Okemos Community Education Director Dr. John Zappala (far right, back row) joins preschoolers, parents and
teachers, as well as volunteers from Home Depot, to help create an outdoor nature center for students.

Home Depot is the place to go when you’re looking to upgrade your kitchen cabinets, fix a broken washer or restore your garden to a peaceful place where the landscape becomes an imagination wonderland. Though the store may be your one-stop-shop for home repair, Home Depot understands the importance of giving back to the community, especially when it involves children.

Since the first store’s opening in 1979, giving back has been a fundamental value of Home Depot and its associates.
Okemos School’s Central Elementary was able to see this generosity first-hand in June as Home Depot team members rallied with parents and students to create a “Nature Study Center” outside a classroom of four-year-olds.

As reported by Okemos Community Education Director John Zappala in the Okemos Towne Courier, 20 Okemos Home Depot employees, including Store Manager Gary Malak, met outside of pre-school teacher Cheryl Field’s classroom to build a  nature center. About 15 parents joined the team and were eager to get working, building flower boxes, a sandbox, footbath, flower and shrub bed, picnic table and shed to store the equipment.

“Home Depot donated all these items … and their employees volunteered their time,” Zappala wrote. The items were a combined worth of more than $2,500. “We couldn’t have done it without their generous support,” he later said.

 “We’ve established a real good relationship with Okemos Public Schools. We’re involved in many schools in the area and with the community,” Malak said, adding that Home Depot has helped with gardening and environmental projects throughout the community.