Erie Pa. Store Helps a Neighbor find Shelter from the Cold

When associates at Home Depot store 4124 in Erie, Pa., learned that a driver for local transit company wanted to get some supplies to build one of his older passengers a shelter, similar to the ones built for the local school kids, they knew there must be more to this project.

In a hand-written letter left at the store, Mark the driver explained that a local resident on his route walks down her 1000-foot driveway and sits in a folding chair to wait for the bus to arrive. The passenger insists upon waiting for the transit service outside in this chair and not up the driveway in her warm home, as waiting at her home would cause the other passengers to have to wait for her to slowly walk down the driveway to meet the bus.

The driver wanted to build this patient passenger a shelter to keep her protected from the Erie weather while she waits for the bus to arrive, and wanted to see if the Erie Home Depot could help get him some of the supplies he needed.

“I was very moved that a driver would think so much of his passengers,” said Bunky Jordan, manager of the Erie Home Depot store. “I told Mark that we are The Home Depot and we would do better than that. We have skilled associates who would build the structure for his passenger.”

Bunky asked Doug, a 3-year associate in the Erie Home Depot Lumber Department, to lead the way with the help of the store #4124 team to complete this project. Doug surveyed the site to ensure it could be sound and last for many years. They added siding and paint to protect the wood and made sure it included windows so the passenger would have light and could see the bus approaching. They also put in a bench, a door and a gravel ramp.

Doug, Bunky and the #4124 Team Depot crew volunteered to build the structure the kind transit driver had envisioned and this generous passenger is now protected from the weather during her wait.

“To me Mark is a true hero for getting us involved, because without him caring this passenger would have been left with just another chair by the road,” Bunky said.