Workshops

Volunteers work to create the pieces that come together into solar ovens.

A standing man holds a sheet of insulation in place with the edge against a track that holds a blade on the surface of a plywood table.
In Montrose, volunteers begin with large sheets of insulation and cut them to the right size and angles so that they will fit snugly into the ovens.
A volunteer pulls a long sheet of aluminum into position under a large blade in preparation to cut it.
Volunteers slice pieces off of a gigantic spool of aluminum. These will then be formed into the reflectors.
While one volunteer holds a sheet of aluminum steady, the other pulls on a large blade to slice the aluminum.
Volunteers slice along stenciled lines.
A volunteer holds the pointed corner in position under a blade with his left hand as he pulls the lever to lower the blade with the right.
Corners of reflectors are clipped to allow for crimping of the edges.
With his left hand, a volunteer's holds the corner of a sheet of aluminum that is overhanging the edge of a table. With his right hand, he uses metal snips, which are like scissors for metal, to snip from the edge to the punched hole, an inch or two in from the corner. A guideline indicates where the other snip will be made, to remove the corner.
Volunteers snip the bottom corners of the reflectors.
A sheet of metal with the crimped edges facing up is placed on a flat surface with the edge against a back stop and one corner against a side stop. Two hole punches are lined up over the crimped edge.
Volunteers use their hands to line up the reflector piece and then, with their foot, they activate the hole puncher.
A volunteer's hands are holding a sheet of metal up to a machine that will crimp two rivets into the bent edge.
The riveter holds the piece in just the right position and then, with a foot pedal, crimps the rivet into place, and releases it with another foot pedal. It requires a little coordination!
A man bends a sheet of aluminum over a tube. The metal was first bent into a "V" shape now he is bending the second side around the tube to form two half-pipes with a peak between them.
In addition to packing, some items are manufactured at our Raymond workshop. Here shop manager Gene Bethke bends what started as a flat piece of aluminum into a two-loaf bread pan, which will be one the accessories included with the oven.
The hand of a volunteer pulls a small blade along the edge of an oven lid that is on top of a stack of lids. Two finished lids are stacked next to the stack he is working on. He is wearing two rubber bracelets. There are stacks of lids in the background.
As they come from the factory mold, the oven lids have a sharp edge. Our volunteers use a deburring tool to smooth the edges, preventing cuts to both volunteers and the eventual recipient of the oven. This a recent example of the many ways that we are constantly improving our ovens.
Two volunteers carry a large box up a ramp into a semi truck where additional volunteers are adding another box to the stacks inside.
Itโ€™s always an exciting day when we load up a sea container with ovens bound for one of our overseas partners. We have two hours to load the entire container, which will journey via semi-truck, then by train and then by ship. Our partner in the Dominican Republic or Sierra Leone will then send it via truck to their storage unit.
Three volunteers, ranging from youth to retiree, sit at a table in a church fellowship hall with stacks of plastic rings counted out in front of them.
Volunteers from Spearfish United Methodist Church, in Spearfish, SD, packaged all of the rivets and rings for 2,000 ovens in record time! It was a great intergenerational project.
An assortment of multi-colored hand-sewn pot holders are laid out in three rows on a table.
Sewists volunteer their talents to make potholders, which are included among the accessories with each oven. All must follow the same pattern, but the selection of fabrics makes each one unique and special. The recipients are touched to know that people theyโ€™ve never even met made this item for them.
A smiling man stands next to insulation wrapped in corrugated plastic and stacked as high as his head. The stacks are two deep and three long.
After the insulation has been cut, the next volunteers stack up five sets of insulation and sandwich it between two oven box pieces. We pack materials for five ovens, so what about the other three oven box pieces? Those are packed at our Raymond workshop, with the aluminum inner lining sandwiched between them.
A woman holds a sharpie marker against a template that she is tracing.
Volunteers stencil in the cut lines onto the aluminum that will become the reflectors.
The hand of a volunteer is steadying a piece of aluminum under a blade to slice the bottom edge at an angle.
In order to angle the reflectors for maximum sunlight, volunteers slice a thin wedge from the bottom of the reflectors.
A volunteer holds the corner of a piece of aluminum under a metal hole puncher with one hand while pulling the lever to lower the hole puncher with the other
A hole puncher makes a corner with less sharp edges
A volunteer is standing in front of a brake, which is a machine for bending sheet metal. He holds a piece of metal between the brake clamps with one hand, and operates a lever with the other.
The sharp edges of the sliced metal are eliminated by crimping every side of each reflector.
A woman stands in front of a riveting machine, holding a piece of aluminum under the chest-height ledge of the machine. A bin of rivets is attached on the left side of the ledge. She is pushing a foot pedal.
Each person at the reflector workshop becomes expert in their particular machine. Mary specialized in the riveter.
In the center of the picture, a volunteer with her back to the camera stretches her arms to hold rectangles of foam board to the ends of plastic oven lids while the volunteer across the table stretches bundle-wrap around them. To the left, at another table, two more volunteers, one of whom is partially cut out of the frame, are handling metal J-channel pieces. In the background our stacks of bundled oven lids and of cardboard.
The workshop at Raymond, SD is where all the oven parts come together and are packaged for shipping in boxes each containing parts to assemble five ovens. Here the team secures oven lids so that they will not shift and be damaged during transport.
Six women wearing matching tee-shirts bearing the slogan "Brooklyn UMC Doing God's Work Together" smile as they stand around a stack of wrapped oven lids.
Teams bond with one another while contributing to the mission.
Two teen-aged volunteers stand smiling next to a pallet stacked almost as tall as they are with several columns of bundled oven lids.
We so rarely get to see our accomplishments. Thatโ€™s one of the rewards of work at the shops. You can see, concretely, what you have accomplished at the end of the day!
Inside of a semi truck trailer, we see three towers of large boxes with a small space between the top of the towers and the ceiling and a small space between the third tower and the right wall filled with smaller boxes.
In order to take advantage of every square inch of the container, the placement of every box is carefully planned. This is an example of how we practice responsible stewardship of the resources entrusted to us.
Four women sit at a table with an assortment of bowls, baskets and bundles of wire between them as they manipulate the small objects in their hands.
There is a limited number of projects that can be brought out to a local church. Here, volunteers from Cornerstone United Methodist Church in Marshall, MN assemble Water Pasteurization Indicators, which are included with each oven.
A large pouch with a draw string is laid out on a table. A stack of small pouches is to the left of it. A small sized filled pouch is on top of the large pouch, near the corner. Also on top of the large pouch is an oven thermometer, a set of measuring cups and spoons, a black cloth and a water pasteurization indicator.
As we strive to reduce our plastic waste, we turned to our sewists to make cloth pouches, which have taken the place of plastic bags to hold oven accessories. This addition has many side benefits: distributions are easier, because the pouches hold everything in one bag. Plus the recipient can keep the pouch, either to store the accessories or as a little coin purse.

Categories

Donate
Get Involved