October 2004 - On Wednesday, October 20th, Steve Hill and Drew Watson joined up with other transportation vendors for The Home Depot to build a new playground at a school in metro Atlanta. Each year, The Home Depot's Transportation group partners with KaBoom, a non-profit organization that specializes in playgrounds, and their own transportation vendors to build a playground in the Atlanta area. This year's project was at the Coralwood Diagnostic Center, which serves about 290 three to five-year old children, about 70% of whom have special needs.
The project consists of cleaning the school's courtyard area and fences, landscaping, playground and picnic table construction, and mulching the play areas. After a full day's work, the playground was up, the mountains of mulch had been distributed, and the play area looked great. The Home Depot hosted a dinner and reception that evening, where the vendors were entertained and the past year was reviewed.
This was an excellent opportunity for NFI and others in the transportation industry to get involved in the community and give a little bit back to those in need. There were many parents of the school children working alongside The Home Depot and transportation employees, and the kids, teachers, and parents were all very appreciative of the volunteers. As this article is being written, Steve and Dew are still sore, and busy cleaning mulch and mud out of their shoes!