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MUSCLE SHOALS, Ala. (AP) — Two FAME Recording Studios sat on Avalon Avenue, one a good bit smaller than the other.
Building science students from the Muscle Shoals Career Academy built a playhouse replica of the recording studio that put Muscle Shoals music on the map. The distinctive brown metal roof and the yellow and white letters fixed to the side of the real recording studio were replicated by students in the smaller version of the famous building.
"We are rebuilding a part of history," said student John Reese.
The students have taken to calling it FAME Jr.
The building is part of the Home Sweet Home fundraiser for Shoals Court Appointed Special Advocates, or CASA. Playhouses will be auctioned off to raise money for the nonprofit group for abused and neglected children.
Andrea Holt, executive director of CASA of the Shoals, said the group will auction four playhouses depicting famous Shoals landmarks May 30. Other groups are building Ivy Green, the W.C. Handy birthplace and the original Florence Fire Department.
CASA volunteers build relationships with children and work at the Department of Human Resources and within the court system to advocate for the needs of those children. The money raised through Home Sweet Home helps with recruitment and training of volunteers.
Holt said Shoals CASA does not receive tax funds.
"In our work as child advocates, we are working to build stability in that child's life," Holt said. "CASA (advocates) really are home builders, too.
"There are a lot more children in foster care today than there have been in the past, and the child welfare system as a whole is overburdened," she said. "The caseworkers and attorneys have a massive caseload, so it really benefits the child to have a person focused on that child at all times."
Building science instructor Joel Retherford drew the construction plans for FAME Jr. and guided the students through the building process.
All of the building science classes have contributed in the past two months, he said.
Home Depot partnered with the school to provide materials for the project. Its employees will add the finishing touches, like exterior paint and interior trim and flooring, before the playhouse is put on public display.
Tory Loveless, with Home Depot, said bringing the students in to build most of the project gives them experience working with different materials and tools, and also lets Home Depot be part of a fundraiser it might not otherwise have the time and human resources to take part in.
"Being part of the community is part of our philosophy at Home Depot and this is a fun project to get to do," he said.
Recreating the flat, brown tin roof was the hardest part, students said.
Trace Reynolds said using the circular saw to cut the large sheets of metal down to size for the roof was tricky because it was something he and his classmates had not previously done.
Reese programmed the computer-numeric controlled router to cut out the letters.
Records and discs hang on the walls to represent the hundreds of hits that came out of the real life FAME studios.
A junior-sized recording booth, complete with ceiling-mounted microphone and headphones, is built inside the FAME Jr. building.
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Information from: TimesDaily, http://www.timesdaily.com/
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