A free garage in Oceano that teaches teens skills in trades is on the verge of running out of money. Organizers say the program is down to its last $200 and they’re asking the community for help.
Lucas Sanders is from Atascadero. He was dropped off at the garage on Saturday morning to work on his welding skills.
“I think it's awesome because sometimes it can be hard to find kids that are interested in the same thing, and this kind of brings us all together," Sanders said.
"Their Place" is a nonprofit that teaches teens and young adults welding, mechanics and other trade skills. The garage serves as a place for kids to connect with people experienced in hands-on fields.
Jim Bergman is the founder of "Their Place."
“Not everyone has a garage for tools and even someone who could help them learn," Bergman said. "We attract a lot of really good mentors, people who are probably retired now and but they want to come and they want to pass on 40 years of knowledge, working knowledge, to young people.”
“It's something different," Sanders said. "I really enjoy it because of, like, all the different things that you can do here. I feel like anyone can, like, find their place here.”
Bergman said creating the program was a dream he had for 15 years. But after what he said has been about a year in operation, the nonprofit hit a financial snag.
“You need two things to run a great nonprofit: Imagination and Money," Bergman said. "We got a lot of imagination here. We were down to, believe it or not, $200 of cash.”
Without more money, Bergman said the garage might need to temporarily close, so he posted on the organization's Facebook page on Wednesday, asking for donations.
Since then, he said the support has been pouring in. The garage now has enough funding to cover about a year of projects.
“I think it's awesome and it makes me feel really happy that like, people like, understood what the situation that we were in and they came out and helped," Sanders said.
