Volunteers from a Lowe’s Home Improvement store recently renovated a homeless shelter in Amarillo, Texas.
Amarillo.com reports that from June 23rd through the 25th, employees from a Lowe’s Home Improvement were hard at work repairing bathrooms and painting walls in local homeless shelter Martha’s Home. As a result of the volunteer project, three families were able to move in.
“As soon as the repairs were done, we had a family move in right away,” said Connie Garcia, Martha’s Home executive director. “We were blown away with [the volunteers’] generosity. We were just so grateful.”
The renovation work was prompted when the upstairs bathroom of the homeless shelter was out of commission.
Two other families moved into the shelter after the first one, Garcia said.
“We completed the bathroom 100%,” said Wynona Bradley, Lowe’s human resource manager. “We accomplished a huge project. I’m still amazed. I was so proud to be part of that entity.”
The volunteers remodeled the upstairs bathroom, painted the stairwells, installed new blinds, expanded the laundry room, brought a trash can for the kitchen, and revamped the hallway floors among other projects.
Kitchen remodeling projects are the second most popular improvement projects for a home, with more than two-thirds of homeowners in a recent survey indicating they remodeled their kitchens.
Outside the shelter, the volunteers planted a flower bed, relocated a grill, repaired a children’s playground, and renovated a greenhouse.
“It’s made a huge impact,” Garcia said. “[Martha’s Home] hasn’t had any major repairs in over 20 years.”
Four of Lowe’s Home Improvement employees contributed work to the renovations, and Bradley was initially concerned about how successful the project would be. His reservations, however, quickly disappeared.
“It came together so good,” she said. “Without that first day, without them coming in, there’s no way we would’ve gotten it done.”
During the project, employees from Martha’s Home provided lunch and drinks for the volunteers.
“We [strive] to create a cozy, beautiful, happy, healthy, safe atmosphere,” Garcia said. “We want to create a supportive home-life atmosphere.”