Lions Club of Wooster

Yesterday I was invited to address the Lions Club of Wooster and was warmly received as I gave an informal talk on the origins of the company. It turned out to be a nostalgic trip through memory lane as I traced our humble beginnings from our mission assignment in New York City in 1973. P. Graham Dunn, as a business, actually has its roots in crafts projects that we started with homeless teenage girls. We produced gift items during the week, and sold at craft fairs in Manhattan on the weekend. The girls were paid on a piece work basis. Before long we were generating a positive cash flow which would finance weekend trips in the van to places like Washington, D.C.

Some people appear to have their life plans all figured out in advance. I simply sit back and marvel. The rest of us just show up each morning, and follow the path day by day. LeAnna and I had no idea 35 years ago that our missions assignment with the Eastern Mennonite Board of Missions and Charities (headquartered in Salunga, PA) would result in a family business!

Peter Dunn