Last year, I reflected on how, without God, I felt unqualified to lead this thing called Organized Kaos. As 2024 unfolded, OK continued to grow, with 54 mentors on the team this past semester, working with 107 students a 25% year-over-year increase! We also opened our fifth shop, a welding shop, in partnership with Tigercat. My human ambition wanted to carry this momentum into 2025 with the biggest year of growth yet. But God, through the wisdom of others, made it clear that we weren’t ready for that leap. Instead, we needed to strengthen our behind-the-scenes structures. This led to new goals and important staffing changes.
I’m happy to share that we’re now moving forward with greater strength and focus. We expect to meet all of our new goals by March 31st. As we head into 2025 we are already operating with a higher level of structure, which students, staff, and you with gr foundation, we’ll be ready to em opportunities in the future.
Big things are ahead for OK as we continue to serve students individually and with purpose.
With Hope & Purpose,
Shawn Stuart, Founder/Director
StudentStory
“OK has put a lot of positive on my life cuz there's been a lot of negatives. My first day at Organized Kaos was a little scary, I was a little nervous, I didn't know much about the program. The people kept me going here. I really enjoyed them making me feel like I meant something and I enjoyed working with my hands. I didn't really have lots of opportunities to do that cuz they always assumed I couldn't cuz I was a girl, but, here they didn't really care.
The first one [program] I went to was masonry or bricklaying and I got to make a chimney. I think I was the best chimney out of the three other guys. I also did a shed program, and I was the only girl in that one. I also did wood turning and I got to make a bunch of spinning tops and candle holders and I really enjoyed that program.
I moved around a bit but then Don [mentor] and I stuck, and we always did our projects together and it just never ended. It was different working with Don because working with the same person you get to learn a lot more because they get to understand you more and what you're not strong with. Don like helped me a lot with reading a tape measure and I'm still not very good but he did help me a lot. He helped me through a lot of tough times in my life and always prayed for me and it just made me feel heard, even though I wasn't heard other places.”
The shop talks always felt like it was targeting me somehow, like I almost related to almost all of them and it made me really think about what was going on and I'm not alone with it and then always knowing that God's there to listen and to help.
Since graduating Organized Kaos I've been in the welding shop for like a year and 4 months but I've been doing like quality control for most of it, but, then I finally spoke up for myself and told them I want to weld so then I started today welding permanently.
Every Thursday Don and I still chat. Don likes to ask how I'm doing and then he asks me like on a deeper level like cuz he cares. I learned a lot about him. I didn't realize he was almost 80 years old, his birthday was last week and he was surprised I remembered. Organized Kaos definitely has changed my life.”
-Carissa
Mentorship:EQUIPPING
Huddled around a table at the back of the room, three mentors put their heads together and came up with a strategy for their students. Phil, Jake, and Zach were sharing a breakfast together on the first Saturday in October, when the topic of the session, goal setting for their students, came up. And they recognized they were, in fact, all dealing with the same issue when it came to their students: keeping them engaged and focusing in on the projects. Then they started to brainstorm ideas, and this cool, cross-pollination of ideas sprang forth.
Although they were from different trades backgrounds (two are welders and one a bricklayer), they started to see a common ground. Youth ministry can sometimes feel like ‘herding cats’, strong-willed cats that love to smash things with sledge hammers. But a major principle that the three mentors came to understand was that there is always more than meets the eye with their students. One of those mentors met with his student’s parents. The other two decided to better get to know their students, and promote strategies to keep them engaged during shop times. All three chose to approach this with humility and respect, while also encouraging their students to stay engaged in the projects. Each of them set a goal for themselves to work on with their students, and they found success this semester with each of their goals. As a result, they naturally built better relationships with their students.
-Dave VK
Mentorship:DIGGINGDEEPER
At Organized Kaos, small decisions can have a huge impact!
Zach, one of our welders, was working with a student who was a little afraid of the sparks and heat from the welders and grinders. Sparks created by the welder and grinder can burn and melt clothes. However, both tools are safe if used appropriately, and Zach knew that his first job was to help his student gain confidence. In order to do that, he needed to learn more about his student. Zach went out for coffee with his student's dad, and he learned that the student just needed to ease into it. The student’s dad even offered to help with showing his son how safe the grinder is. From the discussion he had with the parent, Zach was able to create a dedicated strategy to ease the student into using the tools, make him feel safe, and help that student progress in their welding skills. By taking the time to dig down deeper, Zach found out more about his student, built trust, and discovered ways to get that student engaged. In fact, the student is confidently welding beads, and he even jumps right in to grind down the tables to clean at the end of the night.
Being a mentor is a delicate balance between making a student feel comfortable and pushing their limits to grow, and there are countless stories of mentors taking steps to engage their students in safe ways to help them grow.
We are so humbled and thankful for each OK mentor.
OKConstruction
In July, we began our 8-week OK Construction program for the third year. Mentors, Shawn Henderson and Marco Habib, paired up with four students Owen, Asher, Ben, and Mitchell—to take on real jobs in the real world, which involved the construction of fences and decks.
The workday began with a ‘shop talk’, a devotional through the book of Acts. Then we headed to the job site. The students learned a variety of things such as installing fence posts, mixing concrete, working with different tools and many other skills. They learned the importance of making sure everything was plum, level, and square. The value of diligence and efficiency was impressed upon them daily. Together we built a handful of fences and several decks.
We enjoyed being together five days a week, getting to know each other day after day. Throughout the day we had more opportunities to revisit what we had learned during shop talk in the morning. At the end of the day, the students felt accomplished from learning much, contributing to society, and earning a day’s wages.
-Marco
STUDENTSTORY
“I heard about Organized Kaos by my sister who does classes here and my grandma informed me about the summer job you guys were offering. I never done it, it was fencing and decks, learning how to build them from basically dirt. Digging the holes, putting up the posts, nailing everything, screwing, it, learning how to use tools, learning how to measure, use the tape. I’ve learned how to read 8ths and 16ths from the tape now pretty well. I worked with Marco and Shawn (Henderson) and their teaching was really, really good.
I remember the first day we worked on a little fence just down the street from here and I didn’t know how to do anything, and just simple things like how to use a saw and they taught us, digging the holes, how to put the auger on, strapping, that was mostly what we were taught the first day. My favourite days were the days where we were just screwing everything in, because it is pretty fun just to get all screwed in, then the last days were obviously pretty nice seeing the finished product.
So I was learning about God and preaching God basically. I used to be someone who was an atheist I believe, who just didn’t believe God at all, I still kinda am like that because I done research and things but I am not going to get into that but it definitely made me think differently about how God can be real and I understand why people think that. I have read a little bit of a Bible, a few pages, it’s made more sense to me. I am not just completely, its fake, and I understand why people may believe in Him. We did shop talk for 2 months the whole summer, one in the morning, one at lunch. I remember at lunch one time Marco asked us question like, ‘what are things we could have done differently and that we did wrong’, cause in the shop talk Marco told us how nobody was perfect and how we all sin it is just common for everyone to sin. We had our little team of Asher, Mitchel, Ben, Shawn, Marco. It felt, all friends, all nice, all had conversations, like were brothers basically, it was pretty nice.
When I get my own house I definitely won’t be calling someone to do my fence or deck, I’ll be doing it on my
MOBILETRADESUNIT
Our Mobile Trades Un (MTU) has become th greatest source of dire
This year we were onc allowing us to work alo within the Grand Erie District School Board, Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic District School Board, and Six Nations schools. Students built their own toolboxes or centerpieces using different tools such as a mitre saw, band saw and drills. We were also given the opportunity to teach an Intro to Framing course to a homeschool coop group where the students built a shed.
While we are working with hundreds of students, we are thrilled to see them all so engaged as they build with excitement and purpose. After seeing the pride that students take in building their projects, it’s no wonder so many of them go on to sign up for our OK Core programs. With a list of 500+ students interested in programs.
OKCARPENTRYSUMMERCAMPWITHGEDSB
We once again were able to partner with the Grand Erie District School Board running summer camps with carpentry projects.
Brantford Collegiate Institute (Kabir) Week 1:
Kabir was a student we met at the beginning of the summer in our first camp. He expressed a bit of apprehension about the camp as he was not a ‘tool guy’. Over time through the week his nerves subsided and he was all in! He worked hard, applied himself and turned out a really great project. With every day that Kabir came to camp, his excitement grew about what was happening. He was so happy with the week (even going into school during the summer) that he signed up for more camps offered through the Grand Erie board, learning and developing more trades based skills.
OKCARPENTRYSUMMERCAMPWITHGEDSB MORE
Brantford Collegiate Institute (Logan) Week 2:
Logan was a student in one of the OK camps this summer. He has a passion for working with wood and is working towards that goal of becoming a framer in his future. He was often found helping others who needed it when he could as he was progressing well with his projects.
One of our leaders had to step away for an emergency one day, and we were in a pinch as a team. Logan stepped up and offered to lead a group through the work they were supposed to get through to get their project complete. We quickly trained him and he took off from there leading a group of students through the work that was to be done so they were not behind. It was very rewarding to work with Logan as he was able to help us out in a jam!
