September is Corporate Month of Service
By Kenya Vaughn
For the St. Louis American
By 8 a.m., the designated parking area for the Home Depot employee volunteers at Fairgrounds park was already full to capacity. And the army in bright orange t-shirts was eager to get down to the business of improvement.
Volunteers from The Home Depot and United Way of Greater St. Louis’ St. Louis Cares program united last week to rehabilitate Fairgrounds Park. The event was part of Corporate Month of Service, a national initiative led by Hands On Network, in alliance with The Home Depot and KaBOOM!.
But it was not the typical do-it-yourself assistance and advice offered when customers walk through Home Depot stores. Last Wednesday morning the employee volunteers were getting their hands dirty to clean up the historical park.
Before they set off on mission, Charles Brison was already lending sincere appreciation on behalf of Mayor Fracis G. Slay.
“This is what happens when people work together and people change and stand first in line to meet change,” Brison said. “You all are here to try to improve the quality of life for everyone and I applaud you of that.”
“I invite some of you to come back to this park after the work is done so that you can see how the young people can enjoy themselves from what you have helped make possible for them,” said 3rd Ward Alderman Freeman Bosley Sr. “Thank you for coming in here and doing whatever you can do.”
Harvey Seegers, president of Home Depot Direct and one of the organization’s top-ranking executives, also spoke to the crowd, but they seemed to be more of an inspiration to him than vice versa.
“I think what has been overlooked in some of the unfavorable attention about business over the last couple of years is the tremendous amount of community service that goes on from men and women like you,” said Seegers.
He announced that the month of September is part of the corporate month of community service. According to Seegers, these efforts will benefit communities across the U.S. and over 40,000 volunteers will give up their time in efforts to improve their local area.
Seegers said, “So the next time someone talks to you about business and what business does to give back to the community, remember that fact that over the next 30 days that more than 1,000 communities will be touched.”
After the kick-off ceremony, the volunteers quickly divided into teams that were responsible bench building, painting, cleaning and mulching.
By mid-day, those crisp, bright orange T-shirts that could be spotted from Natural Bridge were smeared with dirt, grime and paint, both green and black. The line was wrapped around more than twice and those happy, buzzing workers looked more like a chain gang who hadn’t eaten in days.
After only three and half hours, it was obvious where the volunteers energy had been deposited. The bleachers were bright green, like opening day for little league, and the rusty cans that had spilled over with trash were piled up and lacquered like props from the set of the musical Stomp.
For the first time, there were benches around the fishing area for seating. To the shock of organizers, the park’s extreme makeover was just about complete as they headed into lunch. All that remained was clean up and assembly of a few more benches for fishermen lounging.
Alderwoman Bennice Jones King, whose 21st Ward shares the park with the 3rd Ward, also provided words of inspiration that seemed to give the volunteers a second wind. “I am so happy to see you all out here and so moved to see that there has been such a great effort to beautify the grounds of Fairgrounds park,” King said.
“I think that everything that has been done will be received with a heartfelt appreciation, and the people will know that you have been here giving your time.”