By Paul Tuthill
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wamc/local-wamc-979847.mp3
Springfield, MA – The most important piece of furniture in a home may be the kitchen table. It is where families gather to get nourishment, share their news, plan the future, console one another. Some young families in supportive housing programs are starting out with special kitchen tables thanks to volunteers in a community service program .. WAMC's Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill reports..
When Springfield College Americorps member Jaime -Lea Pellowe learned that fellow volunteer Julia Godfrey was a master woodworker, the idea for the Kitchen Table Project was born.
Pellowe and Godfrey,both students in the college's physician assistant program, set out to build kitchen tables for families in need, hoping the tables would strengthen family bonds.
Godfrey, of Shelburne Falls Massachusetts has been making furniture for 18 years and said she was excited to apply her skills to the Kitchen Table Project
Godfrey made five Shaker-style cherry wood kitchen tables, that she expects will become the center of family activities..
The five tables were donated to transitional housing programs in the Springfield area run by the non-profit HAPHousing. One program is for young single mothers, the other for victims of domestic violence. Shannon Langone, the director of the Springfield College AmeriCorp program says donations from the Home Depot Foundation, Bobs Discount Furniture , and local businesses helped support the project, and supply chairs, games, coloring books and school supplies that accompanied the tables..
Tashia Davis and her twin two year old sons moved from a shelter for teenaged mothers into an apartment ,furnished by the Kitchen Table Project.
Davis says she'll being doing her homework at the kitchen table starting this fall when she attends community college. Godfrey, who graduated from Springfield College and is beginning her new career as a physician assistant , hopes the Kitchen Table Project can continue.