PORT TOWNSEND — An empty gas station is being transformed into an alternative energy center that includes a place for young people to gather and learn a trade.
The Senergy Center, at 1531 W.Sims Way at the former site of Houston Motors, will include a showplace for GreenPods, compact, energy-efficient homes manufactured in the Port Townsend area with designs that use modular building construction methods and structurally insulated panels.
The site already is headquarters for Labor Leaders, a recently opened landscaping and labor service that trains and employs young people.
The Senergy Center, which is owned by Ann Raab, will be a retail outlet for energy-efficient products, as well as display GreenPods, which are produced by Raab’s business, GreenPod Development of Port Townsend.
An April 27 grand opening is planned, with details to be provided later.
Two GreenPods already have been installed on the site.
Raab said she hopes to build two more.
The alternative homes will not only be on display, but also will be used by guest vendors to sell their wares in a variety of categories.
If this resembles a farmers market, Labor Leaders owner Jacob Talamante is inspired by another local institution.
“I’d like to see this become like The Boiler Room,” Talamante said, referring to downtown’s youth haven.
“People will come here to learn and work, but they will also come here when they are not working to socialize,” he said.
The businesses will be connected.
Raab will use the site to market a new line of inexpensive GreenPods, with the option of using Talamante’s crew for their assembly.
Labor Leaders had its seed in Talamante’s childhood, when his father recruited him and his three brothers in a landscaping business called Talaboys.
“We did a lot of landscaping and small jobs for people in the neighborhood,” said Talamante, 32.
“We learned how to use tools, and it kept us out of trouble, and it taught us ethics and responsibility.”
Labor Leaders has about 12 people it can draw upon to take on tasks, but a crew is usually about four people, Talamante said.
In the new location, GreenPods takes over the parking lot, and the Senergy space will be the retail part of the gas station, while Labor Leaders is based in the garage.
“Kids will be able to come in and learn all kinds of skills,” Talamante said.
“We will have people teaching how to garden and repair machines, which are skills they can use.
“There is this idea that kids only want to sit around and play video games,” he added.
“I’ve found that, while they do like games, they also are interested in gardening, learning to grow their own food so they can eat well.”
Learning how to change spark plugs and troubleshoot an engine are marketable skills that also give people a sense of accomplishment, Talamante said.
He said he is looking for young people to participate and is open to any applications.
“We are looking for kids who are already motivated and are willing and able to do manual labor and understand that hard work goes beyond just pulling weeds,” he said.
“We teach them to use tools which are the extension of their abilities, which is true whether you are a landscaper or a doctor.”
“Learning how to use tools gave me a sense of empowerment,” said Scott L’Heureux of Seattle, who was working on Tuesday’s crew.
“At the end of the day, I looked at the finished job and could say, ‘Hey, I did this with my own hands.’”
In addition to workers, Talamante is looking for volunteers to teach skills as well as donated tools in any condition.
For more information, visit www.laborleadersnw.org or phone 360-774-0469.
Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
