Volunteering on the Eastern Shore
In August, several of our members took a trip to The Deanery Project in Lower Ship Harbour to volunteer some time doing tool inventory and repair in the woodshop. The Deanery team wants to make the woodshop available for members or community members but it needs some work to prepare for that to happen. We spent a day learning about the organization, working in the shop and having a pizza made on their community clay oven. Read about our adventures on our blog at Summer 2019 Road Trip – The Deanery Project.
Birds, Bees & Butterflies
In the spring of 2017, some of our members joined Lee Valley with a Canada 150 project of making bird, bee and butterfly houses for donation to local trail groups. Initially, the program coordinator at Lee Valley Halifax, invited us to build these projects but together we decided it would be a great opportunity to involve youth. Instead of doing the building, we support youth groups to do the building. Participants ranged from 6-14 Our members had a great time introducing a new generation to woodworking and the youth enthusiastically created a range of projects.
Bravery Bead Boxes, IWK (Jan. 2017)
In the spring of 2016, we were approached by the Nova Woodturning Guild to join them and the Mayflower Quilt Guild to collectively support the IWK Bravery Bead program. Through the Bravery Bead Program, children and youth experiencing a serious illness collect beads to represent various procedures and milestones in their treatment journey. Some of the participants sadly get quite large collections and they need a place to store them. Our guilds were recruited to contribute handmade boxes or bags to replace the plastic bags being use for the patient collections. Read more about the project on the blog post Bravery Bead Box Delivery to IWK
Annual Toy Drive & Fundraiser
Every December, AWA members make toys for the community. These toys are donated to the Salvation Army toy drive. Our meeting is held at Lee Valley, which also generously donates prizes each year for our raffle. In addition to a varied collection of toys, we always make a cash donation raised through raffle ticket sales at the meeting. In December 2016, we donated 200+ toys and $555 in cash.
Shop Tours & Road Trips
Member Shop Tour – Sept. 26, 2015
South Shore road trip – Oct. 3, 2015
Past Events
Update Summer 2012
Members of the AWA were called upon to build 4 more sets of Bunk Beds for the Bayside Camp. That brings it to a total of 96 bunk beds that have been built to date.
Way to go AWA!
Update Spring 2012
This season has seen another successful outing at the IWK Kermesse, where AWA raised more than $450. Earlier in the year, several people got together to complete some work at the Baptist Church Camp. Gene Nurse wrote and update and posted pictures about both these events in a blog post with Updates for Spring 2012.
Working for The Salvation Army (Nov. 2011)
This month, a several members completed a upgrade of the Ladies’ Room at the Salvation Army Church as a follow-up to a similar project in the Mens’ room in 2009. Gene Nurse wrote about the team and the project in this blog post.
Building Sets for Prince Andrew High (Nov. 2011)
We had a busy Fall this year. In addition to the Salvation Army project, a number of members supported art in the schools by building sets for the Prince Andrew High School production of The Sound of Music. Read about the team and their sets here.
