Bricklayers Local 1 apprentices work to beautify Monastery of St. Clare

By TIM ROWDEN
Editor

Oakville, MO – Bricklayers Local 1 apprentices donated their labor recently to build brick flower boxes in a secluded courtyard for the sisters at the Monastery of St. Clare at 200 Marycrest Dr.

Apprentice Instructor Steve Jahnsen said the bricks were already on site and Raineri Building Materials, Inc. donated the cement for the project.

“We got the materials for them and came down to put it together,” Jahnsen said.

Bob LaBeau, maintenance manager at the monastery, which is tucked away behind other developments off of busy Telegraph Road, have been trying to get the flower boxes constructed for some time, without success.

LaBeau said he reached out to Tom Maddox, program coordinator with Cement Masons Local 527, who put him in touch with the Bricklayers.

Participating in the construction were Jahnsen and fourth year apprentices Johnny Woolsey, Chad Westhoff, Jalen Buchanan and Kolton Lakamp.

The project, small and hidden from the public, but important to the sisters, is just another example of the good unions do volunteering their skills and labor for the benefit of their neighbors and betterment of their communities.