The metal cross that welcomes worshippers to the St. Luke Lutheran Church is a familiar sight to North Spokane residents. Just south of Graves Road, the statue greets locals driving down Division Street as they go about their days.

In that same parking lot is a simple structure that houses a woodshop, filled with an array of humming machines. Amid the warm smell of fresh-cut wood is a group of woodworkers building a “rocking cow” — like a rocking horse but with the head of a cow.

The handful of carpenters comprise most of the St. Luke Woodworkers group, craftsmen who meet adjacent to the church, at 9704 N. Division, and have constructed hundreds of toys and other wood pieces for the Spokane community, says Dean Lenz, co-founder of the group and a retired art teacher.

“With the different people that are here, we learn from each other,” says Lenz. “Some people have skills with a lathe, some people with furniture building. It’s fun to go ahead and learn from everybody.”

Each year, the group builds between 500 and 600 toys for children ages 6 months to 7 years old, including race cars, logging trucks, dump trucks, pickup trucks, helicopters, tractors, ladybugs, and turtles, Lenz says. Most toys are donated to the Christmas Bureau, an annual holiday assistance program coordinated by Catholic Charities Eastern Washington, Volunteers of America, and The Spokesman-Review.

Members have also constructed raised garden beds and bed frames for the low-income housing complex Walnut Corners, in Spokane, as well as a bed frame, night stand, dresser, and two benches for a woman who lost all her furniture in the Medical Lake area’s Gray Fire in 2023, says Lenz.

The group has also created auction pieces to raise money for the nonprofit network Lutheran Community Services Northwest, and also to raise funds for the St. Luke youth ministry, which has gone to the Dominican Republic on mission trips for the past five years, says Lenz. Those fundraising projects include chess and checker boards and tables, cutting boards, pizza cutters, wine stoppers, ice cream scoop holders, and chopping blocks, he says.

Many wood pieces require painting, which is typically done by Lenz and another member, Dale Fitch, says Lenz.

The group’s other co-founder, Ron Dickerhoof, says St. Luke Woodworkers was formed for three primary reasons: first, to build projects for St. Luke and help the church out; second, to help the Spokane community; and third, so people who don’t have their own woodshops can use the one at the church.

“It’s a service-oriented program for church, community, and individuals,” he says. 

One member is Michael Duniway, 81, who joined St. Luke Woodworkers three years ago because he loved the hobby. 

“We all have a common mission, and that’s to serve the community, help those who are less fortunate, and build projects,” says Duniway. “I’m rewarded by doing that, working with my hands, and staying healthy.”

The group started after the church built a 1,200-square-foot shed on its property. Two-thirds of the shed was, and still is, sectioned for the church’s quilters’ group. The third of the shed now comprising a woodshop was initially used for storage, says Lenz.

Lenz and Dickerhoof asked the church’s council if they could turn it into a woodshop, says the former.

Additionally, a Spokane community member was preparing to move and had heard that the woodworking group was getting off the ground, so he donated his equipment to them, he says.

“That was the start for a lot of our major tools,” says Lenz.

Now, the group is going into its fourth year. Looking forward, Dickerhoof says he wants to see the woodworkers keep helping the church, community, and the people within them.

“We want to see this thing continue on in the future, and we need to encourage younger people to carry this tradition on,” says Dickerhoof.

St. Luke Woodworkers meets Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Meetings typically consist of four to eight members and are open to ages 10 and up, he says. People interested can either stop by or give the church a call at (509)467-5256.

People don’t need to be members of St. Luke, or even Lutherans, to join the woodworkers group, says Dickerhoof.

“Give us a call,” he says. “Even if you don’t know how to woodwork, we’ll teach you.”