Co-founder Dennis Dudder Interview – Part 2
We have traditionally created a Fall newsletter to communicate to current and alumni Changes members, as well as to the community at large.
With the creation of this website blog, we are moving from periodic newsletter-style communication to a more regular as-needed rhythm. So consider this to be a delayed part 2 of what would have been our Fall ’24 Changing Times newsletter.
In early 2024, we interviewed Dennis Dudder, a Changes co-founder who is still active supporting others nearly 30 years after helping create Changes. Part 1 of his interview can be found by clicking here: Changes 2023 Annual Report
Below is the second and final part of our interview with Dennis.
Q: Have you seen changes in star child behavior over the years? Were you dealing with different issues than we see now?
Not really, there are a lot of similar issues. In the 1970’s, there was a law passed in WA state; to my understanding, it was intended to allow kids aged 13 years and older in a divorce situation to be part of the decision regarding where they lived. But it was interpreted to allow kids 13 and older to live on the streets if they wanted to – and they did. So in the 80’s and 90’s we had a lot of kids on the streets, and we’re kind of back to that; I wonder if some of the people still on the streets were part of that group. Since that time, we’ve tried to get that legislation changed. We tried hard to get It changed to 16 ½ (the age of consent in WA).
What it’s morphed into today is that 13-year-olds can do things and not tell their parents.
Q: What formal volunteer roles have you taken at Changes and which are your favorite?
I was on the Board of Directors twice. And I was a Rep for the Everett meeting from the beginning. Originally it was a dual role, but then the board made a policy that you could not be a Rep if you were on the Board. Later we decided it really wasn’t a conflict of interest, so it was allowed again. [Fellow co-founders] Bob Loveless, and later Terry Suzuki and I did a lot of early grant writing. Terry and I did a lot of grant writing at the time. And I would go with Terry and later with Curtis Fukushima to each city, do the interviews and present the request for grants, which generally ranged from $300 to $1,000 from the cities we approached.
I really like doing orientation; it’s nice to get back to doing the orientation, because I hadn’t done it in a while.
Q: When you created Changes, did you or the other founders have any idea how long it would last?
Not really. We all committed to 3 or 4 years, and that we’ll continue what we were doing. We had a lot more groups back then, too. We were active in Snohomish, Bellingham, a couple of different meetings on the peninsula, and we even had a group in Tacoma. The Kent and Des Moines group were offshoots of the Seattle group, but some of the others were independent parent groups that joined as word got around. [Editor’s note: our meetings used to be in person in the Seattle area, so chapters were created and disbanded as needs and resources ebbed and flowed.]
