Meeting the People Behind the Trade

November 2, 2026

A visit to the Plumbers Local 130 UA Training Center connected Mercy Home youth with career opportunities, mentorship, and lessons for life.

Author: Mark Schmeltzer

From its earliest days, Mercy Home has prepared young people for life beyond the safety and stability of our full-time care. Over the past century, residents learned skills that were in demand in every era, from operating printing presses and repairing shoes to maintaining automobiles and machinery.

Today, our education and career programs help young people explore a diverse range of fields that can help them build independent and fulfilling lives. Youth are encouraged to pursue interests and ambitions in hospitality, social work, law enforcement, information technology, healthcare, education, and more.

Providing exposure to a broad range of career options, including skilled trades, was the purpose of a recent visit to the Plumbers Local 130 UA Training Center, a state-of-the-art, 50,000-square-foot facility in Chicago’s West Loop that houses the union’s five-year apprenticeship program, where on-the-job training is combined with technical classroom instruction.

“Top notch,” said Trade Instructor Sandro D’Andrea of the facility.

The training center itself serves as a teaching tool. Designed as a “living classroom,” the building incorporates advanced sustainability features, including rainwater harvesting, graywater reclamation, and solar-energy systems that allow apprentices to gain hands-on experience with the kinds of water- and energy-conservation technologies they will encounter in the field.

D’Andrea led visitors through classrooms and labs that offered hands-on simulation training, where apprentices practiced work on everything from backflow preventers, water heaters, dishwashers, toilets, and drains to systems used in both commercial and residential service environments.

The center’s largest training lab featured an underground water-main installation and a life-size Chicago three-flat, allowing apprentices to hone their skills in realistic settings.

Yet for all the innovative technology on hand, it was the people our youth met who captured their attention most. Among them was instructor J.P. Blin.

“Where else are you going to find a chance to make, if you get into our program, six figures in the next five years without going to college?” Blin asked.

Blin shared his own road to the profession. “I never imagined making it out of high school,” Blin explained.

The day he graduated, his father told him there was no money for college and drove him straight to the Army recruiting station. While proud of his service, he said he would have started his career in plumbing at 18 had he been aware of the apprenticeship program. Despite the later start, he’s grateful for the generous benefits, including health, dental, and retirement.

“Nobody told me that I could be making money. I expected to be digging ditches, making nothing for the rest of my life.”

Blin also spoke candidly about another aspect of his work at the training center. In addition to teaching plumbing, he leads mental health instruction for apprentices. Drawing from his own experiences with depression and anxiety, he shared a message of encouragement for the young people on the tour.

“People didn’t get me, they thought there was something wrong with me. I’m going to tell you; there’s nothing wrong with you.”

Acknowledging some of the challenges young people often face before coming to Mercy Home, he encouraged them not to define themselves by their struggles.

“Work on what you got to work on, but don’t think that there’s something wrong with you because you’re angry or you’re said…But let’s think about what we’re going to do with it.”

Both instructors spoke about the profession’s earning potential and excellent benefits while D’Andrea addressed the growing demand for plumbers.

“The need is huge,” he said. “We can’t replace those retiring fast enough.”

About 25% of plumbers are over age 55 and nearing retirement. D’Andrea said the industry will need 550,000 additional plumbers by next year.

Meanwhile, the expected construction boom in data centers that power artificial intelligence and other new digital technologies is expected to create even more opportunities for skilled workers in the trades, including plumbers.

D’Andrea also introduced our youth to a class of first-year apprentices, many of whom were close in age to those on the tour.

One student said she loves being in the program.

“I used to have a retail job…and I love my new job.”

Another apprentice praised the benefits.

“I got into it for the health insurance,” he said. “The health insurance is fantastic.”

The final stop on the tour was a cavernous, multistory training lab where 14 apprentices stood at small workstations soldering copper pipes and fittings. Several took time to speak with our young people, demonstrate their work, and share their experiences.

“The reason I got into plumbing was because I found myself at a point where college wasn’t an option,” said one apprentice. “The rubber was meeting the road in my life, so to speak.”

Seeing plumbing as a career with opportunities for growth, he decided to apply.

“The union provided a path toward learning and being paid while you learn.”

D’Andrea hopes that the tour will convince some to consider the plumbing trade. But his message to the young people who visited was to give their all to whatever path they ultimately choose.

“Commit to it. It’s a career, it’s not just a job,” he said. “It’s a roof over your head, food on your table, and if you’re going to do it, do it because you want to do it. You have to love going to work, no matter what you do, every day, day in, day out. This is your life.”

The visit built on several recent opportunities Mercy Home has provided for youth to explore careers in skilled trades. Through our Summer Career Institute, young people have toured training centers including IBEW Local 134 and Sprinkler Fitters Local 281, among others, and participated in field trips to learn about a variety of construction and building trades.

Representatives from the Plumbers Local 130 were also among leaders from several Chicago-area labor and construction unions who met at Mercy Home earlier this year to discuss workforce development opportunities for our young people.

“A collaboration between the unions our guests represent would build pathways that lead to real skills, real jobs, and real futures for the young people who depend on us,” Fr. Scott said after that meeting in May.

That conversation, along with field trips like the visit to the plumbers’ training center, reflects a long-standing Mercy Home tradition of helping young people prepare for the future.

“Mercy Home’s mission extends beyond meeting the immediate needs of the young people in our care,” Fr. Scott said. “Our goal is to ensure that every young person leaves us with a clear and achievable path forward, whether through higher education, vocational training, or direct entry into the workforce.”

Thank you to our hosts at the Plumbers Local 130 UA Training Center for their hospitality, to Sandro D’Andrea and J.P. Blin for sharing their experiences and perspectives, and for the apprentices who took time out to give our young people a window into the training program.