Organizational lift
<p>Hannah Paton, director of community affairs for the Guardians Foundation, works with Home Depot volunteers to assemble shelving Thursday at the organization’s thrift store warehouse in Post Falls. Home Depot provided labor as well as a $12,000 grant for improvements to the warehouse.</p>
<p>Home Depot employee Thama Bennett volunteers her time to help with the warehouse improvement project.</p>
POST FALLS — The warehouse for the Guardians Foundation nonprofit became a welcome sea of orange on Thursday.
Team Depot — an army of volunteers who work at The Home Depot stores throughout the area — converged on the nonprofit's warehouse to build shelves and perform other duties to make donations destined for the Guardians' thrift store or homeless veterans more organized.
The project, which concludes today, was made possible through a $10,000 grant from The Home Depot Foundation.
"One of the things that impressed me is that this is the gift that keeps on giving, and we're doing our part," said Sue Eckhardt, who works at The Home Depot in Coeur d'Alene and is Team Depot's captain.
Mike Shaw, founder and CEO of the Guardians Foundation and an Army veteran, said he approached Home Depot in August about helping repair a roof for a veteran.
"Sue then told me, 'Mike, that's wonderful, but we'd like to do more — a lot more," Shaw said.
Shaw said the assistance, which also includes donated tools so veterans can become trained and find jobs, is critical so the nonprofit can be good stewards of the donations it receives.
"It maximizes our potential to serve our mission (to assist homeless veterans and their families)," Shaw said.
Hannah Paton, the Guardians Foundation's director of community affairs, called the organizational lift project a "huge deal" for the nonprofit.
"This will increase the capabilities of our thrift store in Post Falls significantly," she said. "The store not only funds our transitional housing and other programs, but also provides home goods, interview and work clothes and other supplies for free directly to veterans and families in need."
The nonprofit operates a thrift store at 2600 E. Seltice Way in Post Falls. It rents a house in Sandpoint and two in Spokane to house homeless veterans. It also rented a home on Harbor Island in Post Falls for five years but is no longer doing so because of inadequate transportation to the residence, Shaw said.
"We hope to announce a new home in either Post Falls or Coeur d'Alene mid-winter," Shaw said.
Jerry Adamson, who works at the Coeur d'Alene Home Depot and is a Navy veteran, said he is pleased to assist with the improvement project.
"We owe a lot to our veterans and future veterans," he said. "They've given a tremendous amount. Anything we can do to help is fantastic."