A partnership for the birds

Boxley Materials Co. was looking for a way to attract birds to a section of its quarry off Lawyers Road that is no longer used for mining.

Chris Russell makes birdhouses. Really good birdhouses.

And that, in a nutshell, is what led to an unlikely business pairing between the mining company and a 37-year-old Lynchburg man with intellectual and emotional disabilities.

Russell builds the birdhouses, each one by hand, with the help of his aide, David Goodman.

Boxley buys them.

And birds live in them.

Chris’s father Mark Russell says it’s a win-win-win situation — the birds have a nice home, Boxley restores the land, and Chris keeps his hands busy. His birdhouses have taken off, so much so that Mark Russell is in the process of getting the business licensed.

“I like to do it,” Chris Russell said. “It’s a hobby I like to do. It’s fun.”

His dad said that constructing the birdhouses has boosted his son’s self-esteem.  Chris, who lives with his parents, had a bad work experience years ago and wasn’t interesting in working because of that. Then he started building birdhouses and found an enjoyable way of making a little bit of money.

Mark Russell said the birdhouses provide his son with a measure of independence he’s not had before.

“It’s not having to ask Mom and Dad for money,” Mark Russell said. “The money he raises, he has control of it. He does with it things that bring him joy. …

“His offering at church is a real offering,” Mark Russell said. “It’s not us giving him money to put in the plate.”

Goodman assists the family with Chris’ care through a community-based Medicaid waiver that allows  the same funds that support residents at the Central Virginia Training Center to be used in the community. He taught Chris how to build feeders and houses for bats, ducks, wood ducks, wrens and bluebirds.

“He’s making a difference in the world,” said Mark Russell. “It’s good to be useful and valued.”

“Yeah, I’m valued for the work I do,” Chris Russell chimed in. “Yep.”

Boxley learned of Chris Russell’s talent for building birdhouses that birds would actually want to move into and have purchased 11 so far in an attempt to bring wildlife back into an area no longer used for mining operations, said Jack McCarthy, quarry superinten-dant.

“We want to be faithful stewards of the environment,” McCarthy said.

McCarthy said the company redirected a creek on the property that used to run over the piece that is currently being mined. The goal is restore the property to a more natural habitat. Chris Russell’s bird and bat houses, along with the planting of 1,500 trees, will help.

 “We will reclaim everything we disturbed,” McCarthy said.

Chris Russell and Goodman have been working together for three years. The idea for the birdhouses came from the Russell family’s love of bird watching. Chris Russell also volunteers for Lynchburg Grows.

“It’s something Chris wanted to try doing,” Goodman said. “It’s not hard to build and it gives him confidence and satisfaction.”

Standing on a small island on the quarry property last week, the men looked for the perfect place to put up the newest birdhouse — this one for wood ducks. They settled on an attractive spot and Goodman held the birdhouse in position against a tree.

“Want to do it, Chris?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

“Don’t let it slide,” Goodman coached.

“Don’t let it slide,” Chris Russell repeated, holding the birdhouse as tight as he could against the tree.

Goodman put one screw in the top of the house, and let Chris Russell drive in the other.