Welcome to the wood shop club here at the Villages. Today we’re going to share more about our clubs, activities, and facilities and how you can get involved to join the fun. I like to make things. So, this fit right in with my what I love to do. We always did work together and we came here, we thought this would be a fun activity for both of us to do together. You’re afforded the opportunity to uh do whatever you want to do. It’s my happy place. I’m filled by giving back.
It is very unique. I I don’t think there’s another place like this in all of the country. Answer to my prayers. I don’t have to haul the equipment down. I don’t need the space. It’s all right here. When we discovered the woodworking club, it was a done deal for me. I was in. It was one of the biggest selling points for me. My wife fell in love with it and we’ve been here for 12 years now and I absolutely love it. [Music] So when you come into this shop, you have 1,500 new people to be your family and friends. We have some members in the shop that are just artists and some that are doctors and everyone lends all their wonderful ideas to the projects. Joining the shop has given me a whole new depth of respect for the woodworking. There are guys here who have worked in the wood shops for their entire careers. And there are people that have never touched a woodworking machine. That is what’s wonderful about this place. It is as much a community as it is uh a learning center, a skill set. This is a a great community of socialization to for us. When I got here and realized uh what I could do here at the wood shop, I started coming maybe once a month and meeting different people. And the more I met, the more often I came. Some of my best friends in the villages are here at the wood shop. [Music] It’s one club, two locations. Whichever is more convenient or comfortable. You could choose either place or both. I was surprised to see the size of the Brownwood facility. Um, and also to learn there’s a second facility at Rolling Acres, which is a very nice facility as well. The equipment at both of these shops is professional equipment. It’s very high-end. The best equipment you can buy, you’re going to find this equipment in production shops. We’ve got a a maintenance department here that that looks after all the tools. When it does get dull, we have a chance to have blades sharpened and changed. So, you know, everything’s going to be in tip-top shape. When I saw that there was a woodworkers club, I just thought it would be interesting to learn the skills. I’ve not done woodworking in the past, but I do a lot of DIY stuff. So, this really fit in with my interests. The knowledge that I have gained by working with some of these very qualified woodworkers has made me a better woodworker. What we also learned when we all joined was how to use that equipment correctly and how to get maximum benefit out of. So that’s what’s represented here. We have about 60 different classes every quarter for our members to take. And the classes run from everything of how to use a drill press to how to use a CNC machine to how to build a tray to how to build a river table. There’s all sorts of different options that you can do. I really am very passionate about teaching and helping other people improve their skills and um allowing them to make the things they want to make in their dreams. We we make those things come true and uh it’s a lot of fun. I do love sharing my knowledge with people and um trying to teach other people, instill confidence in them and get them to where they are confident using all the machines on their own. When you first come into the club though, you are certified. So, we actually spend two sessions at least walking through the shop floor to introduce you to all the machines to make sure you’re comfortable using them. But for the most part, you use every machine in the shop. We do a lot of things here um to serve the community in our local community as well as the greater community. And one of the things that we do is the pens for troops. It’s a great uh learning opportunity because if you’ve not turned a pen before and would like to show up uh to learn how to turn a pen, you can actually turn a pen for a really great cause. My first pen that I ever made was participating in that class and I still carry it to this day. It’s 5 years old. One of the coolest things we’re going to do is camp villages and we’re going to set up kits to make little treasure chests for the kids and our carver group is also going to do a camp villages event. Boy, you are good. We also build urns for veterans and as a matter of fact, the national cemeteries in the area actually contact us. If there’s a veteran that’s being laid to rest with no family, we build their earn free of charge. We also make and donate about 10,000 toys a year to children’s charities in the state of Florida. We start out with the raw wood. We complete the project. Then we uh send them into our paint department. They would just be wooden toys, but when we finish them, they come to life. We test them out to make sure they all wheel properly and everything. So, we play with them to make sure they are working. We have a special projects group that takes care of making repairs and in some cases building things for local residents. They bring it in and we take a look at the the object and sometimes one person will look at it, sometimes we’ll call another person or maybe even a third person and everybody will scratch their head and we’ll all come to a consensus that I could do it, you could do it. Yeah, we’ll all get it done. The villages high school contacted us and told us about uh a play that they were going to do, Fiddler on the Roof, and they needed a wooden milk cart was actually what it was. In less than a week, we got it to them and they were ready for the play. Those specialty projects coupled with all the other community service we do is all a feelood. That warm fuzzy feeling that you will undoubtedly get for helping another person is unmatched. So when we come into the shop and we do our service, we get that warm fuzzy feeling every single time. So if you ask us why we do it, my answer to you is why wouldn’t we? We get probably just as much a benefit out of it as they do. We just love having new members. We love sharing ideas. It’s a place where people are very, very passionate about their woodworking. If you had any desire to look into it, it it’s best to come for a tour and see what you think. We have some of the best people here that will teach you how to do it safely, not get hurt, and how to make some beautiful projects. Come on in.
