History
The St. Louis Woodworker’s Guild is a 501c3 organization that was first organized in 1984. The primary focus of the Guild is woodworking education and community service. The Guild is overseen by an executive board consisting of an elected President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer and four Directors.
The organization serves over 350 members ranging in skill from amateur to professional woodworkers in the St. Louis Metro area. The Guild hosts monthly meetings and offers educational classes and guest speakers from nationally recognized craftsmen. Our member volunteers organize various monthly programs and special events throughout the year. In addition, the Guild offers a mentoring program to its members to give one on one guidance on proper woodworking techniques and procedures. The Guild maintains a well-equipped shop for members to use for personal projects, weekend guild workshops and special events.
Goals
Education
The SLWG seeks to improve the craftsmanship of its members through monthly meetings with instructional presentations by members and outside experts.
Each year we sponsor a Superstar Weekend with a renowned expert. In the past we have hosted noted woodworkers such as Jeff Miller, Doug Stowe, Marc Adams, and Graham Blackburn, Tom McLaughlin and Logan Whitmer
The Guild has established a mentor program by pairing more experienced members with beginners to woodworking. Furthering this concept, we have setup a program where members host mini-workshops in their home or workshop to teach fellow members about a specific topic in woodworking.
Community Service
The Guild also provides service to the community through a variety of continuous and one-time programs. A toy building program distributes toys built by members to children in local area hospitals. The book box program provides hand-made boxes to under-served school children in the St. Louis area. We also perform volunteer work at the historic village in Faust Park. We have a dedicated space in the park where we have established a workshop to support renovation efforts as well as member education.
Guild Members also are able to apply and improve their skills by building furniture items for under-served members of our St. Louis community. Our partnership with Foeders Crafters of America and Home Sweet Home, provide a unique opportunity to blend woodworking with community service. A short video of the program explains this great program.
Other community service opportunities are announced regularly on the Guild’s blog, in the “Charity” category.
Visitors are welcome to attend the monthly meetings of the SLWG to learn about us first hand. Please look at the Events Calendar, Newsletters, and Member Benefits pages on this web site for more information.
The St. Louis Woodworkers Guild is an all volunteer, 501-C(3) nonprofit, tax-deductible organization. Money accumulated through donations, membership dues, at meetings through raffles and tool sales, and through tuition for workshops all go directly into supporting Guild activities in education, the shared workshop at Faust Park, community outreach, expenses for meeting-room fees, etc.