Minwax(R) Announces 2008 Community Craftsman Award Recipients, Issues Call for Entries for 2009 Awards

Greenville Woodworkers Guild Earns Grand Prize by Building Wooden Office Cabinetry and Holiday Toys for The Meyer Center for Special Needs Children

UPPER SADDLE RIVER, N.J., June 1 /PRNewswire/ — Minwax, the leading manufacturer of wood finishing and wood care products, has selected the Greenville Woodworkers Guild of Greenville, SC, as the grand prize winner in the 2008 Community Craftsman Award Program. Living up to the guild’s motto of “Giving Through Fellowship,” the members of the guild have enriched their community with a wealth of charitable projects, including considerable woodworking done on behalf of Greenville’s Meyer Center for Special Needs Children.

The Minwax(R) Community Craftsman Award is a national program that recognizes individuals and groups which promote community improvement through working with wood, and awards them grants and products to encourage continued community service. As the 2008 Community Craftsman Award grand prize winner, the Greenville Woodworkers Guild receives a $5,000 cash grant, a supply of Minwax products and a private wood finishing workshop with renowned do-it-yourself television personality and author Bruce Johnson.

The Greenville Woodworkers Guild continues to build on a long history of projects completed for the Meyer Center – including special furniture built for disabled children, as well as stools, stairs, storage “cubbies” and physical training equipment. Projects for 2008 included more than 4,000 volunteer hours building office cabinetry for the center’s expansion, and additional physical therapy equipment for the facility. For the holiday season, participants in the guild’s toy-building classes constructed and donated more than 300 wooden toys to the Meyer Center and other area charitable organizations. Individual guild members also produced many artistic pieces, which were then donated to the center for its annual silent auction fundraiser.

“We are very happy to recognize the members of the Greenville Woodworkers Guild for their outstanding community service,” notes Janet Krakow, vice president, marketing, Sherwin-Williams Wood Care Products. “The members’ generosity of spirit and countless hours volunteered truly epitomizes the intent of the Minwax(R) Community Craftsman Award. It also demonstrates how an already gratifying activity – working with wood – can be even more satisfying when done for the good of others.”

Individual Recognition Award

The 2008 Individual Recognition Award – including a $2,000 cash grant and a supply of Minwax products – was awarded to Melvin Satterfield of Columbus, OH. Satterfield’s inspiring story began in a homeless shelter in New York City, where young Melvin turned information gained while watching a television segment on chair repair into a career in furniture repair and wood finishing. Relocating to Columbus, he now has a successful repair, refinishing and reupholstery business, Browsers Welcome, with three area locations. Building upon lessons learned on his own life’s journey, Satterfield later created an entrepreneurship program, where he now teaches at-risk teenagers the craft of working with and refinishing wood – teaching them not only lifelong trade skills, but lessons in customer service and business etiquette.

Runner-Up Award Recipients

Three organizations were named Community Craftsman Award runners-up for outstanding community service – the JAX Woodworkers Club in Jacksonville, FL; Snow Canyon High School in St. George, UT; and Morrisville Middle/Senior High School in Morrisville, PA. Each will receive a generous assortment of Minwax products for use in future projects.

Members of the JAX Woodworkers Club make a difference in their community with their annual holiday Christmas Toy Project, in which wooden toys are constructed and donated to children in the community. In 2008, the club far exceeded their goal of making more than 1,500 toys; by the end of the holiday season, club members had built and donated 2,336 toys to children in the community.

Students at Snow Canyon High School wanted to improve literacy among underprivileged children in the community, as many of the children received little encouragement of reading at home. To create a special refuge where kids could escape with books while practicing their reading skills, the high-school students built a multilevel “tree house” in a first-grade classroom, with carpeted decks and comfortable places to read. The students then built upon their first effort by designing and building a wooden “boat” with separate carpeted areas and bookshelves, at another school, where the first-graders could retreat with a good book.

In Morrisville, PA, a group of students from various woodworking technology classes at Morrisville Middle/Senior High School have been brightening the holidays of less fortunate children in the area by building and donating classic wooden toys. The toys are constructed of wood from trees grown by a Morrisville graduate, and distributed through The Ivins House, a local resource center for the disadvantaged.

Minwax(R) Issues Call to Entry for 2009 Community Craftsman Award Program

Entries are being accepted for the 2009 Community Craftsman Award. Individuals, community groups, schools, or associations that promote and participate in the betterment of their communities through woodworking are eligible participants. The grand prize winner will receive a $5,000 cash grant, a supply of Minwax products, and a consultation with author and wood finishing expert Bruce Johnson. Two runner-up winners will receive a supply of Minwax products. Additionally, a special recognition award and cash grant of $2,000 will be presented to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to their community through woodworking. The deadline for all submissions is December 31, 2009. The winners will be announced in early spring 2010 and the names posted on the Minwax Web site at minwax.com. All eligible applicants are encouraged to enter by writing a summary of recent woodworking projects that have been completed for the purpose of enhancing their community and helping others. Entries can be submitted by either (1) uploading on the Minwax Web site at minwax.com, (2) via email by writing to minwaxcca@brushfireinc.com, or (3) via mail by writing to MINWAX Community Craftsman Award, c/o Brushfire Inc., 2 Wing Drive, Cedar Knolls, NJ 07927. For more information visit minwax.com.

SOURCE The Minwax(R) Company