Edmonds becomes country’s first ‘Community of Service’

Published 1:20 pm Sunday, June 7, 2026

EDMONDS — The city of Edmonds is officially the nation’s first “Community of Service” under an initiative led by former U.S. Rep. Brian Baird.

Edmonds community members — including elected officials, nonprofit leaders and business owners — gathered in downtown Edmonds on Saturday to celebrate the launch of “Edmonds Serves.”

Baird, now an Edmonds resident, is the founder of the National Museum and Center for Service, an organization working to establish a national service museum in Washington, DC. To celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States, the organization is establishing several “communities of service” throughout the country.

“If you travel around the country, we do a great job of honoring military service, which is really important, but it shouldn’t be just the military who answer the call to service, nor should their service be the only service we honor,” Baird said.

The initiative celebrates local nonprofits by displaying posters in businesses throughout the city, creating a community museum of sorts, Baird said. Each poster has a QR code that connect residents and visitors directly to nonprofits and volunteer opportunities. Each organization pays for its own poster, which costs about $60.

Edmonds has nearly 500 nonprofits, Mayor Mike Rosen said.

“This is just a new way to honor those quiet heroes that walk among us,” he said. “It truly is a great honor to get the designation of the first community of service in the nation, and I’m really proud of that, but I’m really more proud of the individuals behind it, the people who show up and donate their time and give up their hearts.”

One poster on display at Saturday’s event featured volunteers for the Foundation for Edmonds School District. One volunteer, Susan Campbell, has volunteered with the foundation’s Nourishing Network for 11 years, packing and delivering meals and organizing donations so students have access to nutritious food.

Melissa Foozer is an employee at Edmonds Bookshop and a coach for a Girls on the Run program in Mukilteo. Girls on the Run is a nonprofit that trains girls and nonbinary youth to run a 5k while also teaching self-confidence and communication skills. She said Edmonds Serves was “serendipitous” for her, as the bookstore now displays a Girls on the Run poster.

“Our owner always wants to be involved in any community things,” she said. “Whenever we can be out in the public, we want to be.”

Kim Gorney, executive director of Washington Kids in Transition, thanked the organization’s volunteers Saturday. Washington Kids in Transition provides basic needs to homeless children throughout the state.

“Eleven years ago, this journey started around the kitchen table,” Gorney said. “Today it continues because of a city filled with people that chose to do something together.”

Jenna Peterson: 425-339-3486; jenna.peterson@heraldnet.com; X: @jennarpetersonn.