SECOND HARVEST FOODBANK Student carpenters lend a hand

The food bank ismoving to a new location.
By JoANNE VIVIANO
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Bill Hyatte took a short break from hanging cupboards in the kitchen of the new offices of the Second Harvest Foodbank on Salt Springs Road.
"It's going pretty easy," said the Chaney High School junior. "We've got everybody working."
Bill and other members of the Choffin Career & amp; Technical Center advanced carpentry course are helping to refurbish the kitchen.
"It's something I've been wanting to do," said Bill, who hopes to be a carpenter after high school. "It gives us experience and we're helping out the business, so it feels good.
"We get to learn a lot," he added. "It's the first time I've done cupboards."
Chaney junior Andrew Brewer used a stud finder on Tuesday to locate a space to attach a cabinet. Aaron Melton, a Rayen School junior, ran the drill.
"It's what I want to do, what I want to take up as a career," Melton said. "I love working with my hands."
Melton said it was the first time he had done volunteer work but he was happy to be there because "it's for a good cause."
New location
Second Harvest Foodbank, which provides food to 200 hunger relief organizations in Columbiana, Trumbull and Mahoning counties, is moving to the 2805 Salt Springs Road location from a rented location on Midlothian Boulevard. The building was donated to Second Harvest by Dr. Jacques Politi and his family.
The Choffin students helped install new donated cabinets and cupboards.
"It's good experience for our kids," said Kevin Sinkele, instructor of advanced carpentry at Choffin. "It's always nice to do an actual project like this."
The junior and senior students in the class have worked to tear out former cabinets and put in the new ones. They also will re-install a sink and complete plumbing work.
Next project
Sinkele, who is teaching the course for the first time this school year, said he also hopes to work with a local Habitat for Humanity group to have the students volunteer to build homes.
Rayen junior Chris Adkins said he's built walls and drop ceilings with his grandfather, but has never hung cabinets. He hopes someday to be an architect and will build his own "third home" -- after he lives in an apartment and a house.
"I'm learning a lot," said Erik Cassile, a Chaney junior whose father owns the Frontier Woodworking Co. in Youngstown. "I think hands-on work is better than school book work."
viviano@vindy.com