Service Beyond Service
Giving back to those who serve.
Every quarter, we provide a free plumbing project for a veteran, a veteran’s surviving spouse, or a first responder in Lake Stevens or the surrounding Snohomish County communities.
100% free to the selected household.
No labor charge. No materials charge. No bill at the end.
Know someone who needs a hand? Nominating takes about two minutes.
Watch the program overviewWatch on YouTube ↗
See the mission in action
The people we’ve served
Our first project is just the beginning. Watch the stories behind Service Beyond Service.
EPISODE 01
Our First Project:
A First Responder Family
A local first-responder family receives plumbing repairs at no cost.
Know someone who could use a hand? Learn about eligibility and nominate someone.
Four steps, and most of them are ours
You nominate
Fill out the form on this page. Tell us who they are, how to reach them, and why they came to mind. You don’t need permission from the person you’re nominating, and you don’t need to have every detail — a name, a way to reach them, and the story is enough to start.
We review
Our team reviews every nomination monthly. We look at safety first, then financial hardship, disability-related need, the effect on daily life, and how quickly the situation is getting worse.
We confirm
Before anyone is selected, we speak with them directly. We confirm the need is real, confirm their service or first responder background, and get their permission. Nobody is selected without that conversation.
We go to work
The project is scheduled within the quarter and completed at no cost to the recipient. Licensed, insured, permitted where required — the same standard of work we bring to every job.
Nominations stay in consideration. If someone isn’t selected this quarter, they carry forward to the next one.
Who this program is for
Disabled veterans
Service-connected disabilities, mobility limitations, fixed incomes, elderly veterans.
Surviving spouses of veterans
Widows and widowers facing financial hardship after the loss of a spouse who served.
First responders
Active or retired firefighters, police officers, and EMTs facing disability, injury, or financial hardship.
Active-duty military
Service members and their families dealing with a plumbing failure they can’t reasonably absorb.
Where we serve: Lake Stevens is our home and our first priority. We also serve Snohomish, Marysville, Arlington, Granite Falls, and the surrounding Snohomish County communities.
What we’re actually looking for: Genuine need. Financial hardship, a physical limitation that makes the problem harder to deal with, or a life circumstance that put this repair out of reach. We are not looking for the most dramatic story — we’re looking for the household where a plumbing failure has become a real problem and there’s no clear way to solve it.
What we can help with
Service Beyond Service covers essential plumbing repairs and the replacement of failed or unsafe plumbing components — the things that have to work for a home to function.
- Water heater replacement
- Leak repairs
- Sewer and drain repairs
- Toilet replacement
- Faucet replacement
- Water service repairs
- Accessibility-related plumbing improvements
- Emergency plumbing repairs
If an existing water heater or tankless unit has failed and replacing it is what restores normal service to the home, that’s covered.
What we can't cover
We want to be straight about the limits, so nobody gets their hopes up on a nomination we can’t act on.
- Remodels, renovations, and new construction
- Cosmetic or appearance-based upgrades
- Whole-home repipes
- Upgrades or conversions — including converting a standard tank water heater to tankless
- Replacing plumbing, fixtures, or equipment that still works
- Work requested for convenience, preference, modernization, or added features
- Rental, investment, or income-producing properties
One primary repair or replacement per recipient. If we find something else while we’re there and we’re able to take care of it, we will — but the promise is the one project.
Anyone can nominate. Most people don't nominate themselves.
The people this program is built for tend to be the last ones to ask for help. They’ve spent a career being the person who shows up for everyone else. So the nominations that reach us almost always come from someone standing nearby.
- Family members
- Friends and neighbors
- Churches and faith communities
- Veteran organizations — VFW posts, American Legion posts, DAV chapters
- First responder associations
- Fellow service members and coworkers
- Our own technicians, when they see a situation on a service call
- Anyone in the community who knows a situation that needs solving
And if you’re the one who needs help — nominate yourself. There’s nothing in this program that says you can’t.
Nominate someone
Two minutes. If you don’t have every detail, submit what you know — we’d rather hear about someone with half the information than not hear about them at all.
How recipients are selected — and verified
We publish our criteria because a program like this only works if people trust how the decisions get made.
Nominations are reviewed monthly. When we’re weighing candidates, we look at them in this order:
- Safety. An immediate health or safety risk moves to the front of the line — sewage exposure, no working water, a gas or scald hazard.
- Financial hardship. A fixed income, or a repair cost that simply isn’t affordable.
- Disability-related need. Mobility limitations, accessibility barriers, service-connected conditions that make the problem harder to live with or harder to fix.
- Quality of life. Daily disruption, sanitation, and comfort — what living with the problem actually costs someone.
- Urgency. A time-sensitive failure, or a condition that’s getting worse the longer it waits.
Confirming eligibility
Anyone can submit a nomination, and no paperwork is required. Before we commit to a project, though, we confirm two things directly with the nominee: that their service or first-responder background matches the nomination, and that the plumbing need is real and within this program’s scope.
That confirmation is a conversation, not an interrogation. Most of the time a DD-214, a VA card, a veteran designation on a Washington driver’s license, a department ID, or a letter from a VFW post or fire department settles it in a few minutes. We look, we note the date, and we don’t keep copies of anyone’s discharge papers on file.
We do this because the donation is real and it comes out of a working plumbing company. Getting it to the right household is the whole point.
One recipient is selected each quarter. Every October, we select a larger flagship project completed around Veterans Day — the biggest one we do all year.
Candidates we don’t select stay under consideration for the following quarter. A no this time is not a no.
If your organization serves veterans or first responders
VFW and American Legion posts, DAV chapters, fire and police departments, county veteran services, first responder associations, church outreach ministries — you already know the people we’re trying to reach. You hear about these situations before anyone else does.
Send them here, or nominate on their behalf. A nomination that comes through your organization carries weight with us: you already know your members, and that makes confirming eligibility straightforward for everyone.
When a project is complete, we’ll share the full story and video with you so your members can see what their community made possible.
If you’d like to talk about working together, call us at (425) 244-6349 or reach out through our contact page.
Partner organization logos display here as partnerships are established.
Straight answers
Does it really cost nothing?
Nothing. No labor charge, no materials charge, no evaluation fee, no invoice at the end. Recipients are not asked to pay for any part of the covered project.
Do I need the person's permission to nominate them?
No. Plenty of nominations come from someone who knows the person would never ask. If they move forward, we contact them directly and get their permission before anything else happens — nothing happens to anyone’s home without their say-so.
Do you need proof of military or first responder service?
Not to nominate. Submit the form with whatever you know. If your nominee moves forward, we’ll confirm their background with them directly — a DD-214, a VA card, a veteran designation on a Washington driver’s license, a department ID, or a letter from their post or department all work. We look at it, note that we did, and don’t keep copies.
Can I nominate myself?
Yes. Choose “This is a self-nomination” in the relationship dropdown.
What if my nominee doesn't want their story told?
Documenting these projects is how the program keeps going — it’s how the next nominations find us. But recipients control what’s shared. Some decline the on-camera interview and we tell the story other ways. Some ask that we use a first name only. We work with what people are comfortable with, and dignity comes before content every time.
How long does a decision take?
Nominations are reviewed monthly and recipients are selected quarterly. Depending on when you submit, it may be a few weeks to a few months before you hear anything. Nominations we don’t select carry forward.
What if the plumbing problem is an emergency right now?
Don’t wait on a nomination. Call us at (425) 244-6349 and we’ll get someone out. Service Beyond Service is a quarterly program — it isn’t set up to respond to an active emergency, and we don’t want anyone living with sewage or no water while a nomination sits in review.
What if they rent instead of own?
The program covers the home a recipient lives in. It does not cover rental, investment, or income-producing properties owned by someone else — a landlord’s repair obligation isn’t something this program can take over. If you’re not sure where a situation falls, submit the nomination and let us sort it out.
Is there a limit on how much work you'll do?
One primary repair or replacement per recipient. Additional work is at our discretion based on what we find and what we’re able to take on.
Can I nominate more than one person?
Yes. Submit a separate form for each.
Somebody has to be the one who says something
The person you’re thinking about right now isn’t going to fill this out.
That’s usually how it goes.
Two minutes. That’s the whole ask.
Not sure if someone qualifies? Call us at (425) 244-6349 and ask.
Stars & Stripes Plumbing
- 1405 90th Dr NE, Lake Stevens, WA 98258
- (425) 244-6349
- WA Plumbing Contractor License #STARSSP762L8
- Veteran-owned · 200+ five-star Google reviews