SHARON, Pa. – Mike Lisac of Warehouse Sales is marking the holiday season – and the 25th anniversary of his ownership of the business – with an initiative to get tools and materials in the hands of students getting training in the construction trades.
The Shenango Valley Chamber of Commerce hosted a ribbon cutting Tuesday for the tool tree at the downtown hardware store.
Similar to a traditional giving tree, the tool tree features ornaments with various construction tools and materials that customers can purchase on behalf of students in the Hope Center for Arts & Technology’s newly established construction trades program.
Officials at the center – popularly known as HopeCAT – made the decision based upon the labor market to launch the construction trades program about 18 months ago, said Lorie Hines, executive director.
Anytime HopeCAT starts a new program, “we want to make sure that [a student] can make a family-sustaining wage and that they’ll be able to get a job,” she said. “We see the openings for laborers.”
In addition to stressing construction safety, the trades program offers modules in electrical work, plumbing, masonry and carpentry, said Tim Krummert, construction trades instructor.
“Other than that, we do a lot with being on the job,” he added. That includes emphasis on communicating with bosses and co-workers and showing up on time and in the proper apparel and gear, he said.
“In order to have a quality program, we need to make sure the supplies are there, but it’s getting costlier and costlier and costlier,” Hines said. “We need things like wood all of the time, the hand tools to teach them what to do, copper wiring.”
That led her to approach Lisac with the idea for the tool tree.
Lisac said he was pleased when HopeCAT initiated the trade school curriculum, and the tool tree made sense to him. Many young people are looking at training for technology-based careers, but many employers can’t find people who want to work with their hands, he said.
“Hearing from our friends in the trades, it’s a bit panicky in some ways,” said Jim Bombeck, executive director of the Shenango Valley Chamber. Many people now employed in the building trades are on the verge of retiring, and “not a lot of young folks” are entering the trades to fill those vacancies.
“It’s more publicity for us, but it’s great for the school and it gets these people the tools that they need,” he said. Students in the program will learn things they will be able to do for the rest of their lives, whether or not they enter into the trades as a profession.
Himes also acknowledged that the tool tree hopefully would benefit Warehouse Sales, but she added that Lisac decided that tools purchased for it would receive a 25% discount. “There goes Mike’s profit,” she remarked.
“I’m happy to be a part of it,” Lisac said.
The training program “literally turns someone from living way below the poverty line” to someone who can earn a substantial income, Hines said. Most students have “zero experience” in the construction trades before they begin.
The program is in its second five-month cohort, composed of eight students, Krummert said. Three students were part of the first cohort.
“They’re out in the field right now working,” he said.
The tree has 23 items on it, Lisac said. He likely will run the program through Christmas Eve.
Pictured at top: Mike Lisac and Lorie Hines.