Home Depot volunteers provide shade to veterans’ cemetery

A major upgrade got underway this week at the veterans’ section of Chief Tecopa Cemetery.

More than three dozen volunteers from Home Depot came together and constructed several pergolas on the grounds of the site to provide much-needed shade during special events.

The grant-funded project came about following discussions at a recent Pahrump Veterans Memorial Advisory Board meeting.

Board member Richard Goldstein said Wednesday the grant came through Pahrump’s Disabled American Veterans chapter.

“Home Depot is providing all of the materials and the labor so they are doing everything,” he said. “The grant was finally finalized about a month ago. This has been three months in the works.”

On Wednesday morning with temperatures moving towards 100 degrees, volunteers donning the trademark orange Home Depot T-shirts were taking measurements, cutting lumber and drilling screws to install the pergolas.

Mike Kline, Pahrump’s Home Depot manager, said the project is part of what’s known as Team Home Depot, a nationally recognized associate-led volunteer program.

Team Home Depot is recognized nationally as having developed and implemented the best practices for corporate volunteer programming.

Kline said every Home Depot retail store in the U.S., Canada and Mexico has a Team Home Depot program and Team Home Depot volunteers.

“We have volunteers from the Las Vegas market as well as the Pahrump store,” he said. “There are 13 Home Depot stores total. This is our first Team Home Depot event for the year. We try to do numerous projects throughout the year.”

Home Depot department supervisor Tanilla Dreeze said roughly 40 individuals volunteered to work on the project.

“This is all about giving back to the community,” she said. “The Home Depot really believes in giving back to the veteran community and making sure that they have everything that they might need. This is known as Team Home Depot.”

Goldstein, meanwhile said it’s not first time Home Depot has come to the aid of area veterans, as Team Home Depot painted the multi-purpose room, as well as constructing awning and brickwork around the veterans’ section of the cemetery.

“These are the same people who constructed the multi-purpose room here,” he said. “This project will help a great deal for any kind of event that we have out here in the future. Again, it’s all through a grant that the Disabled American Veterans received recently.”

As one good deed usually begets another, Goldstein said the DAV’s auxiliary provided lunch and refreshments for all of the volunteers.

“Pastor Tom Gilbert from Truth in Life Ministries provided the tent,” he said. “There is no lack of help because whenever we have something like this, people just step forward and help, which says a lot about our small community.”

Contact reporter Selwyn Harris at sharris@pvtimes.com