Thanks to The Home Depot Foundation, veterans served by Volunteers of America will have more resources to use in rebuilding their lives.
The Home Depot Foundation awarded a $100,000 grant to Volunteers of America Greater New Orleans to address the critical housing needs of homeless veterans. These funds were part of $1.795 million in grants announced for 10 Volunteers of America homeless veterans programs in eight states. “We’re proud to support the important work Volunteers of America Greater New Orleans is doing every day to help homeless and at-risk veterans,” said Gaven Gregory, Executive Director of The Home Depot Foundation.
The men and women who bravely protect our country often return home with wounds, both physical and mental, which make it difficult to return to civilian life. Volunteers of America aims to ease their transition by helping veterans find housing and jobs. The grant money will be used locally to replace the roof of our single-room occupancy facility on Canal Street. This complex will help meet the need for residential stability for the estimated 2,750 homeless veterans in our area.
“Our long-standing relationship with The Home Depot has been vital to serving veterans and their families in our community. This funding to refurbish our Canal Street permanent supportive housing facility will allow us to focus our efforts and dollars on our reintegration program, providing supportive services such as job readiness and training to homeless veterans,” said our President/CEO Jim LeBlanc.
In addition to the grants, Team Depot, The Home Depot’s associate-led volunteer force, also supports Volunteers of America affiliates. “Here in New Orleans and in cities across the country, we’re putting our dollars and the time and talents of our Team Depot volunteers to work toward our commitment to help improve the homes and lives of our nation’s veterans,” stated Gregory.
Team Depot volunteers made a difference at our Gayoso transitional housing site last month. Twenty volunteers from seven New Orleans-district Home Depot stores painted the walls and trim of the Gayoso transitional housing unit which was damaged by smoke from a kitchen fire.
Team Depot not only donated the labor and materials such as brushes, rollers, ladders and drop clothes, they enlisted the help of their vendor to donate 22 gallons of Glidden paint and additional volunteers.