About Us

Working in a trade is something to be proud of.

We want to see work ethics, and creativity return to the mainstream. We want young people to know that they can work with their hands, build something cool and earn a better than living wage if they just take the opportunity to learn how tools and critical thinking can bring them to an occupation that provides gratification and a way to earn money doing something you love.

School Builds

We partner with tech schools and high schools to build a rat rod in 1 week - giving kids an opportunity to learn about the trades.

2023 SCHOOL BUILDS: Ranken Technical College - February 20 - 24, 2023 - St. Louis, MO Northwest Kansas Tech - October 9 - 13, 2023 2024 SCHOOL BUILDS: Tennessee College of Applied Technology (TCAT) - November 4 - 8, 2024 Ranken Technical College - TBD

Hands-on Shop Skills

We are living in the digital age, where technology opens the door to a wide variety of employment opportunities for future generations. Unfortunately, the advancements in technology leave a void in the workforce that has only been amplified by the widespread removal of vocational classes in high schools. The Wrenching for the Future organization is dedicated to promoting skilled labor trades, in lieu of a typical four-year college, in an effort to create more jobs for today’s youth. The harsh reality is that a degree from a four-year college often leaves the student in a tremendous amount of debt, with a high percentage of graduates still struggling to find satisfaction in their career path. Meanwhile, skilled labor trades are in high demand, offering excellent pay and other great benefits that can provide a rewarding, lifelong career. Sponsorship options are plentiful, volunteer opportunities always exist and as in the case of any non-profit, we can't achieve our mission without your support. At the end of the day, our goal is to encourage youth to participate in activities that provide hands-on trade skill opportunities in hopes that it creates a desire for a career in the automotive field or any trade for that matter. We hope you can join us on this journey to bring shop class back to America one rat rod at a time.

Our Programs

Programs to meet unique needs

The Wrenching for the Future organization works through a few different programs: --Build a Rat Rod in 1 week --After school Car Clubs or Workshops --Touch-a-tool All allowing students to learn about fabrication, mechanics, and to use hand and power tools, in addition to general problem-solving and creative thinking.

Car Club/Workshop Mentorship

A new program we created is for local mechanic shops to start clubs or workshops to teach kids about the automotive industry and give kids an opportunity to learn to use tools and work with their hands. This program can be as easy as teaching how to change oil or as difficult as building a rat rod or restoring a car. The level of difficulty will be left up to the mentor/coordinators – and they will benefit from our access to sponsor materials that are donated or other support opportunities for their local club.

Build at Rat Rod in 1 week

The cornerstone of our organization and really how it all started -- we go to a host school (high school or tech school) and over the course of a week build a rat rod (pre-1950 vehicle, original patina, variety of used/new parts) that will run, drive and stop. We accomplish this with young people from the area interested in learning to use tools and the concept of taking a junk-yard car and making it usable again. Oh and then there is the cool factor too -- at the end of the build on the last day the vehicle does a burn out! (check out our YouTube channel @wrenchingforthefuture for examples) When a 1 week school build is finished (there is typically more work to do after the initial week and it is the responsibility of the host school to complete unfinished items and use as a teaching opportunity), the vehicle is sold, auctioned or transferred through a giveaway contest to create a scholarship fund for prospective tech school students in the area where the build took place or for the host school. For each build Wrenching for the Future is in need of monetary assistance or in-kind donations to be used for supplies, donor cars, transportation and other purposes along the course of each build. There are housing needs for as many as 20 volunteer builders that work alongside the kids, along with meals and incidentals for each day. A pre-requisite for a location wanting to be a host school is either an allocation of funds of $10,000 from their budget or to find an Impact or Major Sponsor to provide the funds for this budget.

Meeting our goals/mission

We have successfully completed four builds at schools in Arizona, Missouri and Kansas. Each experience has forever altered the lives and mindsets of instructors, school boards, school principals/presidents, the students who participated and the volunteers that donated a week of their time, sweat and energy. It really takes a lot to put one of these school build events on, but in the end it is all worth it knowing one week of our time can alter the lifetime of a young person being exposed to the trades.