The coronavirus pandemic took students, parents, and teachers by surprise, turning their way of life completely upside down.
Parents and students had to turn their homes into proper learning environments complete with WiFi so their teachers can teach them virtually.
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But not all families can easily accommodate their children when it comes to learning from home whether it’s providing internet access or a desk to work at.
Woodworker Mitch Couch decided to use his skill set to help ease this burden for some families in his neighborhood.
He’s made more than 35 desks for students in his community who are distance learning.
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The idea to help build desks for others came from building desks for his own children.
He shared an Instagram photo of the simple folding desk design he built explaining that it was both easy and inexpensive to make.
“I know many of our little ones are still home doing distant learning. Our two kids were taking up space at the kitchen table making it a hassle when it came time for meals. So I made them their own little desks. The cool thing is they can store their items in it after they are done and it can be folded away later to take up less space,” he wrote in his post.
He also included a link to the $.99 plan download, which can be found here, and explained that it cost less than $35 for supplies to make the desks.
Many parents responded to the post expressing how much they would love a desk of their own to regain access to their kitchen and dining rooms tables.
Eventually, other business owners in town caught wind of Couch’s post and reached out to him with an idea to help out the community.
The owners of Grocery Outlet asked Couch if he would be able to make desks for him so they could be donated to local schools for kids who are distanced learning.
“I didn’t hesitate to help them out,” he said.
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“They asked for 25 desks to start but the need was great so we upped it to 35! My wonderful wife helped me through the whole thing and even surprised me with four desks she made while I was at work.”
Couch told Scary Mommy that he is still working on eight more desks that will also be donated.
“They are all called for since the demand for them is so high. I really think I could make a hundred of them and that still might not be enough,” he said.
Couch was very grateful to the local businesses that invest in and look after their communities.
“I’m very grateful to Grocery Outlet, a local store, for the donation of materials and for setting up the placement of desks. They were great to work with,” he said.
“The owners wanted to keep it low key but I just have to let others know how much local business means to a community like ours. Thank you Karin and David for being wonderful people.”
You can find detailed instructions on Couch’s desk build here and donate to his Venmo at mitchell-couch. The funds will be used to build more desks. You can also check out the instructional video below.
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