Photo by David Leong.
Apprentices at the Manufacture Good facility sand wood as they make cutting boards.
Quindarius Johnson was 17 years old and just out of A.H. Parker High school, preparing to move in with a few of his childhood friends, when his mother, Sherese Phillips, put her foot down.
Recognizing the dangers of a young man trying to make his way through inner-city Birmingham, she worked through Common Thread Community Church to align her son with a nonprofit called Magic City Woodworks that was started by two Hoover firefighters.
That was 2013, and the nonprofit has since changed its name to Manufacture Good, but its overriding mission is still the same: providing a refuge for young men needing direction at an early age.
The faith-based organization started by Hoover firefighters Tim Lawson and Lawrence Sheffield builds custom furniture, and those working apprenticeships are paid $15 per hour. Apprentices are guaranteed 480 hours of hands-on experience during their 12-week stint with the nonprofit.
Photo by David Leong
Executive Director Tim Lawson (second from left) trains apprentices.
The business model worked so well that it outgrew Lawson’s one-car garage in Bluff Park after just a year. He and Sheffield moved their operation into a spacious commercial warehouse in Birmingham that was donated to them by friends and supporters. Today, they offer woodworking apprenticeships like the one worked by Johnson to at least 24 young men per year — with plans for future growth.
“At some point, Lawrence and I started looking around the Hoover community and seeing a lot of sadness, a lot of godlessness,” Lawson said. “We’re both Christian men, and we felt like there had to be a way for us to give back.”
Lawson said they were guided by the Bible passage Matthew 4:19, which says, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” In almost 14 years, they’ve helped hundreds enter the workforce with the motto “Train, equip, invest.”
Though many see the nonprofit only as a so-called “second-chance” organization for young men who have been in prison or in trouble with the law or addicted to alcohol or drugs, Lawson said it’s open to anyone seeking guidance on their path.
Photo by David Leong
Apprentices and workers pose at Manufacture Good.
“We do receive referrals from the judicial system, and we’ve helped plenty of people who had served time in prison or battled addiction,” Lawson said. “But we’d honestly like to change our age structure from 18-35 to 18-25. We’d like to get with these guys before they get into trouble and let them see what we have to offer — what the world has to offer.”
Even if they don’t use the specific woodworking skills they learned with Manufacture Good, the apprentices often finish the program with skills that can be applied in other areas.
“We not only teach them how to work but how to live,” Lawson said. “We teach them how to walk with Jesus [and] how to be good fathers, and lastly we teach them to have fond memories of their community.”
Johnson, who just became a Birmingham police officer at age 29, said starting out in Lawson’s garage made all the difference for him.
“It taught us a trade, for sure, but it also taught us life skills — like how to talk one-on-one with people,” Johnson said. “I use that skill in my job as a police officer every day.”
Photo by David Leong
Apprentices assemble before working.
Another graduate of the program, Cairus Dumas, said Lawson’s words still ring true for him.
“I was working as a security officer at a bus station, and I was miserable,” Dumas said. “They had us out there dressed in uniforms that made us look like the police. But we weren’t police officers, and we didn’t have the same authority officers have. People talked to us in such a way that it made me mentally tired. I knew I needed a change.”
After leaving that world behind, Dumas completed an internship with Manufacture Good. He now works for Father Nature Landscapes, enjoying every moment of his life.
“With Manufacture Good, you get to work on pieces of custom furniture from start to finish — from the time you start building it until it’s delivered,” Dumas said. “When you have to deliver a piece of furniture and look that person who ordered it in the eye, it’s a great learning experience. It teaches hard work, attention to detail and accountability.”
The sale of quality custom furniture not only gives the participants life and work skills, but it helps sustain the program financially. Manufacture Good sells firewood that is perfectly shaped and dried for home use.
“Our business offsets 50% to 60% of our operating budget,” Lawson said. “We are definitely a nonprofit receiving donations, but we’re also a reputable business.”
Lawrence said many of the apprentices don’t even have a checking account when they come to Manufacture Good. That requires paying them through CashApp or other means, but it also offers another learning opportunity.
Photo by David Leong
“That’s just one more basic life skill,” Lawson said. “Learning things like how to open a checking account, how to set up direct deposit and how to manage that account — those things are huge for pretty much everyone these days. A lot of people assume that everyone automatically knows how to do those things, but unfortunately, they don’t.”
As a faith-based organization, Manufacture Good sees to it that all apprentices read 60 chapters of the Bible during their 12-week rotations.
“When I started with them, I had just started to follow with the Lord,” Johnson said. “They made it easier for me to continue that walk, and I’m thankful for that to this day.”
Lawson hopes to someday greatly increase the number of apprenticeships the company has to offer, and that will be easier if large donations and grants keep coming. The organization recently received a $350,000 grant from Reinvest Birmingham, plus a $100,000 grant from the Hoover-based Sandlin Foundation for Kids and Kindness.
“We’ve had to grind and fight at times,” Lawson said. “But I couldn’t be more proud of what we’ve done and what we plan to do in the future.”
For information on donating or becoming one of the apprentices at Manufacture Good, visit manufacturegood.org.
