Vince Puryear and his wife, Patrice, enjoy the annual TBA Picnic June 12 at Chesapeake City Park.
Last year, Vince Puryear was a student in the TBA Building Trades Academy. This year, he attended the TBA picnic as a valued employee of S.L Nusbaum.
With a background of working construction, Puryear enrolled in Class 182 of the BTA with hopes of finding not just a job – but a career. As a maintenance technician for nearly year, he can be found at one of several of S.L. Nusbaum’s apartment communities, taking care of HVAC equipment and other maintenance responsibilities.
Puryear was one of 14 students whose training was funded by the city of Virginia Beach, and who was placed with a member of TBA’s Tidewater Multifamily Housing Council. He is one of nearly 4,000 students who have graduated from the program and been placed in a job. You can learn more about the program here. http://www.tbaonline.org/building_trades_academy.php
With a cut in Federal funds several years ago, the program has survived through contributions from municipal governments, private foundations and individuals.
The training program recently got a boost of $25,000 from the TowneBank Foundation. It was the second such donation from Bob Aston, TowneBank CEO. The combined $50,000 from TowneBank is being used to change 12 lives.
