Polytech students help spruce up America’s Grow-A-Row’s pickup truck
A FRESH COAT OF PAINT — Owen Boyle, a senior from North Hunterdon and a resident of Bethlehem Township, puts the finishing touches on the Grow-A-Row pickup truck in the Polytech school’s paint bay. He plans on attending Penn Tech this fall. In the background is Sean Ortega, a Delaware Valley Regional High School senior from Kingwood Township.
With some technical autobody work instruction that included sanding, filling, dent repair and rust removal, the Autobody Restoration and Repair Polytech students are finishing the new paint job on a 1994 Extended Cab Chevy pickup that was donated by Mancini’s Landscaping to the America’s Grow-a-Row organization for use this spring.
The non-profit organization, under the lead of Hunterdon County resident Chip Paillex, fights local hunger by harvesting and donating local farm produce to local food pantries. Spencer Goldman, instructor for the Polytech program, was approached by the organization in the hopes that his students could help refurbish the pickup in desperate need of repair.
The students have taken the project as far as they can with the funding provided through Learn and Serve America grant funds awarded to the school last year. The vehicle still requires items that neither America’s Grow-a-Row or Polytech can purchase; specifically a new windshield, two new windshield wipers, four tires (size lt265/75 r 16 m+s), front and rear shock absorbers, two rear brake wheel cylinders and a Hurcliner paint kit for an 8-foot pickup bed. It is the hope of both organizations that community donors can be found to help them complete the project.
According to Goldman, the students were extremely conservative in their purchases for this project. In addition to replacing fenders, panels and doors, the students also built a bumper. ”It would be a shame to have taken it this far without being able to use it as planned,” said Goldman. “The students have worked over six months on it and they really want to see the vehicle ready to go. America’s Grow-a-Row needs this to help the less fortunate in our community.”
For more information about the project and donations, contact Goldman at 908-806-3855, ext. 15.
Thank you so much to this amazing crew for their hard work on our truck, donated to us
