January 22, 2003
Rescued desks colorful addition to Boys and Girls
Kevin Jaeger restores school desks from NMC Maritime Academy
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Kevin Jaeger rescued more
than 70 wooden school desks
from being destroyed before a
demolition crew brought down
the Northwestern Michigan
College Maritime Academy
building last year.
The owner of Advanced
Painting and president of the
Optimist Club is in the midst of
restoring the desks and turning
them over to area non-profit
agencies. With the help of his
employees, Jaeger sanded the
wooden tops, scoured the steel
supports and painted the desks in
vibrant, kid-friendly colors using
durable industrial enamel.
The first batch of 20 desks
were delivered to the Boys and
Girls Club last Wednesday, their
bright colors sparkling in the
facility’s learning center.
“The desks have really added
quite a color scheme into our
learning center and some life to
the Boys and Girls Club,” said
Thomas Owen, athletic director
for the Boys and Girls Club.
“With these desks, the kids actually sit down, the desks draw
them in.”
Jaeger and his crew tackle the
desk restoration project in spurts
during slowdowns in their custom painting business. He sees
the restoration effort as a long-term project that will help fill in
the gaps between jobs and continue his tradition of community
giving. In the past, he and his ten
employees have painted for the
Habitat for Humanity, the House
of Hope and the United Way’s
Day of Caring.
“We’ve been giving back to
the community for years and
with this year my being president of the Optimist Club, and
we do a lot of stuff with youth,
this seemed to fit,” said Jaeger,
who founded Advanced Painting
12 years ago. “It doesn’t really
cost my business a lot of money
and the benefits to everyone far
outweigh the costs.”
Jaeger found the desks when
he was looking through the
building with a friend just before
the demolition. He was thrilled
to rescue them from the landfill
and be able to put them to good
use. He also rescued two dozen
wooden chairs he plans to restore.
“A buddy and I were there and
we saw piles and piles of desks,”
Jaeger recalled. “They were a
little beat up, some a little rusty
but they were sound steel and
solid wood in really good
shape.”
Jaeger contacted the Boys and
Girls Club, who eagerly jumped
at the chance to take the first 20
desks. He noted the club might
take 10 more for their Traverse
City facility and up to 20 more
for their Suttons Bay one. He is
still looking for non-profit organizations who work with children who might want the desks,
with the caveat that it might be a
while before he has any up for
grabs.
“There’s still a lot of places
who would like them,” he noted.
“After I got rid of the initial 20, I
haven’t made any more calls
because we ran those when we
were slow for a while and now
we aren’t anymore.”