About 100 volunteers from The Home Depot and its suppliers, working through Hands On Charlotte, are expected at Freedom Park to work on a variety of projects on Tuesday, September 13 from 8am to 4pm.

Hands On Charlotte is part of the Hands On Network, a national organization to promote volunteerism for public service projects. Because most of these volunteers work at The Home Depot, these  volunteers have especially useful skills in landscaping, woodworking, construction, etc.   Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation Department welcomes their participation to:

• Build a wood-lined gravel trail near the Nature Museum and Little Sugar Creek
• Fix and refurbish a small cascading fountain and pond
• Paint metal railings
• And replace wood to rebuild benches at the Freedom Park band shell

The Home Depot will also provide a $5,000 grant to the parks department to help pay for supplies needed to make these improvements.  These efforts are part of a Corporate Month of Service spearheaded nationwide by the Hands On Network in alliance with The Home Depot.  Nationwide this effort is expected to provide more than 300,000 volunteer hours by The Home Depot employees, working on more than 2,000 service projects this September.  Similar volunteer efforts by The Home Depot will be held in Atlanta, Austin, Birmingham, Boston, Cincinnati, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Louisville, Miami, Milwaukee, Nashville, New York City, Oakland, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Raleigh, San Antonio, San Diego, Seattle, St., Louis, Tampa, and Washington, DC.

The volunteers from Charlotte area stores of The Home Depot will gather at Freedom Park by 8am, have a brief orientation and welcoming ceremony, participate in The Home Depot Cheer ("What are we going to do? Improve everything we touch!"), then work on their projects into the late afternoon.

Freedom Park is located at 1900 East Blvd in Charlotte.  A small number of volunteers will also work  on refurbishing benches at nearby Latta Park, 601 East Park Avenue.

Lori Saylor, Volunteer Services Coordinator for Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation Department says these volunteer efforts "help improve our parks and save taxpayers money. But more important, they form meaningful partnerships that help citizens take ownership of their parks." Saylor says the parks belong to all of us, and the parks department salutes this citizen participation and involvement.