“Boys learn so much more by doing and screwing up than by just being told how to do something. I’m that way. You can tell me until you’re blue in the face, but until I can do it myself and mess it up, I won’t learn anything from it. It’s important for kids to have that opportunity in a safe environment. They want responsibility; they want to do things. Same thing at home. Instead of my boys going to after-school care, they’ve been coming to work at the auto repair shop with me. Sometimes I tell them, ‘Go clean this’, and they’re reluctant about it, but sometimes I’m like, ‘Here, take this off, put this on.’ I’m watching them, of course. I don’t want them to get hurt, and I want to make sure they do it correctly, but they’re eating that up right now. I got involved in Scouts because of my sons, and I do Automotive Maintenance and Welding badges with the kids. I know I can offer something there. There are more than a hundred merit badges that expose these kids to science, mathematics, first aid, the outdoors---just about anything you can think of. I’ve seen all kinds of boys come through, from jocks to kids who are into the nerdier stuff, and they almost always find a place. Of course we’d like to see every one of them make it all the way through the ranks to Eagle Scout, but whether they do or not, they still gain a lot of skills along the way. They come away knowing how to do things, how to lead, and how to pass their knowledge on to the younger ones. It makes a difference.”
Andrew "Norm" Alperin, Co-owner
The Shop of Memphis, Complete Foreign & Domestic Auto Repair & Sales / 1767 S Prescott
Phone: 901-743-5007
The Shop of Memphis, Complete Foreign & Domestic Auto Repair & Sales / 1767 S Prescott
Phone: 901-743-5007
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