Build America 2015 Tool Safety and Construction Training
Fraternity Brothers to the Rescue!
If I started a sentence with the following; twenty fraternity brothers from Pi Kappa Phi got together for the whole summer to . . . The majority of people would assume, party hard, cause trouble or worse.
This past week, Rob Robillard, the Concord Carpenter crew, editors from Tool Box Buzz, Concord Lumber Corporation employees and Milwaukee Power Tools witnessed the exact opposite of those assumptions. We saw twenty fraternity brothers, from all over the country, come together to promote accessible recreation for people with disabilities.
Over the next six weeks these young men will travel across the country to six different summer camps working on service projects, from docks, ramp, accessible trails to a horse barn to promote accessible recreation for people with disabilities. The program is called Build America or as we refer it… “BAM.”
The Ability Experience – Build America Project
At ACC we spend a lot of time writing articles to help contractor’s become better leaders, and more professional within their trade. We also try to give back to the community when we can. So it should no surprise that we jumped on the opportunity to help The Ability Experience build leaders of tomorrow by serving people with disabilities today!
The Ability Experience is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that serves people with disabilities. It was founded in 1977 as the national philanthropy of Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity with the purpose of instilling lifelong service in its members and enhancing the quality of life for people with disabilities. The Ability Experience’s core values are (abilities, teamwork, empathy and integrity) while serving others.
Construction is the core
Since 2003, Build America has taken members of Pi Kappa Phi across the country to make camps and communities more accessible for people with disabilities through construction, dedication and hard work.
Build America is a six week team event starting at Camp Allen in NH and visiting many different camps and communities to improve the accessibility of areas for people with disabilities.
At the core of Build America is the construction of accessible environments and camps serving the disability community. Before arriving in Washington DC the team at the end of the summer, they will have logged over 4,000 man hours, saved camps and communities $50,000 in labor costs and over $30,000 in materials expenses, and impacted the lives of thousands of people with disabilities.
