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Post by knotthead on Jan 11, 2009 11:59:34 GMT -6
My brother-in-law is in the home construction business and a couple of his sub-contractor friends have sons in Cub Scouts. Bob asked if I could come over and offer some ideas and "tricks" to the dads. So off I went, with all my cars, parts, and tools, for a little show-and-tell. There were many busy hands around the table until I started opening my boxes, then everything stopped. The little fellas were between 5-7 years of age, so it was mostly touch and roll the new man's cars, but the fathers (to me also just kids (early to mid 30's) spent the better part of the afternoon asking questions about the building process, what is needed for tools (beyond a table saw and hammer, standard home construction stuff etc.)and finished car prep. It was pretty cool showing them what I had learned here. I was a little saddened. though, because when I asked about their race, it is only two weeks away, and they were just beginning to make their cars. Hopefully one or two ideas can be encorporated. I do know that one dad was busy redoing his wood block with my body tool when I left. Judging from how old the little fella's are, there should be a few more races in their scouting career
Later...
Lee
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Post by beakerboysracing on Jan 11, 2009 12:14:52 GMT -6
My brother-in-law is in the home construction business and a couple of his sub-contractor friends have sons in Cub Scouts. Bob asked if I could come over and offer some ideas and "tricks" to the dads. So off I went, with all my cars, parts, and tools, for a little show-and-tell. There were many busy hands around the table until I started opening my boxes, then everything stopped. The little fellas were between 5-7 years of age, so it was mostly touch and roll the new man's cars, but the fathers (to me also just kids (early to mid 30's) spent the better part of the afternoon asking questions about the building process, what is needed for tools (beyond a table saw and hammer, standard home construction stuff etc.)and finished car prep. It was pretty cool showing them what I had learned here. I was a little saddened. though, because when I asked about their race, it is only two weeks away, and they were just beginning to make their cars. Hopefully one or two ideas can be encorporated. I do know that one dad was busy redoing his wood block with my body tool when I left. Judging from how old the little fella's are, there should be a few more races in their scouting career Later... Lee That is too cool Lee. There is nothing more rewarding than seeing a child standing there with a trophy or and awarded they got for a race knowing that you helped them. I can say with certainty, that when you teach a child, they will grow up and remember someday that someone was willing to spend a little time and effort to help. I know it's getting a little late in the season for beginning, but I had prepared a presentation on powerpoint for PWD for our pack. If anyone is out there that need some presentation material to give to a group of scouts and parents, just let me know, I will be glad to forward the presentation to you for your use. Scott Beakerboys
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Post by sappingtonr on Jan 11, 2009 18:30:04 GMT -6
Lee, That is a great story and also a very rewarding experience. I had a little of that myself today with a group of 30 scouts. First I wold like to say that I do not want to hijack your thread, however, out of respect for what you did to help those dads/boys, and in the spirit of of the PWDR league where we have a free flow of information, I thought that I would share a similar story. I just got home, a very exhausting 4 hours, setting up, hauling tools, finding extension chords, fixing broken scroll saw blades, trouble shooting wheel shavers & demonstrating how to use the pro-body tool (and all of the derbyworx tools for that matter plus cleaning up the church gym and loading up the truck: Makes me respect WARREN EVEN MORE) But I have to say: The most rewarding part for me was the last scout/mom team to leave at the end of the workshop. You see, they had No tools at home. He was a Third grader, just joined scouts, never seen a PWD ever. NO dad to help. Complete PWD Virgins. So I took them under my Wing. When I explained the C.O.G. or CM, most of the attendee's kind of had that glazed over look, except for a few. This mom was into it and could tell she wanted to learn and help her son build the best car possible. I tried my best to shave the wheels and polish the axles but didn't have all of gear so I told her that I would take the wheels home and try to finish them- on a side note her kid has the same teacher my kid had last year so my boy is going to drop off the finished wheels and axles to the teacher to give to the boy to take home. I told the mom that I would help with the wheel installation and final "tuning". It is an over whelming sensation. That is, to realize that you are unselfishly giving to someone truly in need. BTW: Told the Mom to drop the car off and I would put a few finishing touches on it before check in. Anyone have any ideas? Sapp
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Post by Lucky 13 on Jan 11, 2009 22:54:05 GMT -6
Great stories guys !! Helping out the kids is a very rewarding experience. I spent Saturday helping at our District wide pinewood derby workshop. What a long, tiring but fun day !! I've been involved in workshops before, but never one of this magnitude !! We had 3 band saws running full-time. I easily cut out over 100 cars. It is great to see all the different designs that the kids can come up with. I'm looking forward to seeing the finished products at the races.
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Post by ScoutMom on Jan 11, 2009 23:21:26 GMT -6
Ya'll are doing a great thing helping these boys out! Keep up the good work. I sure wish that I had known about ya'll for our first PWD. My hubby is a mechanic for TXU and sometimes he has to go away for weeks when there are bad storms (he was gone for 6 weeks when hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit. Last year, he was gone during Christmas when an ice storm hit Missouri). Whenever the electric crews go to storms he has to go, too, to service and repair the equipment. Anyway.... Jesse and Ethan had just gotten the first PWD car when Jesse had to go away on a storm break. The race was coming up and the car was unfinished, so my daughter and I had to help Ethan make the car. I knew NOTHING-- less then nothing-- about the Derby. Needless to say, the outcome was not a very happy one. No one in our scout organization offered any kind of help. I did not know about the websites and PWD vendors. It would have been so nice if someone had shared info with me.
I really appreciate you guys for all your willingness to educate others. Thanks for taking the time to help those scouts! And thanks for always answering questions on this website and offering your advice. It is very much appreciated!
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