Rolling Up our Sleeves in Your Town

This September Team Depot is celebrating The Home Depot’s 30-year anniversary by completing 90 service projects in 30 days such as neighborhood tree plantings, Habitat for Humanity builds, community center refurbishments, children’s garden plantings and more.

At The Home Depot we have a strong sense of community, led by the individual efforts and ideas of our associates. From the beginning, the folks who work in our stores, distribution centers and support buildings have stepped forward to share their handy skills and generous hearts with their communities. We formed an associate volunteer force called Team Depot to do our part to improve the places where we work and live – and to live our core value of giving back.

“Every day our amazing associates work on community projects across the country, whether they are building playgrounds or homes, planting trees, restoring parks, or assisting in rebuilding efforts after a disaster,” said Kelly Caffarelli, president of The Home Depot Foundation. “Celebration of Service is a moment in time when we can collectively recognize the great community work our associates are involved in all year long.”

Despite the challenging economy, The Home Depot has not wavered in its dedication to providing the resources for our associates to improve our communities. Team Depot provides an opportunity for every associate to roll up their sleeves and use their time and talents to make a difference. Together we can keep our rich tradition of volunteerism and service flowing throughout the Company and the nation.

A little Rain Never Stopped Us
Earlier this month, associates from stores around Asheville, N.C. rallied together to plant trees and revitalize a neighborhood. Despite a little afternoon rain, Team Depot volunteers completed their mission, planting more than 100 trees and shrubs around the Reed Recreation Center and within the French Broad neighborhood.

In addition to the weather, the group overcame the challenge of the district geography – associates came not only from the two local stores, but from stores in three different states! Those coming from Store 4658 in Bristol, Va., traveled 100 miles each way.

“Sometimes I am amazed at the support we provide to the communities in our district. Then, I stop for a moment and realize … it’s our associates who are amazing!” said Team Depot Captain and Human Resources Manager Randy Jones.

Home Depot Canada Donates more than 20,000 Hours
I want to take a moment to recognize the terrific efforts in Canada, where associates will donate more than 20,000 volunteer hours to many exciting projects in communities from coast to coast.

The community of Pointe Claire, Quebec, was the recipient of the first playground of the year from The Home Depot Canada Foundation. Led by Eric Berthiaume, Store Manager of Store 7266, and Assistant Store Manager Camille Maher, Team Depot volunteers built a playground for a French-speaking public school that serves local and immigrant families on a tight income.

On Sept. 3, more than 125 associates and 80 community volunteers rolled up their sleeves to make the playground a huge success. Steven Bradley, District Manager and board member of The Home Depot Canada Foundation, believes that playground builds are a great example of our commitment to building sustainable communities. 

“As we learned, the teachers at L’Ecole Saint Louis believe that children who are busy playing are also busy creating lasting bonds. The students at this school previously had no engaging play equipment to inspire their imaginations and to encourage fitness through play,” Steven said. “With their new playground, they will be able to accomplish all of these things, and it also will be a great source of pride for both the children and the community it supports.”

For more photos and details about our September projects, visit The Home Depot on Facebook or homedepotfoundation.org/cos.html.

Read about more Celebration of Service projects this month:

Grand Haven, Michigan
Volunteers Help Downtown Business After Fire

Poughkeepsie, New York
Volunteers Help get Walkway Prepped for October Debut

Birch Bay, Washington
Birch Bay Family Finds New Home and Friends

Binghampton, New York
Newman House Spruce Up

Nashua, Canada
Bronstein Apartments gets New Park with Help from Volunteers

Wilmington, Deleware
‘Team Depot’ Pitches in at Center

Pittsburgh, Pennslyvania
Beautification, Cleanup Campaign Readies Pittsburgh for Arrival of World Leaders

San Ramon, California
Volunteers Ready to Clean, Paint, Haul and Sweep for those Needing Help