TULSA, Okla. — Nearly 200 Tulsa Tech students spent the day wiring, staining and digging at Eden Village.
Small groups have been volunteering at the village since August, but this was the crews biggest day of service. Robert Neil has been teaching trades for more than a decade and said he knows that hands on experience is crucial for his students.
WATCH: Tulsa Tech students volunteer at Eden Village
“The lab is fun, the shop is fun, but you cannot beat coming to an actual job site," he said. "The fact that this is a community service and that they're helping has been really awesome. They got to see the first people move in."
Neil said his eyes were opened to a whole new avenue to take his skills down when his daughter suffered a mental health crisis a few years ago.
“Thought about my daughter and the fact that if she didn’t have support for someone going through any kind of crisis like that, they would very quickly end up on the street," he said. "It's an eye-opener for them. It teaches them to give back to their community, and this is a win-win because they can give back to their community and still learn."
The students had the opportunity to work on everything, from wiring to building and staining the stairs and railings.
“It's been pretty great, I like being able to take what I learn in the classroom and bring it out here and do it," said first-year student Jaxon Rice. "I like being able to see them here and enjoying it and living here. It’s nice to say that I helped with this.”
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'New chapter has opened': First residents move into Eden Village
Founder Brad Johnson said the students have spent easily over a thousand hours at the village and saved them a great deal of money in construction costs.
Javier Sanchez Autry is studying electrical trades at Tulsa Tech.
Here, he's been able to wire up houses and work on breakers, giving him the confidence to walk onto any job site.
But being a part of the mission behind the Eden Village carries more weight for Autry than the experience he's gaining.
“It means a lot because I have had family dealing with this, and I look at them and I feel like they deserve all the second chance of this type of housing," said Autry. "It’s an awesome blessing for them to have this.”
The Tulsa Tech crew plans to see Eden Village through to the opening of their final pod of homes in November.
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