Quick Update

What a whirlwind year it was! Ups as downs, as I’m sure everyone had. While I’ve still got a few projects left in the backlog, there is a bright light at the end of the tunnel. If any of you haven’t been able to get a hold of me, please use the “Contact” page - I’ve been having a bit of trouble with my mail server.

One of the biggest highs for Tree & Tenon last year was the Biz-M-Power grant and the Patronicity fundraising project around it. I’m incredibly thankful for the family and friends who were able to contribute, and incredibly touched by the significant number of people who contributed that I’ve never met. I was truly blown away by the amount of support, including some sizable donations that I could never have expected. All of these donations, regardless of amount, are so incredibly important to a small business like Tree & Tenon - it’s just me, which can be very daunting at times.

Over the past year, I’ve moved out of one space at the location in Lynn and into another space in the same building. Between the backlog of projects, the detritus from moving, holidays, illnesses, etc., the place is still a bit of a mess, but there is also good progress being made there as well. I have new machinery thanks to the generosity of the donors to the Patronicity campaign, and got rid of some old equipment and am excited to post photos when the place is all set up!

2023 will be a pivotal year for Tree & Tenon - the goal this year is just to have a lean, clean shop turning out furniture that people love, at a pace that exceeds expectations, and have a good flow of business.

Thanks again to everyone who helped make that happen, especially the following donors (and those of you who donated anonymously!):

• David McClung

• Matthew Perez

• My family! Dad, mom, Kyle, aunt Debbie, aunt Robbie, aunt Jessica, aunt Monica, and uncle Steve

• Extended family! George & Nan, Neil & Holly, Jon & Kristen, Susan Regis Gibson, and Michael Stromski

• Rachel Orchard

• Bill Graham

• Mike Brittan

• Margaret Richard

• Clint Kachnowski

• David Beneake

• Jill & John Shipulski

• Jenn Colton

• Kylie Grodecki

• Monica Barry

• Nathan Brackett

• Elyse Rhodin

• Colleen McKiernan

• Sarah Hoke

• Shayne Spaulding

• Judith Grossman

• Anthony Guardia

• Marjorie Johnson

• Maureen Buckley

• Sarah Delehanty

• Gil Benderly

• Robin Gibbs

• Yunieska Krug

• Ian Martin

• Jared Fernandez

• Henry Pilot

• Colleen Kennedy-Mello

• Victoria Rabbat

• Meredith Winslow

• Keith MF Kirk

• Malinda Reagan

• Kristen O’Gorman

• Timothy Jebb

• Sarah Chester

• Michael Curtis

• Jessica Barmach

• Sheena Carter

• Gabrielle Wirth

• Nicole Camba

• Sara Walsh

• Paula Church

Last but not least, I’ll be reaching out to the winners of the cutting boards soon, and will post photos when they’re made! Thanks again, and I hope you all have a fantastic year.

One week left!

I can’t believe the campaign has pretty much come and gone. At midnight on the 31st, donations will be closed. Thank you so, so much for everyone who has donated!
So I hate to ask, but just this one last time?

Please share this post, or the Patronicity page! (patronicity.com/treeandtenon)

Thanks to an incredibly gracious gift from the MA LGBT Chamber of Commerce, I am only $2000 away from reaching my goal! Currently, I will be upgrading the following:

• From a separate 6” jointer and 12” mobile planer to a 16” jointer/planer combo.

• From a 1.75HP tablesaw to a 3HP, professional cabinet table saw.

  • These two upgrades alone will save me over 100 hours a year! I can use fewer pieces of wood, and process them faster to get to the fun parts of cutting them up and putting them together into furniture.

• My current $250 Harbor Freight Tools dust collector will be swapped out with an Oneida Supercell and metal ducting - cutting down many more hours of cleaning up the shop and keeping my lungs far more safe.

• Upgraded lighting, a much better router, and other critical upgrades.

All in all, the success of this campaign will support any expansion I can handle for the next five years or more. I can focus on building the business, making nice furniture, and hopefully hiring sooner rather than later!

Thanks again, and I look forward to a “We reached the goal!” email next week. :)

- Ed

Week one is in the books!

A huge thank you to everyone who donated and made week one more successful than I could have hoped! In order to receive matching funds from the grant, I need to raise a minimum of $5k. So far, $3800+ has been donated for over 75% of the way to hitting that match and activating the grant. Very exciting! With just about six weeks to go, I feel like this may actually happen, or get close.

Built some drawers today using box joints. See below -

Stay cool out there! Part of what the grant will go toward in my shop is an AC unit. It’s been unbelievably hot doing this kind of work with very little ventilation and no AC - tons of water breaks, and thankfully my shop is a five minute drive from the ocean. Looking forward to the shop tour after the fundraising is over!

Huge news - we need your help!

We’ve been approved for a big grant! You can help out here - Patronicity link - or at the QR link above.

After applying for a grant through MGCC - the Massachusetts Growth Capital Corporation - this past March, I was approved! This grant will be life-changing. It will provide funds for upgrading the shop with new lighting and by adding an AC/dehumidifier (doing lots of heavy lifting in a stuffy, hot room with one little fan is a challenge at the best of times), and adding or upgrading shop machinery and tools, such a larger jointer/planer so I can start using wider boards, saving me tons of time. A big part of the work process is cutting and milling (making lumber flat and parallel on four sides). It takes hours and is hard physical work. A larger jointer and planer means I don’t have to cut wider boards in half and do twice as much milling. Win for the clients and for me!

One of the biggest benefits of the grant is that it will enable me to buy some critical health/safety machines and PPE. Everyone knows how tough things have been these past few years and how important it is to keep everyone safe. Working in a wood shop is dangerous no matter how careful you are. As the single owner and operator, any time I get an injury or get sick, it sets me back - no money comes in, clients’ projects are pushed back, and everyone’s stress levels go up. The professional grade dust collection and duct work, and high-end powered respirator will keep my lungs clean and healthy, and the ear protection I’ll get will keep any tinnitus to a minimum - the machines I use are loud.

The Biz-M-Power grant helps small businesses, particularly minority-owned, with their acquisition, expansion, improvement or lease of a facility, purchase or lease of equipment, or with meeting other capital needs for the business. It’s a matching grant, and they will match any successful campaign up to $20k, a critical infusion of up to $40,000 in total for small businesses.

Because MGCC is matching every donation dollar-for-dollar, any and everything you can donate would be a huge help. If you can’t help monetarily, any shares to your networks - Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc. - would go a long, long way. Plus, there are incentives!

Thank you all so much! Support like this keeps small, local businesses thriving.