BUFFALO N.Y. (WKBW) — On Tuesday two local builders unveiled a new place for families to enjoy. Nykell Jones and Sheddrickk Straker are the construction team leaders of this project called "Seat at the Table."
"Now when Im doing this it's making me a better man," Jones said.
Both work for theService Collaborative of Western New York. They stated how working there has been life changing.
"It means everything to me," Straker said. "I mean before I was in the Service Collaborative, I had no education and no skills and in about five to six months I was able to do a complete 180 of my life."
Jones has a three-year-old at home. He said he is doing everything he can to be there for his son due to his father being absent from his life. The collaborative keeps him on track.
"I got to be there for them everyday every step of the way. And I got to make it back home for them so they can eat," Jones said. "So I picked this job because like I was on probation and I was a bad kid. And now I changed my life around and my son sees that everyday."
Organizers said 1.4 tons of steel, two tons of wood, 10 gallons of paint, one thousand and 40 work hours and 19 team members' work went into "Seat at the Table."
The seating area is a labor of love from the Central Terminal Restoration Corporation, the Foundry and Service Collaborativecoming together to create a community space.
"They could have just bought something any where but I really think it speaks to the city of good neighbors that we want to build each other up," Executive Director at the Foundry Megan McNally said.
She said the design shadows the terminal in many ways.
"I love the parts of this design that really speaks to the central terminal. So you'll see at the ends of the tables they match the archway of the central terminal," she said. "Also it looks kind of like train tracks."
Both Jones and Straker said above all the most important part of creating "Seat at the Table" is to uplift and bring together the community.
