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Member companies of the Association of Woodworking & Furnishings Suppliers (AWFS®) are big supporters and advocates for Career Technical Education (CTE) programs.  AWFS® companies partner with high schools with the intention of hiring students at graduation; offer internships and teacher externships; visit schools as guest speakers, and; open company operations for school tours. AWFS®  has supported the SkillsUSA organization for many years with the donation of materials and the time commitment of industry professionals.  In 2017 the Society of Wood Manufacturing (SWM), a chapter of AWFS, was created to increase industry support to high school woodshop programs in Southern California.

Lumber collected by the Society of Wood Manufacturing (SWM) for school woodworking programs was distributed from the Architectural Woodworking Company (AWC) plant in Monterey Park, CA.  Saul Martin, VP of Manufacturing for AWC, opened the plant to woodworking teachers on three Saturdays so that they could load their trucks and trailers with wood to take back to their schools. “SWM wanted to do something that would impact as many woodworking students as possible”, says Martín.  This was when the teachers really needed some help from industry to boost their woodworking program.”

Our Building Permit for the installation of our first cottage at a Wounded Warrior Homes residence in Vista was issued on 5 November 2020, exactly 6 months from the day that the County of San Diego logged our plans into it’s tracking system.  This kicks off the next phase of our project, starting the site work.  Starting on 5 December, a team of Seabee volunteers from the Construction Battalion Maintenance Unit 303 (CBMU-303) will do excavation and trenching work for the foundation and utility services.  Rick Hoehn and Rick Millwee from RM Plumbing will be back to supervise trenching operations and [...]

Obtaining a Building Permit is a slow, time-consuming process that can seem like an impenetrable maze of obstacles and hurdles.  It involves reviews by numerous discipline experts in many different departments, in several agencies in different jurisdictions, lots of forms and a host of approval stamps.  The process has become slower because of the protocols put in place to protect the people involved from COVID-19.  But, we have achieved an important milestone: our plans have passed the Plan Check process at San Diego County Planning & Development Services and are now at the City of Vista for the next steps in [...]

Concrete, consisting of portland cement, sand, gravel and water, is a critical component of construction projects.  Concrete will be poured for the foundations of our cottages.  Jon Hill, Instructor in the AGC Apprenticeship Program, asked Dave Weintraub of Robertson’s Ready Mix if Robertson’s would donate a load of concrete, 9 cubic yards of 3,000 psi Concrete Pea Gravel Mix, for the foundation of SM #1.  This much concrete is expensive.  So, we were very grateful when Dave said Yes.  Robertson’s has facilities throughout southern California, the Bay Area, and southern Nevada.  But, the concrete will probably be delivered from their Escondido [...]

Cosmic Solar & Roofing installed a solar system expansion at my house two years ago.  I contacted Cosmic because they were highly recommended by neighbors who had solar systems designed and installed by Cosmic.  I was very   happy with their work and have recommended them to     others.  Pey Shadzi, Cosmic’s Operations Manager, has  advised me about solar requirements under our new building codes.  They are a great group, so when I asked Bahram Shadzi, Founder and President, to donate 2 solar panels, 2 inverters, some rails, wiring, connectors and hardware for our BITA curriculum, I was pretty confident that Bahram would [...]