News Photo by Kayla Wikaryasz ‘ On Monday, Luke Gerhart, left, and Hutch Gibbons, right, are seen standing in the Weinkauf Plumbing & Heating building in Alpena. Gibbons is seen holding the apprenticeship award that Weinkauf Plumbing & Heating was awarded on Nov. 4.

ALPENA — Weinkauf Plumbing & Heating, along with the Alcona Health Center and the Center for Competency Development, were honored earlier this month on Nov. 4 for their leadership in their respective Registered Apprenticeship Programs, according to a press release from MichiganWorks! Northeast Consortium.

Luke Gerhart and Stacy Gerhart, along with their apprentice Hutch Gibbons, attended a recognition for the award at the Otsego County Library, which followed a panel discussion aimed at encouraging more businesses to grow their own talent through apprenticeships.

Luke Gerhart told The News that their company began looking at developing apprenticeship programs three years ago with a goal to recruit more talent for their company.

“I would say in our area, we have more trouble finding skilled HVAC techs than we do plumbers,” Luke Gerhart explained.

He said that once they got connected with MichiganWorks! Northeast Consortium, they registered for a nationally recognized, Department of Labor HVAC apprenticeship program. He added that Jeremiah Johnston, Michigan Works! apprenticeship specialist, helped design and set up their program.

“There really aren’t any programs for any of these kids to go into short of going downstate or to the west side of the state,” Luke Gerhart said. “That’s where we’re hoping to give them an option to learn on the job, get paid while they’re doing it, and so they don’t have debt and all that stuff with a college program.”

Luke Gerhart and Stacy Gerhart said that Gibbons is in his first year of their inaugural HVAC apprenticeship program. He will complete three years of paid training and leave their program with a certification recognized nationally for HVAC technicians.

Stacy Gerhart added that their apprenticeship program is monitored by MichiganWorks! Northeast Consortium and they are expected to meet the criteria to which they agreed would be provided through their apprenticeship program.

Luke Gerhart and Stacy Gerhart explained that their goal with the apprenticeship program is to encourage more people to get interested in the trades and to curate a local pipeline of talent to serve the heating and plumbing needs of Northeast Michigan.

“Our biggest tagline for our company is we’re local,” Stacy Gerhart said. “The people here are local, we’re from Alpena, they’re from Alpena. That’s what we pride ourselves in is being locally owned and able to sustain 30 employees and growing.”

Stacy Gerhart said that she gets excited at the prospect of “bringing something to the community” and creating a pipeline of talent.

“That’s really what it boils down to,” Stacy Gerhart said. “We’re training our own employees, which is very important, so that our company can continue to thrive.”

Gibbons, Weinkauf Plumbing & Heating’s first HVAC apprentice, said that he left Northwestern Technological Institute’s program because he wanted to move back to Alpena where he grew up.

“For me personally, it was just more about being home,” Gibbons said.

Gibbons added that he had worked for Weinkauf Plumbing & Heating prior to attending Northwestern Technological Institute so “it was hard to even really look at going anywhere else.”

“I felt the opportunity was just best for me here,” Gibbons said.

Stacy Gerhart said that in the future she hopes to have opportunities to discuss careers in the trades with high school students that may still be considering their path in life post-high school.

“I think if we could get in front of these kids and say, ‘Just in case you didn’t think about it, here’s a profession that you’re not risking your life at … you don’t have to be able to build a rocket ship … you don’t have to be a 4.0 student.”

“A lot of us who are good at this trade would have never found that same success just in the classroom,” Gibbons added.

Luke Gerhart said that the trades, specifically heating and plumbing, are important because they serve the community and are good careers.

“There’s always going to be a need there,” Luke Gerhart said. “In Northern Michigan, we’re always going to need heat in the winter, and we’re always going to need plumbing. If there aren’t people out there to take care of those things, both installing new systems and fixing or repairing old ones, it leaves people in the area disadvantaged.”

Luke Gerhart explained that when businesses like his are understaffed, it drives up the demand and cost for their services.

“Not having enough people means longer wait times, less availability, higher costs,” Luke Gerhart added.

Kayla Wikaryasz can be reached at 989-358-5688 or kwikaryasz@TheAlpenaNews.com.