Meet Kelly, Ali, & Chris | Atlanta Wood Foundation – Nonprofit Sawmill

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kelly, Ali, & Chris and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kelly, Ali, &, maybe we can start at the very start – the idea – how did you come up with the idea for your business?
The idea for the Atlanta Wood Foundation came about during the waiting process of getting our Woodmizer Sawmill. Ali and I (Kelly) own a small woodworking business, FurnishingsByHand, and as wood prices got insanley expensize during Covid, we thought, we should get a mill and mill our own wood. So we ordered an LT15 Wide from Woodmizer in December of 2020. Like all things Covid, it took over 7 months to receive it. During that 7 months, we reached out to Chris, a coworker of Ali’s, about starting a portable milling service business with us. Several ideas were tossed around, and starting a local sawmill is what seemed most logical. Chris came up with the Nonprofit part, thinking it would give tree service companies an incentive to donate logs to us. We thought this would be beneficial for two reasons, one to keep them out of the landfill and city dump, and two, so we wouldn’t have to search for and purchase them. We have been working mostly with homeowners that donate their trees to us. They get a tax credit and keep their tree out of the local landfill. We mill the logs, kiln dry them and sell the wood to local woodworkers, keeping it in the local economy.


Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
What sets us apart from other GA sawmills is the nonprofit aspect. The homeowners that have donated their trees to us were so happy to know that their tree(s) would live on in new forms at the hands of local woodworkers. Several have requested to be informed when their logs are out of the kiln, so they can buy some of it back to make something for their home with it. So many people are connected to the trees around their homes and hate to see them have to come down or fall from a storm. It gives them peace of mind and the heart to know it’s not going to waste. That’s what I’m most excited about what we do. Seeing the trees come full circle. We have a page on our website that shows a number of our donated trees from tree to the table, bench, cutting board, that it is now. We can’t save every tree, but it makes us happy to save the ones we can. We are still new, only a little over a year into it. It has not been easy, it’s a very slow growth, but it is rewarding to see growth happening. We need the word to keep spreading about us, so more woodworkers, contractors, and DIYers can find us and come buy wood from the Metro Atlanta area and create something beautiful with it.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
There are so many cool pockets of ATL, and SO much good food! I would take them for tea at The Garden Room after visiting the botanical gardens for a full day of floral beauty. Checking out the current exhibitions at the High, MOCA GA, and the row of galleries on Miami Circle like Mason Fine Art and Marcia Wood Gallery, are a must. I was an Art Marketing major in college, so visiting these locations fuels the creative side. Wings and Lobster Nachos at Padriac’s in Vinings are the absolute BEST! Hang out on the roof at Ponce City Market, and explore all the great restaurants and shops inside. Walk the Belt Line and either have pizza at Nina and Rafi’s, or burritos at Bell Street. Brunch at Homegrown, our neighbor from the AWF warehouse. So delicious. There is no shortage of good food in Atlanta.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
We are extremely grateful for our families and friends that have given us an immense amount of support on this journey! They gave us encouragement, helped spread the word of the Foundation, made monetary donations, volunteered their time, and purchased shirts to help us along the way. We have to give special shout outs to a few folks like, Catherine Wingfield, who did an amazing job in taking our vision for the logo and knocking it out of the park! Jason Valentine for his photography skills. Larry Fitzgerald with Superior Cabinetry & Millwork for his help with planing and sanding huge slabs for us and our customers. We couldn’t do it without them! We have met a lot of great local woodworkers, like Eli Dickerson, Ryan Clark, and our neighbors, brothers Mike and Joey Scialabba, that have helped spread the word to both tree donors and other woodworkers to come in and buy wood. We are incredibly grateful for the Atlanta woodworker community!

Website: www.AtlantaWoodFoundation.org

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/atlantawoodfoundation/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AtlantaWoodFoundation

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@atlantawoodfoundation

Image Credits
The cover of the Our Town DeKalb was taken by Lizbeth Dison.