Building Wood Desks for Kids!

Inspired by a woodworker in California who made desks for kids, Decatur Makers thought we could do the same here in Atlanta, with an initial goal of building 100 desks. After sending out an initial form to gather requests from families in October 2020, we had over 700 families in-need from across metro-Atlanta request over 1,700 desks within the first 2 weeks!

In December, we were featured in Sunday Metro section of the Atlanta Journal and Constitution: https://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta-news/decatur-group-builds-hundreds-of-desks-for-students-learning-at-home/HD4AB5PZM5FJFE2MQZOT2Y7ATQ/

Our new goal was to build 500 desks. Because of generous donations from so many individuals, and sponsorships from our good friends at Cofer Brothers and The Decatur Education Foundation, we raised over $14,000! With about 160 sheets of 4’x8′ plywood and a mile and a half of 1″x3″ sticks of wood, we ultimately were able to build 580 desks. Phew! And the emails from families were so appreciative in meeting the need to offer a distinct learning space for youth during this period of virtual learning.

As of the end of February 2021, all of our desks are in their forever homes in use by kids learning at home, including the ones decorated by local Atlanta artists.

And we also paid it forward with sharing our working plans with a woodworker in Chicago who saw our social media posts and was inspired to build and donate desks in his community! Others in Savannah, Peachtree City and Lithia Springs also reached out for plans to build desks in their communities. We’re happy to spread the love.