The mission of Trinity-On-Main (T-O-M) is to continue to restore and preserve historic Trinity-On-Main in downtown New Britain as a venue for live performances, cultural events, educational programs, as well as public gatherings and private functions, that foster positive and enriching cross-cultural experiences among Greater New Britain’s diverse demographic groups, encourage community revitalization in the city and support economic development. They are a non-profit 501c (3) organization.
They reach out to the community whenever possible to forge partnerships that help individuals and groups as well as T-O-M. In this regard they contracted with E.C. Goodwin Technical High School to rebuild our handicap access ramp. T-O-M is having the ramp built at a fraction of the market cost and the Goodwin Tech students involved in the Carpentry and Drafting programs are getting valuable work experience. Lowe’s of Newington has also helped out by providing materials at a discount as well as technical support.
The
project began in December under the guidance of Carpentry instructor,
Mike Cyr. This project was unusual for Goodwin Technical
high School, it is their first job involving composite materials. The
original ramp was made of wood, which had begun to rot. Because
of the length of the project, freshmen as well as juniors and
seniors are participating. On some days there were more
than 20 students working on the ramp during the coldest winter
in years. The project is nearing completion. They
have been waiting for several weeks for delivery of the handrails,
which had to be special-ordered. The local Wal-Mart donated
$1,000 for this portion of the project.
Some interesting sidelights: In applying for the building permit from the City of New Britain, T-O-M used the Goodwin Tech Drafting Department to prepare the drawing for the permit application. The initial sketch did not have enough detail. A drafting student revised the drawing to the point where the Building Dept. made a copy of it to use as an example of what they'd like to see in permit applications for handicap ramps. The City Inspector for this project, Norman Wnuk, happens to be a Goodwin Tech graduate. On his initial visit to the site he made several helpful suggestions for how to build the ramp and the carpentry students could see the value of a Goodwin Tech education. Mr Wnuk has also agreed to visit the school to speak to the carpentry students. Scott Marhefki, Commercial Sales Manager for Lowe's of Newington has taken a personal interest in this project. Since this was off-season for composite decking projects, he spent considerable time rounding up hard-to-find materials from other Lowe's stores in the State and getting them delivered to Trinity-on-Main in time for the student carpenters to use them. This project could not have been done without the strong support Lowe's has provided.
Trinity-on-Main hopes to use other Goodwin Tech resources in the future. These include electrical, plumbing and machine shop projects. |
