Woodworking for Warriors group offers supportive community for veterans

Gather.
Share.
Make sawdust.
Find yourself.

If one had to define the scope of the Woodworking for Warriors group, those words are a good start. Woodworking for Warriors or W4W is  a nonprofit, 501c3 group designed by and for veterans to provide a safe, welcoming, and supportive community built around woodworking.

This Saturday, June 22, Woodworking for Warriors will host an open house at its new digs in Tipton, on a farm nicknamed “Project Roadhouse” by owners Jennifer Nix and Steve Leonard.

“When we learned that Woodworking for Warriors was looking for a new home, we offered free barn space to help them relaunch their vital program,” Nix said.

John Abbey, president of the W4W board, said the group started more than 4 years ago at the Sam Beauford Woodworking Institute founded by Luke Barnhart at the former Girls Training School in Adrian. Many of the veterans involved in W4W met during classes held there and Barnhart established a veterans’ program where those vets interested could meet every Friday and work on projects. But, the success of Barnhart’s institute meant the veterans eventually would need a new home.

“Last September, we regrouped,” Abbey said. “We formed a 501c3, and we started looking for a place. It was really important to us that we find a place where we could have complete ownership and be on our own, responsible for our organization.”

W4W has upward of 300 members of all ages and abilities, who represent four of the five Armed Forces branches. For Nix and Leonard, the W4W group represented an opportunity to continue their life’s work in social practice and community building.

“I came back in May 2023 to take care of my mom and we decided to stay,” Nix said. “This Tipton property came up for sale and we saw the potential to continue some of the social practice and community-building work we had been doing in California and New Mexico since my kidney transplant. I was particularly thrilled that it had a woodshop and art studio we could share with the community.”

Leonard’s father, Tom, is a veteran and lives with them at the farm. Nix’s grandfather and uncle also were veterans, so the W4W was a perfect fit. When Nix and Leonard met Abbey, they hit it off immediately, Abbey said. The whole thing happened in a matter of weeks. The group initially planned to use just the former art studio, but Nix suggested using half of the larger barn might better suit the organization’s needs. As it turned out, they didn’t have to choose.

“We can use both effectively,” Abbey said. “We have the hand tools and the coffee pot in the smaller barn, where we can build community, and then in the larger space, we have the noisy power equipment and room for wood fabrication projects.”

Abbey said the goal and challenge for the group was to “create a culture and support for veterans.

“It will be better than it was, and we will totally run it ourselves,” he said. “Before, we were ‘guests.’ Now, we will own what’s going on and have full responsibility.”

He anticipates the shop will be open a couple of days a week to start, and then see where it takes them.

“We want to bring everyone together and let them do what they come to do,” he said.

Abbey is an Army veteran who served in Vietnam from 1969-1970. He said when they had their first planning meeting, about 40 veterans attended, including Craig Courter, who became the VP of operations and heads up fundraising.

“I asked those who were there to raise their hands if they had a place that they wanted to go, that was safe, and that was welcoming,” Abbey said. “No one raised their hand. They all said the woodshop was the only place they had. Now, we will have our own place that will provide all of those things.”

Courter is about to graduate from the Northwest Woodworking Studio, where he has studied for the last two years. He said W4W is in need of  additional tools for the shop.

“We need the community’s help,” he said.

Those interested may donate to the program through the website, woodworkingforwarriors.org. Contributions of  $100 and higher will receive a one-of-a-kind challenge coin featuring the W4W logo. Donations also may be made in memory of or in honor of any veteran.  

“We come from very different places and we want to encourage younger veterans and women to be involved,” Abbey said. “Every--EVERY--veteran is welcome, including active duty.”

Harmon, a Navy veteran, said she initially signed up for the woodworking group in 2000, but the pandemic got in the way.

“I was also a little terrified to go in there not knowing anyone and not sure if I would be accepted,” Harmon said. “But, when I did show up and began asking for help, the guys were great.”

Harmon said women in the military have a huge challenge just by being a part of what was exclusively a “man’s world” for centuries.

“Women in the military have a lot to overcome so I thought the same would happen here,” she said. “But, it didn’t.

“I was finally in a place where people knew what I went through and I felt that I understood their situations,” she said. “It was so good and comfortable.  Making sawdust has given me a new place to ‘be’ and that is such a good feeling.” 

The festivities for the open house begin at the Tipton Community Church at 2 p.m. this Saturday, where there will be refreshments and plenty of information from the woodworking warriors about their program. Then, Abbey said, guests will carpool down to Project Roadhouse for a tour and celebration. The house and barns are located at 2821 Monroe Road, Tipton.

“We want to show people what we’re about and tell our story,” Abbey said.

Added Nix: “Project Roadhouse has become a collaborative community project to steward this historic property and help W4W have a permanent home in Lenawee County. There is just so much synchronicity and good will in all of this.”