Carpentry grads grateful for new skills

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) - Amos House's Carpentry Training Program graduated its hundredth student Tuesday. The ten men and women who went through the program got a special thank-you as well from someone they helped: a teenager confined to a wheelchair, who's now able to leave her house thanks to the new carpenters.
 
The Amos Carpentry Training, or ACT, runs 13 weeks. This go-round, one of the projects the ten graduates worked on was a complete retro-fit of Sofia Diaz's Central Falls home. The 17-year-old suffers from spina bifida. She wasn't able to leave her house, because her wheelchair was too big to fit through the front door. Sofia's story was featured back in November as a Street Story on Eyewitness News.
 
Terrence Jones, one of the grads, said it was an invaluable experience. "Sofia was stuck in her house for two years straight. In two days, we made a doorway so she could come in and out of her house, we made ramps…"

Sofia was the keynote speaker at Tuesday's ceremony to express her gratitude. "I'm really very proud of them. They did an excellent job on my home," she told Eyewitness News.

"Today basically changed my life," said Jones. At 34, he'd spent time in and out of jail before graduating from the program. He now says it's put him on a new path.

"I'd never think this day would come, but it's finally here, and I have so many opportunities," he said.

Many of the grads will now move on to get jobs. Today's graduation ceremony makes a total of 108 students to finish the program since the program's inception in 2007. 

The carpentry training is just one of Amos House's programs to help Rhode Island's homeless help themselves become self-sufficient. To find out how you can help, click here to go to the organization's giving info page.