After hearing good things about the Cancer Support Center from one of his customers and an employee whose mother attends programs there, Johnny Avila, manager of Home Depot in Homewood, decided to return the favor.
Avila and a group of Home Depot employees recently spent a day sprucing up landscaping and flooring at the Cancer Support Center’s Homewood facility, donating their time and funding from the corporate arm of the store, which pitched in a grant for nearly $9,000. The store had already given the center a $1,000 gift card to help months ago.
Avila said the day was spent “doing the right thing, building strong relationships and taking care of our people.”
“This was a good experience for each and every one of us as we take pride in helping out in the community,” Avila said.
The 40 employees who helped out were from other area stores, too, in the south suburbs and northwest Indiana.
Cancer Support Center president Sue Armato and her staff already had plans to improve the facility to make it more inviting to clients. But funding was tight.
They never expected to get gift cards and an invitation to pick out supplies at Home Depot.
The upgrade gave a corner of the parking lot some new energy with a gazebo plus outdoor furniture, carpeting, and a healing garden with planters filled with a fresh vegetable and herb garden, flowers plus a partial wall dividing it from the lot. The herbs and vegetables will be used in cooking demonstration classes and shared with participants.
On tother parts of the property, the Home Depot employees ripped out landscaping and planted “beautiful perennials that are going to brighten everybody’s day,” Armato said.
“The center just looks absolutely beautiful and will really make all of our participants feel very welcome when they come,” she said.
The volunteers also ripped out carpeting in a children’s room and installed laminate. The room needed a sturdier flooring because of the painting, drawing and other activities that go on there.
The day did get rained out, so employees plan to return to do some painting, hang new shutters and finish installing an outdoor privacy fence.
“I just feel we need these good deed stories these days,” said Armato. “It shows there’s still kindness and compassion in the world.”
Janice Neumann is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.