So, I am a new guy around here.  I get what the site does,  but I don't get what the site...does.  Know what I mean?

 

So for a long time now I have wanted to give back to the military community.  I have done extremely well for myself in recent years but I remember being the E4-E5 kid not sure if I could make the next car payment or where food would come from next week.  I have thought about doing volunteer work for a veterans home building community, but since i am still active duty I never have the time to give that level of project.  So I will save that for retirement when I am bored of not going to work (yeah, right).  However, I still have the desire to do small stuff to try and help out.

 

I didn't see anything recent in the forums since the Christmas event.  Are there any events the site participates in?  I see things like pens for the military, do you/ we do things like that?  I guess what I am asking is how can my hobby be used to help others?  In what small way can I help make a difference so that our collective efforts make a big difference?

 

 

Never a dumb question!

It's a great question!

Joe, I am out in the field right now, I wanted to reply to your question regarding how you can help, but I really want to go in depth with the answer. So I just wanted to shoot ya a quick "Roger that!" saw your topic, and when I get in tonight I'll give you some clarification. I'm not in the texting generation of writers, so creating an in depth topic with my cell phone keyboard would be disastrous, I'll see ya tonight, and hopefully you'll come away "clarified"

 

Meanwhile, perhaps some folks can chime in with their past experiences how they helped our veterans through our efforts here.

Joe, I will agree with John.  There are many things that TPW has been involved in.  Right now, for instance, we are making coin holders for the GIs.  We have donated tools, helped a vet build a house, and many others.  I'm sure John will fill you/us in on a lot more projects tonight.  Thanks again for your question.  We sometimes forget what our real reson for "being TPW" is.

1 hour ago, Fred Wilson said:

We sometimes forget what our real reson for "being TPW" is.

Forget!!!!!!  who thouest forget! Shall be dashed upon the rocks! 

Just kidding Fred.

Everyone comes here for different reasons. And everyone has a comfort level of involvement. What your level of participation is, is completely fine. 

 

Bottom line is, even if a member never contributes to a single veterans project here, but they are contributing to our forums with discussion and feedback, that in itself is a major contribution to our fundamental reason for existence as a community. Without forum activity, we could not stay live, you all contribute even without knowing it. Everyone here plays a vital role in our overall objective.

 

Everyone here, is a very important part of the equation. Nobody left out, nobody left behind.

Ok new guy @Joe Candrilli, first off I'd like to say, thank you for joining us. And thank you for your support in our community and your willingness to contribute to our causes as they come available.

As you have probably gathered by now, we are a grass roots operation, our community was born from the desktop PC of a veteran (me) in a home, and motivated by two things, to provide a great place for all to share, learn, and to mentor others in our great art/trade/profession of woodworking.

And, to help disabled veterans in financial need to acquire tools and machinery for their own shop, and to provide fundraising to veterans organizations.

 

We have not embarked on a "shop build for a vet" in quite awhile, frankly it takes a ton of work, a ton of time, and lately I have been very short on time due to family obligations. So I have kind of steered this community to more of a fundraising effort for our causes. As you saw already, our last great fundraiser and project was the Christmas family, that was fun, and very rewarding.

 

What goes on?

There is also much going on behind the scenes here that folks just don't see, and it has to do mainly with respecting the anonymity of the veteran that is helped. We frequently donate funds from our coffers to help here and there, a veteran in need, or our members may donate a machine, or a tool to a veteran woodworker in need. Without dropping any names of our contributors within this community, they know who they are, there has been some machinery transferred to a couple veteran woodworkers in need in the last couple months. Recently a bench-top band-saw was donated to an OIF/OEF disabled veteran woodworker, from our members shop here, to the veterans beginning shop, and I facilitated the transfer of a bench top joiner to that same veteran. Events like that happen frequently here in our community, they are not publicized, they are not talked about, only if the recipient veteran wishes to share their experience, will anyone ever know about it. But as most of these vets are, they are proud, and they tend to look at our actions as charity and they may be slightly embarrassed. We do not see our actions as charity, but we see it as payback, a debt we owe, a hand up, not a hand out.

 

Our philosophy

In my own life, and here within this community, we have a philosophy, we give without ever expecting anything in return. We don't expect anything in return emotionally, materialistically, nor do we ever expect a "Thank you" from a recipient veteran, they paid the price, they owe no thanks to anyone. So for some it's hard to be a Patriot Woodworker on the giving end of this project, we have lost members in the past because they donated to a wounded veteran, and they never got a thank you from the veteran, our member(s) got miffed, and moved on. It really is hard for many to donate a machine, a tool, money to our causes, and never get a "thank you". It's natural to expect one, and want one, but it's not who we are. We give, without ever expecting anything in return, it's just the way we roll.

Sorry for getting on this soapbox, it's been awhile since I voiced our philosophy here, this seemed like a great opportunity.

 

On to our projects:

Our projects are many, and we come upon our projects by planning, some by chance, and some by a whim. But rest assured, the projects will come, and they will go, and you'll have many opportunities to put your art/craft to work for the benefit of a veteran in need.

 

• We used to have an ongoing project to build challenge coin displays and we would then donate them to military hospitals and organizations across our nation, perhaps we should fire that one back up. It was fun, and we got a ton of positive feedback from the folks who received our work.
• Shop build for a wounded warrior, it takes a ton of time and effort to get this rolling and successfully implemented, I may get one going this year. They are fun.
• Frequent fund raising for our causes throughout the year, mainly for Homes For Our Troops, and Operation Ward 57. You'll get a chance to participate in those.
• And, we have not done it in awhile, but Woodcraft has a wonderful Pens for Troops event before Veterans Day, perhaps could fire that project up again, and time our own efforts to coincide with theirs, we turn the pens, and send them to Woodcraft, and Woodcraft ships them to our folks overseas.

Here are a few of the displays we shipped in the past

To wrap this up, hang tight, have fun here, we are completely thrilled you joined us Joe! And you most certainly will have an opportunity to use your craft to benefit our service members, we'll make sure of that! Stay tuned for some project updates in the near future.

 

And thanks to all for being here!

 

Wow, that was long winded, sorry Joe, and guys.

29 minutes ago, John Morris said:

Wow, that was long winded, sorry Joe, and guys.

No need to apologize John...it's a great refresher for all of us and particularly some of us (me for one) who have only been here a few months. Thanks to you, TPW team and the site sponsors for all the time, energy, and effort devoted to make this such a great place to call "home!"

Sounds like some good ideas.  Being a turner, I'd be in on the Pens for Troops Event for sure.

7 hours ago, HandyDan said:

Sounds like some good ideas.  Being a turner, I'd be in on the Pens for Troops Event for sure.

We'll make it happen this year Dan. The first year we did that event with Woodcraft, they even shipped out the pen kits to our members who participated.

8 hours ago, Grandpadave52 said:

No need to apologize John...it's a great refresher for all of us and particularly some of us (me for one) who have only been here a few months. Thanks to you, TPW team and the site sponsors for all the time, energy, and effort devoted to make this such a great place to call "home!"

Thanks Dave, we are still growing, and learning together in this grand adventure!

No need for apologies, this is exactly what I was looking for.  I am excited to participate in any way I can (already got my EWT raffle tix!) and am eagerly awaiting our next project.

 

Thank you.

 

Joe

14 hours ago, Joe Candrilli said:

No need for apologies, this is exactly what I was looking for.  I am excited to participate in any way I can (already got my EWT raffle tix!) and am eagerly awaiting our next project.

 

Thank you.

 

Joe

Joe, thanks so much for your support through the raffle! We greatly appreciate it.

We'll get active with projects soon enough, thanks again for your willingness to contribute, and thanks for joining TPW!