KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – The East Tennessee Technology Access Center is looking for a few good woodworkers.
Why? To make a few more.
The South Knoxville nonprofit, which serves people with various disabilities, wants to start a community program based on one in the Netherlands, where older people who have skills in danger of being lost teach those skills to younger people.
But at ETTAC, said former director Lois Symington, the people learning would be young adults who are aging out of the school system but still aren’t prepared to have a full-time job or to live completely independently. She plans for the older woodworkers to mentor the younger ones, passing on not only new skills, but also confidence and life advice.
“It’s a space, time some youth need just to develop those thinking skills,” Symington said.