In January 2021, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Lexington resident Barry Glass learned that many kids who were attending school virtually at home didn’t have a desk. His solution? He founded Volunteer Ventures MA (VVMA) and launched the first project: Desk Mates.
Since people couldn’t gather in person to build desks, he developed desk kits which included all the parts, supplies and a video on how to build the desks. Volunteer builders would get a kit from VVMA and be able to build a desk at home. Barry partnered with homeless shelters, public schools and other human service agencies to donate these volunteer-built desks to kids in need of a study place in their home.
What once began as a small project to give back to the community has now become an established enterprise, helping kids throughout the Greater Boston area. Now, five years later, Barry and hundreds of VVMA volunteers have made and distributed over 500 desks to students in need.
“What we thought was just going to be a one-time thing really has caught the imagination of volunteers to build things, but also is fulfilling a social need that’s ongoing post-COVID,” said Barry. “We thought that as kids went back to school, there wouldn’t be a need for desks. But the truth of the matter is that kids who didn’t have a desk at home during COVID still don’t have one. So there’s still the ongoing need for desks.”
As Volunteer Ventures has grown, the organization has expanded to tackle other community needs, like wheelchair-accessible picnic tables. Barry noticed that because his mother was in a wheelchair, she couldn’t join him at a picnic table. He developed several prototypes and now has two major designs of the accessible tables that VVMA volunteers are building and distributing to public parks, recreation facilities and senior living communities. People who typically cannot access a picnic table now have full access.
While Barry has had a lot of success through Volunteer Ventures, his main challenge has been that he does not have an indoor space. Being based in New England, the team stops building in early November. However, even though there is a limited window of time, VVMA’s volunteers work hard during the good weather months to build and distribute as many desks as possible.
“The good news is—and there’s very good news—that volunteers really want to give back. Young people and families want to get involved and they love to build things, so they gravitate towards this kind of project very easily,” Barry said. “We are always welcoming new groups to work with. Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts groups built a lot of desks during the pandemic shutdown, but we’d love to continue to work with them and more groups, temple and church groups, to do the building.”
Recently, a group of students from an overnight Jewish camp volunteered at a desk-building event in Lexington. One student volunteer, Zoe, had her first experience working on this type of project. “I’ve never done anything so hands-on and manual before. I was honestly really surprised with how much fun and how simple this was because even though it seems like such a big thing, we were able to break it down and go step by step. My favorite part was definitely learning how to use the drill—that was really fun,” she said.
One of the most notable parts of being involved in this project is how rewarding the whole experience is. Not only are volunteers giving back to the community, but they are also making a big difference in people’s lives. Zoe hopes that, “they’ll be excited and they’ll be happy, but most importantly [she hopes] that they feel supported by the community and know that [people are] here to help.”
To learn more about Volunteer Ventures MA, including our service days, food-making activities and service trips, visit VolunteerVenturesMA.org or email founder Barry Glass at Barry@VolunteerVenturesMA.org.