WMNTMA to Hold Annual Mainline Drive Pig Roast on Aug. 20

WESTFIELD — The Western Mass Chapter of the National Tooling & Machining Assoc. (WMNTMA) will hold its annual Mainline Drive Pig Roast on Monday, Aug. 20 from 4 to 8 p.m. at Peerless Precision Inc. in Westfield.

Annually, this event draws more than 150 people, from local legislators and business owners of the advanced-manufacturing community to supporting companies, educators, and friends and families for an evening of networking and supporting an education in advanced manufacturing.

Larry Maier, former President of the WMNTMA and Peerless Precision, came up with the idea of having a fun networking event during the summer and hosted the first Mainline Drive Pig Roast in 2006. Each year, attendance has grown.

With Maier’s passing in October 2012, the Larry A. Maier Memorial Education Fund was founded with a mission to keep alive his passion for encouraging students to pursue a career in advanced manufacturing and supporting the schools and training programs that support these career options. In November 2012, the WMNTMA board of directors voted and agreed that all profits from the annual pig roast would be matched by the chapter and put into the memorial fund to use towards scholarships and training students starting at the middle-school level.

Since the fund’s conception in 2012, donations have been made to Pathways to Prosperity at West Springfield High School; transportation for Agawam Middle School students to attend Starbase Academy in Hartford; travel expenses for multiple Pathfinder students to attend the USA Skills Competitions; show expenses for Westfield Technical Academy, Rosie Robotics, and Putnam Vocational Technical Academy to attend the BusinessWest Business & Innovation Expo to showcase the schools’ manufacturing-technology departments; 3D printer filament and an in-kind monetary donation to the STCC Manufacturing Technology department; transportation for students from Chestnut Academy to attend shop tours and a Springfield Thunderbirds game; the Greenfield Community College Foundation Manufacturing Department Fund; and sponsorships for the Asnuntuck Community College Manufacturing Technology department’s golf tournament for student scholarships, Westfield Technical Academy’s Golf Classic, and the Pathfinder Poker Run.

At this years’ pig roast, WMNTMA plans to present the West of the River Foundation and Agawam High School with a $1,000 donation for the purchase of tooling for the new manufacturing curriculum beginning in this fall.