Home Depot Workshop
In a continued effort to promote community engagement and provide safe after-school activities, the Portage Home Depot partnered with The Salvation Army of Kalamazoo to offer a youth woodworking workshop. Megan Johnson, Youth Coordinator at The Salvation Army (TSA) in Kalamazoo, was successful in receiving a grant to host this hands-on workshop; the Portage Home Depot and the Home Depot Foundation drafted this project specifically for Salvation Army youth.
This workshop was held mid-February and was successful with a total of twenty youth participants ranging in age from 5 to 15 years of age. In addition to providing all project materials and tools, Portage Home Depot associates volunteered their time and expertise to help these children design, build, and paint their own birdhouses. To complete this evening, The Salvation Army of Kalamazoo served dinner to all those in attendance.
Opportunities such as this promotes community engagement, provides a safe environment for children in the community and introduces skills that have potential to foster interest in future trades. This is just the beginning to a great partnership with Portage Home Depot. The next youth woodworking workshop is planned for the spring in which the children will build and paint their own toolboxes.