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Project CRAFT Students Help Spruce Up Florida Marina
As part of a National Marina Day celebration on Aug. 8 in Tarpon Springs, Fla., student volunteers from the Project CRAFT program in Tampa assisted in efforts at the Turtle Cove Marina to improve its water quality and spruce up the waterfront, which is a major tourist attraction.
Community service is an important component of the Home Builders Institute's Project CRAFT curriculum.
Turtle Cove has received $19 million in funding to revitalize the marina and over the next six months will break ground on a marina clubhouse and secure plans to improve boating access on the island.
Project CRAFT volunteers started their day with a thorough beach cleanup and worked with Turtle Cove’s Boater Awareness Campaign, which included canvassing all the boats on the island to ensure that they were contributing to a clean environment.
The day’s work schedule was followed by a barbecue on the marina’s newly pristine beach.
“The marina cleanup is a great activity for CRAFT students,” said HBI Chairman Bill Paul, who accompanied the students during the project. “They get an opportunity to assist in their community and it’s a chance for them to experience things that they may not have experienced yet.”
“Turtle Cove is a unique project and a chance for these students to do something different,” said Tampa Bay Builders Association President Jeffry Ewing, who works with Project CRAFT on many of its community outreach efforts. “We all had an enjoyable experience and look forward to working here again next year.”
Project CRAFT has been recognized by members of the U.S. Congress as a model intervention program for adjudicated youth, and its graduates average an 85% job placement rate. HBI, the workforce development arm of NAHB, operates Project CRAFT training programs at nine sites in Connecticut, Florida and Tennessee.
For more information on Project CRAFT, e-mail Dennis Torbett at HBI, or call him at 800-795-7955 x8908.
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