind-of main street and more of a rugged thoroughfare. But over the years, passionate Carnationites banded together to elevate Tolt Avenue to the charming main street it is today.

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Millions of acres of American wetlands have been destroyed since the late 1700s, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Early settlers viewed wetlands as disease-ridden swamps that impeded travel and agricultural development. Their solution was to drain the wetlands and turn them into farmable land.

In the mid 1960s, the port was growing in Tacoma. Shipping channels were being expanded, and more land was needed for industrial activities. Like many wetlands in the area, Wapato Creek was diverted into a channelized ditch. Its former path was filled with material removed from the waterways, solving both the need for expanded waterways and more land. The channelized ditch ran along 12th Street East in Fife, then followed Alexander Avenue west to a culvert that feeds into Blair Waterway.

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Almost 900 feet above the Colorado River, the views from the Mike O’Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge are spectacular. Tourists have a panoramic view of the Hoover Dam and the blue-green waters of the river, which travel from the top of the dam to the bottom. This technological marvel is surrounded by red rock canyons, providing a stark contrast between industry and nature.

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