Kindness Room
For years our targeted population has been girls who cannot afford to pay for our programs.
Many of our girls’ families struggle to keep food on the table or boots on their little feet during the winter months. Thankfully, Timberland has stepped up for us over the years with boot donations as well as thousands of volunteer hours. Together, not only did we build a large Kindness Room for our girls, but we now stock it with food, clothing, school supplies, backpacks, winter coats, personal care items, and any other items our girls are in need of. We are grateful to all the businesses that have partnered with us to help fill our Kindness Room.
It is exciting to provide a space that not only provides for our girls and their families but also inspires the community to step up for them as well. We really are so much stronger together.
Success Story
Kaylee Richard began building with us in our Afterschool Program when she was eight years old (2016). Like many of our builders she was uncertain of what this program was all about, who is this weird lady taking all sorts of tools out of her truck and setting up in our parking lot? At the time, our founder did just that, traveled to schools in the Manchester School District most of whom had no space they could dedicate to woodworking workshops, so workshops were set up in school yards and parking lots. And that is where Kaylee first started building with us in her school parking lot.
Fast forward nine years and Kaylee is now an instructor in our Afterschool and Summer Camp Programs and is also our Program Director!
On top of all of this, Kaylee, along with the assistance of Sam, (another one of our builders who started at eight years old) worked with the office of the Superintendent of the Manchester School District to create and execute a New Future for Females Event last year. This event was designed for middle and high school girls in the Manchester School District to spend a few hours with many local businesses to learn about the endless amount of career opportunities that exist for girls. Kaylee stepped up to make this happen after attending a local career day that left girls feeling undervalued and overlooked. It’s quite remarkable what Kaylee has done over the last few years and we believe that all girls have potential similar to Kaylee, what they need is an arena and a support system to discover that potential.
“I am blown away by the impact this program has on the girls served. I believe that all girls should have the chance to participate and find voice, confidence and success in this program.”
