The Florida Carpenters Regional Council (FLCRC) is leveraging a great partnership with the Pinellas County Job Corps (PCJC) to do great things for Tampa Bay youngsters in need.
For the past 11 years, FLCRC’s Local 1905 in Tampa and the PCJC team to build a tower during the holidays, where a popular radio personality then lives for a week to promote toy donations for the Children’s Home Network (a sanctuary for abused, neglected, or abandoned children in the Tampa Bay community). Assisting is signatory contractor Solid Platforms, led by its President, David Rees. Solid Platforms donates the material to build the Tower.
So, when Doug Bolin, an official with the Children’s Home Network, saw a need to replace a key 500-foot boardwalk used by the children on the Home’s campus, he knew who to call. Bolin called Matt Swanson, FLCRC Central Florida Area Manager, and asked if the FLCRC-PCJC team could help them again by repairing and replacing a large, worn, damaged boardwalk that the children living at Children’s Home Network facility use going to and from the nearby elementary school.
Local 1905 President James Sturiano is the lead training director for PCJC. He and Swanson coordinated Job Corps students to work on the project and earn learning hours. Swanson, Sturiano, and FLCRC Representative Alfonso Ortiz supervised and instructed the students.
The Job Corps partnership also has long-term value for the FLCRC. Over the last several years, Central Florida Local 1905 staff and members, led by EST James Banks, have cultivated a relationship with PCJC to recruit new carpenter apprentices, help train PCJC students, and serve the community.
Here is a great Spectrum News feature about the project.