The desks he made were kid-size, simple and
inexpensive, fashioned from plywood with a
hutch for workbooks and papers. But they did
the trick.
“I was like, you know what, I built these desks for
like $20,” Couch said. “Maybe I can show other
people how to do it. So I made a quick YouTube
video” to guide fellow parents in Desk-Making 101.
A grocery store saw it online and offered to
provide materials if he would build more.
Managers contacted local school officials to help
identify those in need. From the initial batch of a
couple dozen, plans quickly ramped up to build
at least 50 more, and on a recent day he was
sawing and sanding with a driveway full of more
than a dozen desks
A single sheet of plywood, 4 feet by 8 feet, yields
four desks. By now Couch is so practiced, he can
knock one out in just about 15 minutes.
Neighbors stopped by to shake his hand. He’s
gotten thank-you messages and pictures from
parents who said their kids were “doing better
and focusing more because they have their own
space now.”
Like Couch, Marcus Holley of Omaha, Nebraska,
started out making desks for his own children.
Hardly a carpenter, the father of eight searched
online and found a simple design for desks that
cost about $24 to build.
As he began making more for others and the
price of wood increased, Holley launched an
online fundraiser so the desks could be free
to families. Initially a donor ponied up $1,000,
and after a local station ran a story about his
initiative, donations reached some $8,000.
Image: Jessica Berrellez