Carving Out Time for Kids

Gloucester Daily Times

With hammers in their hands and hearts for youth, a local couple are looking to make a difference — one nail at a time.vGloucester residents Adam and Katie Quinn have opened their doors and plugged in the power tools to launch The Cornerstone Creative — an after-school youth mentorship woodworking program.

The couple is hoping to foster a space — free of charge — where children can experience personal growth by building, restoring,creating and dreaming.

“Gloucester itself is a vibrant, beautiful city, but it is also a complex city, socially and economically,” said Adam Quinn, who was born and raised in the coastal city. “A common theme we’ve encountered in conversations over the past year in the community is a shared concern regarding a limited amount of year-round programs/opportunities for youth.”

Insert a pile of wood ready to be cut, sanded, and transformed into something new.

Running on Tuesdays and Thursdays, the four-month program will start with the basics — sanding and gluing — and work up tobigger projects as students hone their skills in the workshop.

“You will work your way through different tools and as you progress you start to build your own thing,” Adam Quinn said.

At the end of the program, students will be tasked with going out into the community to connect with local businesses to see how they can lend their newly learned skills to benefit others.

Adam Quinn said that the final project is an “experience of using something they learned to give back to the community.”

Having grown up in Gloucester, Adam Quinn has always enjoyed woodworking and found that the result was so much more than a finished table.

“It brought me so much joy and satisfaction when I finished a project,” he said. “Having worked in a non-profit in the past, I realized that you can connect with people on a deeper level when you are working on something together.”

As they open up the mentorship program during a pandemic, the Quinns are taking three kids per class and have working stations in the shop for lessons to be informative, productive and safe.

Adam Quinn was quick to note that while some students might take skills learned in the program to pursue a career in carpentry, that is not the primary goal of the experience.

"We are mentoring and we are doing that above anything else," he said.

In addition to the woodworking mentorship program, Adam and Katie Quinn are offering skills learned overseas at a surfing non-profit to help anyone who might want to create their own surfboard or skateboard. Fees for these community classes will help support the mentorship program.

As Adam pulled out a board in progress, Katie explained that they don’t want to just make someone a surfboard. For the two of them, it is all about working alongside others in the process.

When the couple is not working alongside students at the woodworking shop at 27 Commercial St., Adam is a carpenter and Katie works at a private school in Beverly as a school counselor — two careers that lend well to their program’s mission.

"To create an environment of trust, support, and creativity; forming positive relationships and mentorships. Within those relationships, challenge youth to reimagine their futures while providing the tangible steps to reach their full potential," as is written on their website, thecornerstonecreative.org.

Taylor Ann Bradford can be reached at 978-675-2705 or tbradford@gloucestertimes.com.