Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael Shehata.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Founder of Therapeutic Builds. Back in the summer of 2009, I was completing my volunteer hours at a pediatric clinic in order to apply to Occupational Therapy school. For those that don’t know, Occupational Therapy is a form of therapy that works with all ages across the life span to assist them in living as independent as possible whether their form of disability is due to an injury, illness or developmental delay. So after a few weeks into volunteering, I noted all kinds of wooden made products for kids used by the clinic to treat fine motor delays. Having grown up around tools and exposed to the hobby life of a handyman, my dad, I came up with an idea to one day make my own custom wooden products to improve the life skills either lost or never gained due to a disability using my training as a future occupational therapist. Come summer 2013, one year in my career, I finally got the chance to gather up some power tools, some scrap wood and started making whatever came to mind using my Ikea study desk as a workbench in my dad’s backyard. I was immediately hooked on making things that had the potential to improve the lives of others.
Everyday since, I submerged myself into the wealth of technological knowledge available to us today and made it a goal to make what I called, Therapeutic Builds a reality. Throughout the years, one idea led to another, doors closed while doors opened, constant sleepless nights happened, constant community collaborations began, self-education was a must, and here we are today sharing our story. My wife, Randa, who is part of the team, advised me to switch from the idea of making wooden products to making woodworking project kits for all ages and abilities that could be assembled during workshops using universal design principles. The project kits would be pre-cut, sanded, painted and glued which would suffice in their assembly by students but also teach them basic woodworking skills. Using occupational therapy as a foundation, the purpose of the kits and workshops were to address physical and mental health needs. After piloting some workshops throughout the community, we set off to officially launch February 2020 to run an ETSY shop and community workshops wherever we could. That launch however was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
While everything was on hold, we watched a charity organization on Facebook go viral. Operating under the name of Woodworking with a Purpose, Founder Nate Evans led a city-wide effort to build desks for kids in Iowa who were distance learning. After some research, turns out, Nate’s organization was fiscally sponsored by CORE Foundation, a non-profit organization that supports charitable projects and helps non-profit startups. One year following the pandemic, we applied for a sponsorship and got approved to operate as a 501(c)3 through CORE Foundation doing business as Therapeutic Builds. So as of today, we are currently raising money to fund and donate our unique custom woodworking project kits to specialized populations with various physical and mental health needs designed and tested by yours truly. Our mission is to heal, enable, and inspire all generations and abilities one build at a time. In the near future, we plan to sell our woodworking project kits to the public, run workshops again, and make custom home décor and furniture that will help fund the project kits we would like to donate.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The biggest challenge I can say is the balance of time. I graduated in 2012 from occupational therapy school, worked full-time since got married in 2013, had our firstborn 2015, became a full-time dad, had our second born in 2019 and lived out of an apartment until we were blessed with a house in 2019 which provided a dedicated shop space. My family was and always will be a priority over being a workaholic unless push comes to shove. Living out of an apartment was not easy because I had minimal access, let alone minimal shop time at my dad’s house and renting shop space was not an option. All while starting a new family and fresh in my career, I was also learning about starting a business, learning about woodwork and how to use tools. Sure, I was exposed to tools while growing up, but until 2013, I never actually built something. So thank you YouTube, my dad’s mentorship, and of course my wife’s full support. Even until today, time management and balance continue to be a challenge but as I read somewhere before, “you have to build a door of opportunity when there is none.” Easier said than done, but doable.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
Our journey was all God-driven. Still is. Anyone we spoke to about our future services and products welcomed it with open arms. Not only is it rewarding to be a maker and build things from wood, but how more amazing is it that we are able to take the basics of the craft to specialized populations that will never be able to access it for numerous reasons. Through the power of social media, we reached out to tool companies that helped us by supplying tools in order to carry out our mission even before we became a fiscally sponsored non-profit through CORE Foundation. We were welcomed to pilot our workshops through the clinic I worked for in 2018, so special thanks to my site supervisor for supporting us and helping us set that up. We were also welcomed to run workshops at our church, Saint Gregory American Coptic Orthodox. Our workshops were also approved throughout the community at Lakewood Recreation Center, Cerritos Seniors Center and at Miller’s Children Hospital in Long Beach!
Looking back so far, however, the biggest three surprises were being blessed with our own shop space, COVID-19 pushing us back a whole year, and lastly connecting with CORE Foundation to help take our service to the next level God willing. With all that being said, thank you for opportunity to share our story with you through VoyageLA. We hope we inspired you to never give up on an idea no matter how difficult the challenge is. Mind you, Therapeutic Builds still has many unknown challenges to face as does any business built from the ground up, but we are willing to face it. Have faith, stay mentally strong, and work hard my friends. If interested, please contact us, and check out our website to see the many ways you can help others with a service that is nonexistent. Any donations will proceed to fund kits at this time to make and donate to children with special needs, hospitalized children, and even adults with various physical and mental health needs. God bless and thank you!
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: www.therapeuticbuilds.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therapeuticbuilds/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/therapeuticbuilds/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwmchztjV_oiAyiyhvu6-pw
- Other: www.corefoundation.org
