We want to extend our sincere apologies for our technical difficulties in sending out an incomplete newsletter on Monday. We deeply appreciate your understanding and the time you invest in staying informed about BRG. Below is the full version we intended to send you.
Our Newest Community Partner
Last month, Build Repair Grow began programs with an exciting new community partner, Mountain View School in Easthampton. We have been facilitating workshops in after-school programs specifically designed for middle school-aged students. These engaging sessions, which are scheduled to continue through June and are aimed at carpentry, sewing, and bike repair skills.
Our Newest Volunteer
Build Repair Grow is always thrilled when community members join us to help with our programs and this could not be more true for our newest volunteer, Jose.
Jose is a maker and creative designer with a background in brand, marketing, and user experience, that uses a human-centered approach to his work. He has a passion for building and fixing things and coming up with DIY solutions that are tangible and fun for teams and learners of all shapes and styles. Jose is motivated by any chance he gets to share his knowledge and experience in practical and useful ways that could result in a positive impact for one or many. He speaks English, Spanish, and some Portuguese and loves to work with culturally and linguistically diverse people.
A Story From The Workshop
Jose is already hard at work helping BRG in the Easthampton Mountain View School workshops. We wanted to give you a peek into the workshop and share a story of his favorite part of the last class.
“In the last carpentry class the students got started with their first project. Some were happy to follow our suggestion of building a birdhouse, but others had their own ideas in mind and we encouraged them to go for it! They had already practiced clamping their wood down and sawing in their first class, so they were ready to put it into practice. I started working with the birdhouse group, and I was happy to see them take initiative and make some adjustments to what they wanted it to look like. You can immediately start identifying their different personalities and it plays a big part in how you approach helping each one of them. Some are quiet and like to work on their own, while others love communicating and ask tons of questions and want your help. It works great because while helping one kid, I make sure the rest are paying attention and give them tips, show them techniques to clamp better, saw more smoothly, how to stand correctly while using tools, and how to plan their steps so they can make better use of the time and materials.
There is this one student, who is smaller in size found sawing to be a challenge, in part because the tables were a bit high for him, and in part because he just wanted to use all his strength and saw fast to make the cut. I helped him a few times with getting into a better position, improving his sawing technique, and encouraging him to be patient and trust that using less strength would result in a better cut. After seeing him try different positions, and sweating, and panting he finally got into a flow and was successful in making his first two cuts.
At the end of the class he spoke out and said that he was happy I was there to help him because he found it to be challenging, and as he walked out of the classroom he smiled directly at me and said “I had a blast!”.”
If you are interested in donating time to Build Repair Grow, please contact our Executive Director Logan McFadden for more information on ways you can get involved.
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