Credit: Patrick Grego
For nearly two decades, John Roccanova has quietly turned his passion for woodworking into a powerful force for change, plying his skills to help alleviate poverty in Kenya.
This November, the longtime Ancramdale resident and his wife, Jean, will set up shop at the Irondale Schoolhouse on Millerton’s Main Street, selling handmade woodworks to raise funds for educational programs in Busia County, Kenya, where roughly 70% of the population lives in poverty.
“Even small pieces of wood, I like to make something out of,” Roccanova said recently, gesturing around his cozy Ancramdale workshop. It’s here that he shapes each item — bowls, cutting boards, candle holders, toys — out of rich walnut, mahogany, cherry and ash, finishing each piece with food-safe and child-safe coatings. His handiwork will be featured in Crafts for a Cause, a holiday sale in Millerton that’s become a tradition for locals and supporters alike.
Roccanova’s journey began in 2004, when he and Jean, both teachers at the time, read a New York Times article detailing the struggles of overcrowded schools in Kenya. Struck by the story, they reached out to a Harvard professor mentioned in it, who connected them with a Kenyan school in need of support. “Schools were terribly overcrowded, and my wife and I were both teaching at the time,” he said. “We wanted to help in some way.”
Credit: Patrick Grego
Since then, the Roccanovas have built an enduring partnership with communities in Kenya. In 2010, they founded Grow Against Poverty, a nonprofit focused on sustainable aid. “We try to step back as much as possible to allow local ideas and local control over the assistance,” Roccanova said. Under his vision, the organization has raised more than $250,000, empowering programs that range from providing computers for classrooms to supporting menstrual health initiatives for girls.
As he reflected on his motivations, Roccanova recalled his early years in the Bronx, studying art and technology education at Lehman College and later at The City College of New York. Teaching shop for 31 years at Webutuck Central School gave him a sense of purpose that he now brings to his woodworking. To Helen Mukanda, Grow Against Poverty’s program director in Kenya, he is simply “Mr. Rocc.”
Every piece Roccanova sells — whether it’s a hand-turned salad bowl with intricate inlays or a sturdy platter — contributes directly to his nonprofits initiatives such as “Prevent Period Poverty,” “Pedal Power for Kenyan Education,” “Green Fields” and “Computers in Classrooms.” Through these programs, Grow Against Poverty has provided worked to to provide 510 bicycles to students who have to travel more than 5 miles to and from school each day,
This year’s Crafts for a Cause sale will run from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the following dates:
- Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 9 and 10
- Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 16 and 17
- Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 23 and 24
- Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, Nov. 29 and 30, and Dec. 1
To learn more about the sale or to contact John Roccanova directly, email growagainstpoverty@gmail.com, or follow @woodcrafts4acause on Instagram for photos of Roccanova’s creations and of the Kenyan students his work supports.
