Tools for Schools is an initiative from our Career Pathways committee.
We saw a gap with the amount of new talent entering the trades and construction industry and leveraged that to find creative ways to reach our youth in hopes of encouraging them to explore careers in the construction industry. And with that, Tools for Schools was born.
TOTAL PROGRAM IMPACT
About Tools For Schools
The Tools for Schools’ program was created as a way to ensure that students who are enrolled in industrial arts and related courses have access to tools, safety equipment, consumables and other related construction materials.
The goal being to put tools in the hands of Junior High students in order to foster a love for building, innovation, and construction.
Cycle Four 2024 - 2025
We have wrapped up our 2025 Tools for Schools program!
This year we successfully delivered much needed tools and materials to 21 junior high schools across Edmonton and the surrounding areas.
Since the launch of the program the ECA on behalf of its membership has supported over 72 junior high shop programs.
Thank you to our Sponsors:
PCL Construction | Home Depot | Delnor Construction | Kerr Interior | Lafarge | Sparklean DKI
CRATE BUILD
In January 2025, the ECA team and some of our member volunteers came together at the Kerr warehouse to build the 20+ crates needed to deliver the tools.
Thank you to our volunteers, Carolyn Aumiller, Brad Mielke, Ashley Tan, Emily Dinn, and Chris N for taking time out of their days to help support our Tools for Schools Program.
DELIVERIES
Over 2 days, our team, as well as trucks & volunteers from Sparklean DKI, delivered 21 crates of tools to schools across Edmonton and the surrounding areas.
During our deliveries, we had the pleasure of meeting the teachers and students receiving the tools. These interactions only further our drive to support local junior high schools and provide tools to students who otherwise might go without.
Check out our 2025 deliveries video on our Instagram Account.
Cycle Three 2023 - 2024
We have wrapped up our 2024 Tools for Schools program!
This year we successfully delivered much needed tools and materials to 27 junior high schools across the Edmonton Catholic, Edmonton Public, Elk Island and Parkland County school boards.
Since the launch of the program the ECA on behalf of its membership has supported over 50 junior high shop programs.
Cycle Two 2022 - 2023
We built on the previous successes and with the full support of the ECA Board of Directors grew the program to $75,000 total budget and the goal of supporting 20 school programs. Teachers we invited to pick tools and materials from a specific list but were free to also ask for specific items of need based on their shop and program needs. No two shop programs picked the same list, though all received a class set of PPE, and a crate a tool crate. Of particular interest to most shops were cordless tools as most of the spaces have limited wall outlets for power tools. The timeline for the project this year was greatly accelerated and took from November through to mid-February.
2023 Delivery
This year in 2023, the ECA, on behalf of its members, and with the support of Lafarge (PPE donation), Kerr Interiors (shop and warehouse space), Home Depot Canada, we delivered much needed tools, consumable materials, safety supplies, and recognition to these students and teachers that are preparing the newest candidates for our construction industry.
With an increased budget of over $70,000 we were able to reach 21 schools in the Edmonton Public and Parkland school division. It has long been our goal to not only get tools in the hands of the students, but to also recognize the amazing teachers who work tirelessly to help foster a love of building and working with their hands, in our youth.
CYCLE ONE 2021 - 2022
Junior high shop programs are where students are first introduced to the joy of working with hands and tools, igniting thoughts of trade, design, and construction careers in general. This is where our trades people come from and small efforts here to support and recognize these young people, validating their choices, will pay dividends for our industry for generations.
In 21/22, now called cycle one, we resurrected the program on a small scale to test the response and the effort needed to implement it. With just four programs supported, at the cost of $10,000, we had some very important realizations. The first being that the need was real, and that it was most acute in junior high shop programs.
2022 Delivery
On Friday, April 8th, 2022, the ECA team, members of the ECA Board of Directors, and ECA Career Pathways Committee, in partnership with Home Depot, were excited to deliver over $10,000 worth of tools to 3 local schools as part of the ECA Tools for Schools program. This program seeks to get much-needed tools into the hands of students and introduce them to a career in construction.