FC students ‘build better tomorrow’
A community service project that was started last year by the Franklin County Career Technical Center Skills USA club members is now completed and has taken up residence in the Franklin County Courthouse.
On the first floor of the courthouse, against the wall leading into the probate office, is a cabinet serving as a food pantry for citizens of Franklin County.
According to building technology teacher Todd Johnson, the cabinet is meant to be a community-led effort.
“The idea behind it is take what you need and leave what you can,” Johnson said.
When students installed the cabinet in the courthouse Aug. 14, they stocked it with non-perishable food items and other essential products like baby diapers. The cabinet is unlocked, and the items are free to community members who are in need of assistance. To keep the system functioning, community members are supposed to replenish the items in the cabinet on a voluntary basis.
“We tried to put items in there that we know people need,” Johnson said.
Johnson said five students from Red Bay, Belgreen and Phil Campbell worked on the cabinet. This year 16 students are enrolled in the class, many of whom Johnson said are new and just now learning what the class is all about.
Every year Skills USA students have to do a service project. The students submitted a video they created of themselves making the cabinet and explaining their goal behind it to the “Show Off Your Skills” video competition. The video is titled “Building a Better Tomorrow FCCTC Cabinetmaking Class 2018” and can be found on YouTube.
