Over 20 Exhibiting Companies, Individuals Participating in WoodWORKS for Children at AWFS®Fair

Furniture World News

Over twenty exhibiting companies and numerous individuals are donating services, supplying materials or machining to create furniture for charity through the WoodWORKS for Children program at the 2003 AWFS®Fair. Prototypes will be on display at the Fair. Furniture designers and engineers, hardware manufacturers, lumber materials suppliers, woodworking machinery manufacturers, and soft goods manufacturers are teaming up to create toddler bedroom furniture for a local children’s charity. Started at the 1999 AWFS®Fair, this Association of Woodworking & Furnishing Suppliers® program organizes and transforms sample and demonstration materials donated by exhibitors to produce components which will be made into full sets of furniture. The components will be assembled on site at the charity this fall. WoodWORKS is providing all bedroom furniture for the toddlers’ dormitory section (52 beds and 30 dressers) for the Orangewood Children’s Home. Orangewood is an emergency shelter which provides a safe refuge for abused and neglected Orange County children, ranging in age from birth to 17 years of age. Orangewood had to upgrade its current toddlers’ furniture to meet state mandates; WoodWORKS answered this urgent need. WoodWORKS for Children was initiated by AWFS® Past President, Doug Kemp of Kemp Hardware and is the only such program at any major woodworking fair. “This is our second time organizing WoodWORKS, and we are definitely benefiting from our past experience,” said Kemp. “Our hard-working committee and better understanding of the process were key factors in our success this year. Skip Hem of Royal Plywood Company organized the lumber material suppliers, Angelo Gangone of SCM Group USA, now Director of AWFS®Fair, organized the machinery manufacturers, and I organized the hardware suppliers. Another key factor was having the engineering done well in advance, and having the machinery companies put together the prototypes so we know it will work.” “Everyone was willing to lend a hand; in fact, we had more companies request to be involved than we needed for this 2003 project,” commented Angelo Gangone, AWFS®Fair Director. Companies and individuals participating in the WoodWORKS for Children project are: Hardware Suppliers: Julius Blum, Inc., booth 3669 – drawer slides (Meta Box); Hafele America, booth 3639 – connecting fittings; Bainbridge Manufacturing, Inc., booth 3927 – pulls; Acme Metal Slides, booth 3439 – Braces;Kemp Hardware & Supply, booth 3439 – miscellaneous hardware Machining: SCM Group USA Inc., booth 2623; Biesse America, booth 1845; Holz-Her U.S. Inc., booth 2601; Stiles Machinery Inc., booth 1801; Delmac Machinery Group (DMG), booth 2537 – in addition to machining,; made prototype for chest of drawers and David Lillard programmed chest; Evans Machinery, Inc., booth 1319 Material Suppliers: Boise Cascade Corporation, booth 3456 – composite board; Nevamar Company – melamine lamination; Coastal Wood Products, booth 4028 – thin panels; Royal Plywood, booth 3496 – trucking materials to show; Dynea Overlays, Inc., booth 3898 – melamine paper to Nevamar for; pressing the composite panels; Doellken-Woodtape, booth 525 – edgebanding; FRAMA-TECH Inc., booth 3084 – edgebanding; Outwater Plastics Industries Inc., booth 3939 – t-molding Other: Hanes Industries – mattress; The Freeman Companies – logistics support at Fair Individuals: Brandon Schmitt – designed furniture; Jesse Ibarra, Sandberg Furniture Co. – assisted with furniture design; Hector Henry, Georgia Institute of Technology, Advanced Wood Products AWFS®Fair is recognized as the largest industry eve in North America in odd-numbered years, featuring 400,000 sq.ft. of exhibits and 800 exhibitors from around the world, along with the largest educational seminar and workshops program in the industry. The2003 AWFS®Fair will be held July 31 through August 3, 2003 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California. For more information, log onto the Fair website: . The Association has also added a special fax number, (323) 622-0321, which is a direct line to the AWFS®Fair Department. For more information about WoodWORKS for Children project or the AWFS®Fair, contact the AWFS® office at (800) 946-AWFS (2937). The Association of Woodworking and Furnishings Suppliers® is a national association with international membership whose members cover the broad spectrum of suppliers to the woodworking and furnishings industry. AWFS® can be reached at 1-800-946-AWFS (2937) or through email at info@AWFS.org.