The Indiana/Kentucky/Ohio Regional Council of Carpenters is proud to have a partnership with seven Ronald McDonald Houses across Indiana, Kentucky & Ohio. What started as building the houses has turned into much more in our efforts to build communities. Check out all the smiles and history of the IKORCC’s partnership with Ronald McDonald Houses.
Local 175 and Industrial Local 2501 out of Louisville are working together to gather donations for an area foster home. Uspiritus is a foster home working to “provide greater care for vulnerable children and families throughout the Commonwealth of Kentucky”.
The Local Sisters are combining efforts to collect daily necessities and a Christmas list to support the foster home. Local 175 SIS Chair Amanda Wigge and Co-Chair Meah Jessup and Local 2501 SIB Chair Shannon Porter and Elaine Osorio visited Target to set up a registry for the charity drive.
“It’s all about giving back to the community or those in need – letting them know that we’re here for them”, Shannon Porter told IKORCC about setting up this drive.
Some everyday items in need include:
The Christmas wish list includes gifts such as:
If you would like to help support these efforts, you can visit: http://www.target.com/gift-registry/gift/SIBS1752501. You can ship donations to the Louisville Training Center at 1245 Durrett Lane, Louisville, KY 40213.
The last day to donate through this IKORCC charity drive will be December 9th, 2019.
Learn more about Uspiritus here: http://uspiritus.org/about/history-mission/.
6,000 – that’s the number of people who attended IKORCC open houses in Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio. In a whirlwind month of open houses, high school students and community leaders visited training centers in Greenwood, Warsaw, Terre Haute, Newburgh, Merrillville, Louisville, Grayson, Columbus, Monroe, Rossford, and Richfield.
“I was considering becoming an electrician, but after I learned about the millwrights I changed my mind. I can’t wait to get started,” a high school senior at the Merrillville, Indiana open house said.
This high school senior summed it up perfectly. At the Indiana Kentucky Ohio Regional Council of Carpenters we know that once students see our training in-person and learn more about the program, joining the apprenticeship is a no-brainer.
Students particularly enjoyed the hands-on activities including virtual welding, nail challenge, and the floor covering challenge. Next year training centers plan to add a hands-on ICRA (Infection Control Risk Assesment) challenge which will teach students the importance of using barriers during construction in medical facilities to protect patients.
According to the Department of Labor, careers in skilled trades like carpentry, flooring, and welding are in high demand and the need for skilled workers will continue to rise with coming infrastructure improvements. This fact was evident in Grayson, Kentucky on Thursday when over 1,200 students visited the Grayson, Kentucky training center open house.
Over 30 busses lined the drive to the Grayson, Kentucky training center where students learned about our apprenticeship, participated in hands-on activities and met with contractors ready-to-hire.
“We have a great partnership with all of the local schools and a lot of people in Grayson work in the trades, so students understand the great life they can have with a career in our trades. Getting them out here to see it first-hand solidifies that idea and gets them ready to start their apprenticeship right after high school,” says IKORCC Senior Business Representative Jerry Yates.
Richfield, Ohio also had a very large turnout with 1100 attendees getting to see additional areas of our crafts, including millwork, pile driving, cabinetry, furniture making, stairs, and ceiling work.
“Work is so good here and word of that really alerts people to the fact that there are bonafide opportunities here. In this part of Ohio, we’ve got the majority of Ohio’s career connection partner schools, and these schools want their students to see what the next step is and that is our apprenticeship,” says Dan Sustin, training director for the Richfield Carpenters Training Center Campus.
Thank you to all the students, teachers, community leaders, politicians, vendors, contractors, and staff that helped make this year our most successful yet! Check out all the photos & videos from each open house by following the links below:
Greenwood Carpenters Training Center
Merrillville Carpenters Training Center
Newburgh Carpenters Training Center
Terre Haute Carpenters Training Center
Warsaw Carpenters Training Center
Louisville Carpenters Training Center
Grayson Carpenters Training Center
Columbus Carpenters Training Center
Monroe Carpenters Training Center
Richfield Carpenters Training Center
Rossford Carpenters Training Center
Applications are now open for the IKORCC scholarship program. Forty $1,000 scholarships will be awarded in 2020 to eligible member’s dependent children. Twenty of the scholarships are awarded based on scholastics, and twenty others by a random drawing.
The Indiana/Kentucky/Ohio Regional Council scholastic scholarships are awarded based on 60% high school grade point average and 40% on SAT or ACT scores. Twenty scholarships will be selected by random drawing.
The scholarship is to be used solely for the purpose of education in the form of tuition, room and board and or books.
Sons, daughters, and dependent children of members of the Indiana /Kentucky/Ohio Regional Council of Carpenters and Millwrights are eligible for scholarships provided that:
All applications must include:
Scholarship applications must be received prior to Friday, March 13, 2020 at the Greenwood Council Office, located at 771 Greenwood Springs Drive, Greenwood, Indiana 46143.
Retired member and veteran, Frank Mekina, celebrates his 102 birthday today! Born on September 6th, 1917, Frank grew up in Barberton, OH. At the age of 16 Frank joined the Civilian Conservation Corps where he built roads, log cabins and assisted in construction of University of Berkley campus. After leaving the CCC, he then joined the navy and worked repairing war ships.
When the war ended, Frank continued his work in construction. He joined the Carpenters Union with Local 285 in 1952. He spent his free time building houses and spending time with his wife and two daughters.
Working with contractors including Ruhlin and Donley Construction; Frank retired after 30 years with the Carpenters Union. He continues to attend Local 285’s monthly meetings for retired members.
Frank is in good spirits and enjoys telling his stories. From the IKORCC, we want to wish Frank a very happy 102nd birthday!
IKORCC Business Rep Kyle Gresham works with students at the launch of Project Blueprint in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
When the Boys & Girls Club of Fort Wayne began their quest for a blueprint for great futures for their students, we knew it was a perfect project for the Indiana/Kentucky/Ohio Regional Council of Carpenters.
Not only did union carpenters help build the new Boys & Girls Club in Fort Wayne, Indiana, we’ve also helped plan, build & introduce curriculum for a one-of-a-kind program called Project Blueprint.
Project Blueprint exposes kids to careers in skilled trades like carpentry, flooring, welding, electric, manufacturing and more. The idea is to show kids career options after high school other than the traditional four-year college pathway.
“That’s the key, exposing kids to careers early on so they can really dream about what is that they really like doing. This is what this program is all about,” says Boys and Girls Club of Fort Wayne CEO Joe Jordan.
Project Blueprint is the first of its kind in the country. Kids utilize the curriculum and learn to plan, layout, and build structures. A special room in the new Boys & Girls Club will make it easier for students to focus on their projects. The Project Blueprint room features workstations, tools, welding and more.
IKORCC Business Representative Kyle Gresham says, “From its very inception, we’ve been involved. From serving on the advisory board, helping create a curriculum, to working on projects with students.”
“It really recharges me to see how excited these young people are to try something new and realize that they can do anything they set their mind to,” Kyle adds.
Community partners are also excited for the project, on Tuesday night the Boys & Girls Club received over $200,000 in donations for materials to keep the project moving.
Signatory union contractors MKS (Michael Kinder & Sons) built the Boys & Girls Club of Fort Wayne with interior work by Rosema.
Congratulations to our 2019 Indiana/Kentucky/Ohio Regional Council of Carpenters Scholarship Program recipients! 40 students received a $1,000 scholarship toward tuition, room, and board, or books to a trade school or college.
Twenty recipients earned scholarships based upon their high school grade point average and SAT or ACT scores. Another twenty were selected randomly.
Recipients were sons, daughters, and dependent children of members of the Indiana/Kentucky/Ohio Regional Council of Carpenters and Millwrights. Parents or guardians must be members in good standing of the IKORCC for at least one year. The son, daughter, or dependent child must be a high school graduating senior or be attending a college, university or trade school as a full-time student.
Congratulations to the following 2019 IKORCC Scholarship recipients:
| Jillian | Brewster |
| Gabrielle | Conley |
| Megan | Dedelow |
| Ryan | Ennis |
| Madeline | Evans |
| Molly | Fisher |
| Daniel | Fugiett |
| Dakota | Goetz |
| Erin | Gonzales |
| Lyric | Green |
| Alexis | Harmes |
| Lincoln | Howard |
| Trevor | Howard |
| Blake | Jenkins |
| Joshua | Kirksey |
| Kirstin | Knox |
| Alexis | Krizner |
| Miranda | Lavey |
| Lauren | Marsh |
| Ryan | McConnell |
| Dylan | Mecum |
| Alyvia | Messer |
| Christopher | Newlin |
| Charlie | Nunes |
| Liam | Parsons |
| Andrew W | Polen |
| Hailey | Reffitt |
| Lyndi | Reinhold |
| Tyler | Rettig |
| Kayla | Rutter |
| Autumn | Schmidt |
| Ty | Sheahan |
| Benjamin | Smith |
| Kylie | Snyder |
| Raegan | Stinnett |
| Ashley | Talaga |
| Tanner | Tsvetkoff |
| Lauren | Wallace |
| Skyler | Wildfong |
| Connor | Wilson |
When Indiana/Kentucky/Ohio Regional Council of Carpenters (IKORCC) Business Representative and Akron Local 285 member Abe Bruner, read in a local paper that 9 in 10 fires around Akron could have been prevented from spreading, he knew it was time to take action. Homes and families without a functioning smoke detector are at greater risk to be affected by a fire.
“More than 22 fire deaths have occurred in the last two years [in Akron]. A number of those homes did not have functioning smoke detectors”, says Lieutenant Lash.
As a Member Action Committee party chairperson in his local, Abe decided to do something about it. Beginning last year, the committee rounded up their resources and donated around 80 new smoke detectors for the Akron Fire Department. Lt. Lash says the department strives to get working smoke detectors on every floor or level of homes in need.
With the help of Akron Local 285, Millwright’s Local 1090, Cleveland Locals 435 and 373, Tri-County Building Trades in Akron, and Donley’s Construction; this year they have over doubled the previous years’ donation.
Around 176 new smoke detectors were donated through Captain Haas at the Akron Fire Department this past Friday, July 26th. The Akron Fire Department will be installing these new smoke detectors into homes of families in need around the City of Akron. Haas hopes to get a new, fully functioning smoke detector in every home.
The committee is grateful to have the opportunity to help their community and hopes to get even more donations set up for next year.
(Featured in photo from left to right: Captain Haas, Kristin Fox, Rob Treichel, Abe Bruner, LT. Joe Falkenstein, Marcus Wagner.)
Brotherhood. It’s not just a word. At the Indiana Kentucky Ohio Regional Council of Carpenters its a way of life. It means standing by each other through the good times and the bad, something UBC member Jon Donahue learned over the Christmas holiday. Check out the inspirational story of our journeyman, Jon Donahue.