Cornerstone Creative Fall Happenings
December Community Class
Join us Monday, December 5th, from 6-8pm for an all-new community class project, build your own tablet/book stand! These fun-to-build stands are adjustable and extremely useful in the kitchen for holding cookbooks or digital recipes (hello holiday cooking & baking!), or for use to hold up your tablet or book making for hands-free reading, etc.!
The photo is just an example we made to show the basic construction, but come and get as creative as you’d like, using a variety of different wood species. This class will teach you the basics of how to operate and miter saw, table saw, sander and drill.
All proceeds from these community classes directly support our after school, youth mentorship program!
Straight Ahead
Our partnership with Straight Ahead Ministries has continued to flourish and grow! The Straight2Work crew, young men ages 14-24, come to the shop three times a week to gain hands-on work experience, job skills, mentorship and community. We're super grateful to have been commissioned for some exciting projects with local businesses over the past year, which has provided unique opportunities for skill development and creative team work. Some special projects have included; cornhole boards for Newburyport's Yankee Homecoming event, live-edge wood slab shelves for Pastaio Via Corta in Gloucester, pub tables for Cape Ann Lanes (up-cycling retired bowling alley lanes), tap handles for Piegon Cove ferment's kombucha, and many more!
Keep your eye out for our Holiday Gift Guide coming in an email and on social media very soon!
Girls Group
In the Spring we started our first Girl’s Group. We ran the group once monthly for three months and it was awesome! Our class structure includes a “welcome” time, when we get to know each other through ice breakers and conversations. From there, we provide instruction on the day’s project, review workshop and tool safety, and once the girls are ready, we get to work creating! We pause for a pizza dinner towards the end of class and debrief the project together, chatting about what may have proven to be a surprise, risk or challenge and a success in the process. The three projects participants made were a “trinket” tray, cutting/charcuterie boards and coat racks. We loved witnessing the creative energy the girls unleashed with each of these projects! Stay tuned for more
Afterschool Mentorship Program
Our after school youth program is back in full swing this Fall. Believe it or not, we are now in our THIRD school year! Sometimes we can hardly believe it! We’re excited and thankful to continue providing this program for local teens. Something that makes this program especially unique and exciting for us is that we can offer this program to teen participants free of charge, thanks to grants that help sustain us, generous individual donors, and proceeds from community classes. The weekly program sessions are 4-months long, offered twice throughout the school year (Fall and Spring). The youth participants run through a woodworking curriculum that introduces them to the very basics of woodworking, tool competency and safety, all the way to building their own projects such as cutting boards, skateboards, etc. The final project is a community project, where students look into the local community for an opportunity to use their skills to give back. In the Spring, students built a bookshelf for The Grace Center, a program through Lifebridge which offers a safe resource center for homeless and other vulnerable community members.
VOLUNTEER NEEDED: We are looking for after school program volunteer(s).
Who?! We’re looking for an energetic young adult who’s passionate about modeling and building healthy relationships and supporting skill building (while having tons of fun) with youth ages 14-18. No prior woodworking experience necessary, but must be willing to learn the basics! Volunteer hours are Thursdays 3:30-5:30pm. If you, or someone you know, might be interested please email at adam@thecornerstonecreative.org.
Summer Intern
This summer, we hosted a high school intern through the LEAP for Education program at Gloucester High School. This program is a 6-week, 54 hour, paid internship where students learn hands-on job skills and mentorship. We loved having an intern join our Straight Ahead day program and support daily tasks around the shop.
Incase you haven't heard, we've got wheels!
Thanks to the generous support of local grants and donors, this summer we were able to purchase a Cornerstone van! It's a dream come true to have an "official" mode of transport for all building materials, to pickup and deliver custom projects, and to provide transportation for local program participants as needed. The van has plenty of storage/material transportation space as well as a row of seats for participants. We've loved how the van has already expanded our ability to take on projects and expand program access.
...and shop dog :)
Meet Duna, the newest addition to the Quinn family and our official shop pup (and mascot?!). Duna spends most days in the shop with Adam. She loves laying in wood shavings and getting endless pets and treats from visitors.
Interested in partnering with The Cornerstone Creative and supporting our mission? Here are some tangible ways to get involved:
Volunteers for After School Program or Community Classes
Wood donations and/or financial contributions specifically for wood/building materials. As with everything these days, wood prices have skyrocketed and are a major monthly expense.
Pizza fund- donate to support our weekly pizza expense! Yes, you heard right! Those of you who have teens in your life know nothing captures their hearts quite like food, and we spend ~$100/week to feed our after school program participants.
Web Design Support - do you or anyone you know have web design expertise and can lend us a hand updating our website in 2023? If so, we'd love to connect!
Monthly supporters- we are beyond grateful for our regular, monthly supporters who help keep our programs sustainable. If you'd to join our team and support our mission financially, please click here!
THANK YOU for taking the time to get a snapshot of our happenings! We exist thanks to the support of our community, both near and far! Please don't hesitate to reach out to learn more about us- check out our contact info below.
