Post 555 grateful to Home Depot

Post 555 grateful to Home Depot

After 75 years, it became painfully obvious that the cozy and beloved headquarters of Post 555 in Midway City, Orange County, Calif., was in need of a major makeover.
The kitchen, used weekly to feed its members and for frequent fundraisers like chili cook-offs and taco nights, was in bad shape and nearly unsafe. Restroom plumbing leaked. Air conditioning was nonexistent and old windows needed replacing. The list grew, but the post budget did not; at least, not enough to cover the repairs.
Like the proverbial light bulb illuminating an idea, incoming post commander Jeanette Hayden and Lil Perez of the post’s Auxiliary remembered that the Home Depot has a history of helping veterans though its philanthropic Home Depot Foundation. Veterans organizations across the country have been helped by the foundation. Customers who show their veteran IDs are offered a 10 percent discount on purchases in any Home Depot store.
Hayden and Perez applied for a grant from the foundation in March of this year, and it was approved. Volunteers from the Home Depot, including employees and vendor specialists, and veterans and their families from the post, completed the remodel in less than three weeks.
A formal dedication was held last month at the post. Officers and members of the post presented a special “thank you” plaque to company officials in a separate ceremony recently at the Home Depot store in Westminster, Calif.
“That fact that Home Depot was willing to step up and help an organization like ours is phenomenal,” said Post Commander Jim Sewell. “Financially, there is no way we could do this by ourselves.”
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Caption: Triple Nickle members express their gratitude to the Home Depot Foundation and store employees for their generosity of time and money to help repair and remodel Post 555's headquarters. Presenting a plaque and Russ Hamby's model truck made of Home Depot material to Kade Kasner, middle, Home Depot district manager, are: Jenny Hayden, post vice commander, and Auxiliary chairwoman Kay Hamby. Also present were post members Lillian and Oscar Perez, Andy Timco and Les Goldberg, and Kathy Hoskins, Westminster Home Depot assistant manager.