Bruce and Lillian Venner Are Helping Vermonters Build Better Lives
From Clean Clothes to Fresh Starts: How the Venners’ Giving Powers Vermont Community Wash & Learn
Bruce smiling as he receives a certificate for a housing-focused discretionary fund for an 85th birthday gift from his wife Lillian.
Over 36 years volunteering with Green Mountain Habitat for Humanity, Bruce Venner helped build over 90 homes in Vermont. To mark his 85th birthday, his wife, Lillian, established a housing-focused discretionary fund with the Community Foundation. “It was the most fitting gift for him,” she said.
“An increasing number of people are wondering how they’ll pay their bills when they come due,” said Lillian. “We feel really blessed not to be in that position. We live simply. We’ve been able to educate our children and our grandchildren, and now we’d like to spend our money where it’s needed.”
In addition to the housing-focused discretionary fund Lillian gifted Bruce, the Venners give generously through a donor advised fund. From supporting free laundry services for people without homes at Vermont Community Wash and Learn to ensuring vibrancy in the arts with grants to the Flynn Theater, the Venners take a broad approach to their giving.
“It’s a huge weight off my shoulders to write one check to the Community Foundation and have them distribute grants based on our priorities,” said Lillian. “The world is much more complex now, and they have a broader sense of need in Vermont than I ever will.”
Bruce and Lillian Venner give to more than 75 organizations, most of them local to Vermont. Their generosity touches every corner of Vermont life—housing, the arts, basic needs, and more. The spirit of their giving is captured in through the Vermont Community Wash & Learn, where a simple act like doing laundry becomes a gateway to opportunity and belonging.
King Street Laundry, Burlington, VT
More than a Laundry: A Clean Start
Access to clean clothes, job training, and connection is helping people build a path out of poverty
Radha Selvester, the Work Readiness Coordinator at Vermont Community Wash & Learn, met “D” during free laundry hours at King Street Laundry. She encouraged D, who was unhoused at the time, to join the nonprofit’s workforce development program, a six-week, paid program that helps individuals build soft and professional skills through the laundry’s wash, dry, fold service.
“She had faced so many barriers to employment,” said Radha, “but she persevered, worked with her readiness coach, and was recently hired on the spot at a local job fair. We are all so proud of D. Her path ahead looks bright!”
Just under two years after they purchased King Street Laundry in 2022 with support in part from the Vermont Women’s Fund, Andrew and Hannah Christianson established Vermont Community Wash & Learn in 2024. They saw an opportunity for the laundry mat to serve a broader purpose in the neighborhood through workforce training, financial literacy, and the arts. “Negativity thrives in a vacuum,” said Andrew. “So we’re operating under the thesis that building a space where people are doing positive things for the community will fill that void.”
Among them, free laundry services every Wednesday between one and three in the afternoon. To date, they have provided 288 free laundry loads to 101 unhoused individuals, financed by contributions from people like the Venners.
The workforce development program offers a zero-barrier training environment for individuals like D to gain both skills and confidence, while a recent series of financial literacy workshops for New Americans offered guidance on budgeting, credit building and personal finance. In partnership with the Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity community ambassadors, the 10 workshops were offered in seven different languages.
To build community and a sense of ownership, King Street Laundry hosts free painting and sewing events, recently pulling down ceiling tiles for local residents to decorate the space with brightly colored designs. Everyone who participated also got to do a free load of laundry. “If you’re here for an hour doing laundry, you might as well join in,” said Andrew.
Inspired by Bruce and Lillian's generosity?
Consider opening a donor advised fund to start your own legacy of making a difference in Vermont communities. Together, we can create lasting positive change.
