Published: September 25, 2024
The Woodshop at Kendal has been a fixture at the life plan community since it opened its doors in 1993. In earlier years residents arrived with home tools in hand, which made it easy and inexpensive to outfit the Woodshop. Residents paid a nominal membership fee, but that didn’t mean all the members knew how to safely use the equipment. The focus was on recycling and repairing resident furniture and other items, with all proceeds benefitting the Kendal Residents Assistance Fund.
Fast forward to today. Like most everything else at Kendal, the Woodshop has evolved with the times.
What’s buzzing at the Woodshop
One of the biggest upgrades at the Woodshop, which has undergone several expansions, is new and safer equipment. For instance, the new table saw automatically stops when it comes into contact with the human body. “That makes sense given our demographic of 75 and over,” says Carl Whitehouse, chair of the Woodshop Committee.
Along with new equipment, all members are required to undergo orientation and safety training. Currently the shop has 38 members, a fourth who are women, and there is no longer a membership fee. Equipment that “can get you into trouble” is locked up and accessible only to members, while drills, hammers and other basic tools are available to all residents.
“Today we’re more in construction mode,” Carl says, who listed a number of recent Woodshop projects for the Kendal campus:
- Two portable solid oak lecterns with heavy duty caster wheels for easy relocation;
- Remodeled storage area for the Art Committee’s 1,000+ collection;
- Book and DVD shelving for the library;
- Portable stage extension that can be folded up and easily stored;
- New shed to protect pieces belonging to a garden railroad installation from weather and critters.
- 6 members trained to use the wood lathe by Woodcraft, Inc.
The Woodshop’s latest project was repairing chairs for an Art Studio fundraiser called Whimsical Art Chairs. Main Street Antiques donated old wooden chairs to Kendal artists, who decorated them and sold them at a recent art fair to benefit Oberlin Community Services.
“An important key to the success of the project was the combined skill and willingness of the members of the Woodshop to repair and stabilize all the chairs we got from Main Street Antiques,” says Kathleen Cerveny, who organized the event. “Member John Brandenberger jumped right on the repairs so the artists could get to work as soon as possible.”
The project netted $1,500 for OCS.
Woodshop members have also provided woodworking assistance to other local nonprofits, such as the high school music program that needed a portable lectern and minor repairs to the city’s Safety Town.
More than ‘construction mode’
Carl is a lifelong woodworking enthusiast thanks to his father who was a shop teacher. “I was his gopher for 18 years,” he says.
The cottage he shares with his wife Barbara includes many pieces of furniture he has made, such as side tables, lamps and a bookshelf. Next up for Carl is making salad bowls using the wood lathe.
He has offered classes on building a walnut serving tray and cutting board, and has plans to offer other classes as interest evolves.
“What I’m trying to do at the Woodshop is stimulate creativity,” he says, adding “I have endless ideas.”
The Woodshop continues to offer repairs to residents for $15 an hour. “Most residents have something broken in the move,” Carl says. “We’ve repaired everything from a camel saddle to an antique scale, really quite amazing.”
And the shop continues to donate to the Residents Assistance Fund – in the past three years proceeds totaled $3,200.
In the past, Molly Kavanaugh frequently wrote about Kendal at Oberlin for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, where she was a reporter for 16 years. Now we are happy to have her writing for the Kendal at Oberlin Community.
About Kendal at Oberlin: Kendal is a nonprofit life plan community serving older adults in northeast Ohio. Located about one mile from Oberlin College and Conservatory, and about a 40 minute drive from downtown Cleveland, Kendal offers a vibrant resident-led lifestyle with access to music, art and lifelong learning.
