President’s Message: Lots to Talk About and It’s All Good

2021 continues to be a record year for the WCA!  Since our last Pathways newsletter, we have added 20 new EDUcation members, three new MANufacturing members, and two new INDustry Silver Sponsors.

I want to thank The Sherwin-Williams Company for their very gracious cash donation of $5,000!  WCA will use this money to help increase our resources for helping our EDUcation & MANufacturing members train the woodworking industry’s future workforce.

WCA was pleased to partner with the Association of Woodworking & Furnishings Suppliers (AWFS) and Architectural Woodwork Institute (AWI) to produce a six-minute video promoting careers in the wood manufacturing industry. This video will be available to help educate parents and the general public about the vast opportunities available for students and future employees.

WCA has also partnered with Woodworking Network on a workforce development benchmarking study that we hope will lead to finding solutions to alleviate the challenges most wood product companies face hiring, retaining, and training qualified production employees. I hope you will find 10 minutes to weigh in on this very important study. Take the survey.

Mimbus will once again be joining us in our booth #1979 at the AWFS Fair, July 20-23 in Las Vegas. Please stop by and put your finishing skills to the test using their VR Spray Simulator.

Finally, be sure to check out the silent auction taking place at booth #3419 of the AWFS Fair, featuring more than 80 bid items including autographed collectibles, fun get-a-ways, framed artwork, and jewelry. Net proceeds will benefit the WCA. Thanks to AWFS and Expo Auctions for organizing this fun fundraiser. Early online bidding is open now.

Hope to see you at our booth #1979 at the AWFS Fair.

Scott Nelson
President
Woodwork Career Alliance of North America
snelsonwca@gmail.com