The project took shape slowly.

We needed insurance, safety protocols, tool storage, volunteer screening, and a realistic budget.

A charitable foundation did not become useful merely because someone wealthy signed a check.

I insisted we build it the way we built bridges: with plans someone else could inspect and maintain.

At the first workshop, I met a nineteen-year-old named Luis who asked whether it was embarrassing to start with no experience.

I showed him the scars on my hands and told him about my first job carrying lumber in heat that seemed to rise directly out of the pavement.