Dear Construction Community, Current and Former Coworkers/Work Teams, Friends, Family and Congregation Members:

We are organizing this GoFundMe campaign in support of a retired Construction Superintendent in the greater Portland area: CHRIS MAAS. Chris is a lifelong resident of Clackamas County who began his career in construction at the age of 19. He met his wife of 43 years, Kathy (also a lifelong resident of Clackamas County), while dressed as a “Carpenter” at a Halloween party. During the late 80’s, Chris opened his own construction firm building custom homes. In 1993, Chris joined Walsh Construction where he worked as a carpenter for twenty years. Some notable Walsh projects that Chris worked on included New Columbia, University Point, Hollywood Library, Skamania remodel, Lyndon Musolf Manner, WSU Student Housing and several TI and rehab projects. Chris also participated in a Make-a-Wish volunteer project “The Little Pink House” for Ruby which he was super proud of and had a great time working on with his fellow workers at Walsh. While still working at Walsh in the late 90s, Chris built his family a home in the town of Clackamas, Oregon where they still reside today.

Chris joined LMC Construction in 2014, where he worked as a Superintendent on multi-family housing projects until his retirement last year on July 1, 2024. Projects that Chris oversaw while at LMC encompasses the following: Laurel Parc Phase II (Main Dining Room Renovations), Los Jardines de la Paz apartment renovation project, and ground up construction of the The Meadows and Caples Terrace Apartments in Vancouver and Miracles Central, the Artisan (aka Div2), and Mamook Tokatee apartment buildings in Portland. His last project was new construction of 171 units at The Mill on Maple (aka Maple Lane) apartments in his resident Clackamas County.

During his tenure at both Walsh and LMC, Chris performed a number of renovations to his family home. In 2012, he removed the original wooden deck in the backyard and constructed a new Fiberon composite deck with plans for a future Phase II. Chris is a master carpenter, thus as you can imagine… his current deck is beautiful with built-in planters and integral step lighting. Though while working projects together with Chris at LMC, I remember him telling me a few times about his "deck to nowhere." He had removed the window in the formal dining room of their home and installed French doors out to the backyard in its place, though he had not yet gotten to the Phase II deck expansion to meet up to the doors. Chris was anticipating finishing his deck project in retirement and enjoying the yard improvement efforts he and Kathy had worked on in recent years.

Within three months of retiring, Chris had surgery for what they thought was spinal stenosis; the surgery did not resolve the original symptoms, and Chris was diagnosed with ALS in December of last year. ALS stands for Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, and is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects the nerve cells—or motor neurons—in the brain and spinal cord. You may recall or have participated in the “Ice Bucket Challenge” which began in the summer of 2014 to raise awareness and money for ALS research.

The original deck that Chris and Kathy designed and installed at their home is not wheelchair friendly. Chris never imagined retiring and then being in a wheelchair within six months; he had dreams of traveling with his wife, fly fishing, spending time with grandchildren, building a beach house in Garibaldi…. and working to finish his deck. We are banding volunteer labor forces this July and remodeling the back deck at the Maas home to make it accessible for Chris. The new deck will extend to capture both exterior exits, improve the door thresholds, and add a wheelchair lift down to the patio and yard. The deck design also includes steps down to the yard, a special wall built specifically with the Maas family dog—Elliot (Stabler)—in mind, and aluminum cable railings for safety.

We have had some materials donated via some of our awesome industry partners, though we need to fill some gaps and thus this campaign. We intend to utilize funds to offset costs of the decking and railings. Material donations are also welcome! Any surplus funds will be utilized on refurbishing the adjacent landscaping following the construction, additional accessibility accommodations around the house, and/or Chris’s care. We have maybe 15 good weeks of weather until the rains return and we hope to allow Chris and Kathy—his #1 caregiver—as much time as possible to enjoy their new deck this summer with Elliot, their children Brandon (Samantha) and Krista, grandchildren Kaden and Alice, and extended family and friends. Chris is a good husband, father, “Papa or PopPop,” member of the Immanuel Lutheran Church congregation, carpenter extraordinaire, gem of the local construction community, and friend.

Your contribution in support of Chris and his family is greatly appreciated.