| Back O' The Page Stories 5/07
By Scott CoverdaleThere is a club called Girls with Tools that is run out of the Zuni Avenue Peace Center. At that club, girls are mentored and taught manual skills. We recently collaborated on a project to build three small wheelchair ramps and a step for an elderly couple who have been having difficulty getting around their home. Margaret, who happens to be taking on the mantle of Chief Ramp-and-Step Builder at CHRPA, offered to take on the project with the girls from the club. Thinking it a shame to expose all of those young and inexperienced fingers to spinning table saw blades, Margaret cut out the ramp components ahead of time, then over the course of three weeks showed the girls how to assemble and paint the three ramps and the step. This was a good project for the girls, combining the instruction and mentoring of the club with the community service of CHRPA. I met one of the young women when they were delivering the product of their labors. She was very enthusiastic about the whole endeavor, and it was obvious to me that she had become a fast and loyal disciple of Margaret the Super Hero Wonder Woman. She asked if she could volunteer once school gets out and I am hoping that it will work out for her. It is obvious that there is a shortage of good tradesmen in this town. If it takes the girls to stand up and learn the skills, all the better.
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