Some skills are best learned by doing. Through Keystone SMILES Community Learning Center’s House of Trades program, participants gain hands-on experience while completing projects that local organizations and residents genuinely need.
A 2024 grant from the William & Elizabeth Charitable Fund for the Trades helped Keystone SMILES expand that work. Grant funding supported the purchase of tools for training and project use, along with safety shoes, jackets, and hats for participants.
With those resources in place, participants were able to take on a wide range of community projects. Keystone SMILES worked with organizations including Crossing Free Methodist Church, Bethel United Methodist Church, Mustard Seed Ministries, Chapel of the Hill Assembly of God, and Clarion Family Therapy Services.
The projects included painting, restoration work following a fire, building STEM tables and floats, and constructing three accessible ramps. Each one required participants to learn new skills, follow through on responsibilities, and work closely with others.
The work was practical, but it was also personal.
One of the accessible ramps was built for an 84-year-old woman who wanted to remain in her home. The completed project gave her safer access and brought real peace of mind to her family.
“Thanks to their leadership and dedication combined with their teamwork and energy, we now are using and enjoying the ramp for access into and out of her house,” shared the beneficiary’s sister. “Your kindness and willingness to undertake this project mean more than words can express.”
She added, “Your generosity is not just a gift, it is a powerful statement of compassion and commitment to making a difference.”
The wife of the wheelchair recipient offered a similar reflection, calling Keystone SMILES and AmeriCorps “such a great asset to our Community.”
That response captures what makes the House of Trades program special. Participants are not practicing in isolation or completing assignments that disappear at the end of the day. They are using what they learn to solve real problems for real people.
A ramp can help someone remain independent. Restoration work can help an organization recover after a fire. A completed project can give a church, nonprofit, or family the support they need to keep moving forward.
At the same time, participants are building a foundation for their own futures. Through daily guidance and hands-on instruction, they strengthen basic trade skills while also learning how to communicate, lead, work as a team, and complete a job with care. They can also expand their social networks and earn online certificates as they prepare to enter or reenter the workforce.
Those lessons are difficult to replicate in a classroom alone. Confidence often grows when someone sees a project through from beginning to end and can point to something useful they helped create.
The tools and safety gear purchased through the grant made that experience possible. Participants had the equipment they needed to take part fully, learn safely, and contribute meaningfully to each project.
The House of Trades program also reflects an important truth about community work: needs are often connected. A nonprofit may need help completing a project. A resident may need a safer way to enter a home. A participant may need an opportunity to gain experience and discover what they are capable of doing.
When those needs come together through the right program, the result is more than workforce training. It is neighbors helping neighbors, skills being put to good use, and people building confidence through service.
The William & Elizabeth Charitable Fund for the Trades was established in 2020 as a perpetual fund supporting the trades, applied technology, apprenticeships, nursing careers, and related programs and projects in Venango County.
Since then, the fund has awarded 22 grants to 14 unique grantees, distributing a total of $155,218. Its support of House of Trades is one example of how those dollars can reach beyond a single program and become something tangible in the community.
They become tools in someone’s hands.
They become a ramp that helps a woman remain in her home.
They become experience, confidence, and a stronger path toward employment.
Through House of Trades, participants are learning skills that can shape their futures while using those skills to care for the community around them. That is exactly the kind of local impact the William & Elizabeth Charitable Fund for the Trades was created to support.
Those who would like to support the William & Elizabeth Charitable Fund for the Trades may make a gift online or mail a check to Bridge Builders Community Foundations. For more information, contact BBCF at 814-677-8687.
