When you hear about struggling veterans across the country receiving much-needed home renovations, it’s one company that’s often providing the assistance: The Home Depot.
For years, the home improvement store has made a commitment to helping veterans any way it can — including donating supplies and having its employees offer volunteer labor. And for the past four years, the merchant has used its Celebration of Service to rally its employees between September 11 and Veterans Day to partner with nonprofits nationwide to refurbish 1,000 homes for people who’ve served our country.
Through the program, The Home Depot employees volunteer their time for renovation projects during their days off. There’s no compensation, and despite the fact that they’re not required to participate, hundreds of workers do so each year.
Recently, five Home Depot employees joined 19 volunteers from Oregon Paralyzed Veterans of America to renovate the home of Army veteran Daniel Service in West Salem, Ore. Service left the military in 1991 after he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and since 2008, has been in a wheelchair. Volunteers repaired and painted a deck, built a portable greenhouse, replaced security lights and more for the disabled veteran.
“It’s wonderful for me to see them honor my husband, and it’s such a great thing for others to see what Home Depot is doing,” Service’s wife, Beverly, tells Capi Lynn of the Statesmen Journal. “They are volunteering their time and giving their hearts.”
Meanwhile on the opposite corner of the country, Gulf War Navy veteran Carol Semplis of South Florida was struggling to navigate the old flooring in her house after a foot infection she contracted during her service resulted in the amputation of her big toes. “I don’t have any big toes and my feet have been giving me a lot of trouble. That floor was making it worse,” she tells Oralia Ortega of CBS Miami.
This week, volunteers from the Home Depot installed new wood flooring and tile, revamped the landscaping, added a garden and painted her home.
“These veterans bravely served our country and basically this is the least we can do by giving back,” Nadene Rose, manager of the Oakland Park Home Depot, says.
Thanks to an army of busy volunteers, hundreds of veterans will receive refreshed, snug homes before winter.
MORE: When This Vet’s House Started to Crumble, Home Depot Stepped in with a $20,000 Renovation
Tag: Home Depot
This American Hero Was the Victim of a Scam, But These Volunteers are Saving the Day
After sustaining arm and leg injuries from shrapnel and a traumatic brain injury from a suicide bomb attack while in Afghanistan, veteran Everett “Alex” Haworth thought that life was on the upswing: He and his wife Mallorie closed on a house in Olmsted Township, Ohio and moved in with their baby daughter.
But unfortunately, their troubles were just beginning. Their remodeled ranch home passed its inspection, but once the family settled in, they discovered rampant mold behind the new drywall — rendering the house unlivable.
The family relocated, moving in with Mallorie’s mom, but they still had to pay the mortgage on their ruined home, a difficult proposition with Alex still in rehab and Mallorie completing her master’s degree in psychology, all the while raising their daughter.
“We put money in our house and in our attorney. We ran out of money both ways,” Mallorie told Regina Brett of the Cleveland Plain Dealer back in February. “It hurts. It’s been a few months of no hope. We’re not the kind to ask for help. We want to be the ones helping.”
But this month, a group of volunteers from the Home Depot, the Carpenters Union and members of the VFW are tearing out the damaged parts of the Haworth’s home and refurbishing it, providing new bathrooms, paint and even landscaping.
Alex tells Enrique Correa of Fox 8 Cleveland, “We are gonna have more than a home; we are gonna have our lives restored…It’s amazing and very humbling to know that people you never met a day in your life before, are coming to help you out.”
These very deserving homeowners should be able to move in by the end of October.
MORE: This Community Wants Veterans as Residents, So it’s Providing the Down Payment on New Houses
The Surprising Threat to the Honeybee
We’re a big champion of the honeybee. And who wouldn’t be: About one-fourth of the foods Americans consume are the result of bee pollination.
However, while some new plants in stores like Lowe’s, Home Depot and Orchard Supply tout themselves as bee friendly — they’ve been found to contain pesticides that kill the very same insects they claim to be buddies with.
The pesticide under suspicion is any type of neonics, including neonicotinoid. According to Scientific American, scientists, consumer groups, beekeepers and others say bee deaths are linked to neonic pesticides.
In a study released by Friends of the Earth, an international network of environmental groups, and BeeAction.org, the pesticide neonicotinoid has been linked to 51 percent of commercial nursery plant samples — meaning consumers are quite likely to pick up a plant to boost bee production in their garden only to have it kill the bees they wanted.
In a move that should definitely help the beloved honeybee, Home Depot and other U.S. companies have begun to eliminate this type of pesticide. For the plants that the pesticide has already been used on, a label will warn customers.
MORE: Landing At This Airport: Millions of Bees
Ron Jarvis, Home Depot’s vice president of merchandising/sustainability explained, “Home Depot is deeply engaged in understanding the relationship of the use of certain insecticides on our live goods and the decline in the honeybee population.”
Other stores like BJ’s Wholesale Club and other small retailers across the country are doing their part to eliminate pesticides when possible, too. They requested their vendors to provide plants without any neonics by the end of 2014, or to label them to caution consumers.
This past winter alone, the total losses of the managed honeybee colonies were at 23 percent, as noted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The problem is so serious that the USDA has provided $8 million to Midwest states to try and boost the honeybee population through added habitats. And according to Time, the White House has also issued a task force to study why the honeybees are dying and how to reverse these declines.
Despite the correlations that seem to have been found, there are still naysayers like Bayer, Monsanto and other agrichemical companies. When speaking about neonicotinoids, Bayer spokesperson Becca Hogan explained, “the fact that residues of a registered product were allegedly found in some ornamental plants does not…indicate causation for colony decline, which most experts contribute to a number of factors.”
However, the European Union seems to disagree with Bayer and others because they recently banned all neonicotinoid pesticides in an effort to save the bees abroad.
Let’s hope that the U.S. makes the same move soon. Or the days of biscuits topped with sweet honey could be a thing of the past.
DON’T MISS: This City Has Taken a Very Important Step in Protecting the Honeybee
You Won’t Believe What This Veteran Received Upon His Homecoming
After serving overseas in Afghanistan as a Marine and sustaining a serious injury, 25-year-old Christopher Holcomb recently returned to his hometown of Taylor, Michigan, to be reunited with his wife, Darcy, and their 3-year-old daughter, Veyda. Little did he know that his community had planned an extra special homecoming for the military family — emphasis on the word “home.”
Last week, the Holcomb family showed up to a house that they thought they were finalists to win through a local contest. But when they walked through the door and saw family pictures hanging on the wall, they discovered that it was theirs.
For weeks, volunteers from various organizations gathered together to get the house ready for the big reveal. The Taylor Veterans Home Program awarded the home and allowed for structural improvements, such as a new foundation, a new roof and a hot water system. Volunteers from the Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters and Millwrights handled the renovations, using funds from the federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program and donated materials from the Home Depot Foundation and its local stores. Enchanted Makeovers furnished the home and added the final touches, such as personal family photos.
MORE: This Innovative Program Found Housing for 200 Homeless Veterans in 100 Days
But the house wasn’t the only surprise in store for the Holcombs. A local construction company, Barton Malow, gave Chris something he truly needed: a good job. Through the national organization Helmets to Hardhats, Holcomb will soon begin a paid apprenticeship where he’ll be trained as a carpenter. Darcy received a closet full of new clothes, thanks to CAbi Clothing. And for his young daughter? She received a chance at a promising future, with full-ride scholarship to Schoolcraft College.
“It really feels good to have the community you grew up from since a little kid, to have the community reach out like this and help your family like this,” Holcomb told the small group gathered at the home. “It really is truly amazing, and I truly am blessed.”
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