Home Depot's Kids Workshops: Teaching Building Skills and Empowering Young People for 25 Years
Originally published on Built From Scratch
Build. Learn. Create. Building strong relationships is a core value at The Home Depot, and it shows in the workshop program developed by a team of store associates to help our youngest customers develop basic and safe building skills, while gaining confidence using tools to complete projects. Kids Workshops is a learn-by-doing experience that encourages skill-building and creativity in children ages 5-12.
In 1997, the Kids Workshops program launched in our stores across the U.S. and Canada. What started as a grassroots effort by a few stores quickly became an institution, with many stores seeing hundreds of workshop attendees each month. Twenty-five years later, the program is going strong.
The first Saturday of every month, from 9 a.m. to noon, kids and their parents can attend free workshops at Home Depot stores across the country. Each child receives an apron, an apron pin and a certificate of achievement for completing their project. They also leave the store with the fruit of their labor – such as a fire rescue boat or window bird feeder – and a sense of accomplishment.
With a new project every month, kids have a reason to keep coming back.
Collin Bauer, a staffing communications specialist on The Home Depot’s Talent Acquisition team, was one of those first-generation Kids Workshop participants. He recalls, “I looked forward to the workshops, and I loved how there was a different challenge every time.” Collin’s love of hands-on DIY experience led him to work at a Home Depot store, where he became the workshops captain while in college. Today, he benefits from his store knowledge and puts his degree in Human Resources Management to use. Collin knows the value of Kids Workshops firsthand. “We’re building the next generation that will lead our workforce someday. It’s great for our associates and our culture, too.”
The Home Depot moved all workshop activities to virtual offerings in 2020 for safety reasons due to the Covid pandemic. During that time, The Home Depot donated more than 1.6 million workshop kits to individuals, community events and more than 100 nonprofit organizations through The Home Depot Foundation. Kids Workshops returned to stores for in-person participation this summer.
To register, please visit homedepot.com/workshops
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