Inside one of the Alexandria Seaport Foundation workshops, it’s a tight fit for all the woodworking and learning going on.
When students are in the Alexandria Seaport Foundation learning boat building and woodworking skills, space is so limited that elbows rub and saw dust flies throughout this workshop designed to provide life and career skills to young people. Foundation leaders recognize the need for a bigger space so they’ve begun a fundraising campaign to expand their mission to improve the lives of at-risk students.
“Right now we’re trying to do both in the same space,” said Debra Roepke, an organizer and fundraiser behind the effort. “We’re hoping to increase our capacity to serve more young people,” she said.
They are aiming to raise $1.5 million which is divided into $1.1 million for a new building and the rest for new
A rendering of the Alexandria Seaport Foundation’s new space along the waterfront.
equipment. They have raised a substantial amount of those figures, thanks to the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, but still have more to go. They recently thanked their former supporters at a celebration in the Old Dominion Boat Club ballroom where they talked about the final goal.
“We should be able to double or maybe triple our students,” said Roepke. The students learn boat building and woodworking skills on the surface, supporters of this effort are hoping to provide positive options to these students that are many times from low income areas of Alexandria. “They often don’t have a support network,” she added.
The Alexandria Seaport Foundation started their efforts in 1992 when they began construction on the McIlhenny Seaport Center on the Alexandria waterfront. It evolved into an effort to improve the lives of at-risk youth, and this is done through boat building and woodworking skills as well as improved academic and social competence. A 42-foot replica of a Potomac River Dory was the first project they completed years ago.
Since then, many area teens have come through the doors to learn these skills and more. A couple of recent success stories include one student who earned a scholarship to George Mason University, and another who went on to join the U.S. Air Force.
To learn more about how to contribute to "change, educate, and save the lives" of young people who have yet to find their way in life, go to AlexandriaSeaportFoundation.com. On-site volunteers are also needed.