A team of volunteers from the Lowe’s at 510 Quaker Lane went back to pre-school last month. It wasn’t to learn the alphabet, make animals out of Play Doh or cut out paper turkeys for Thanksgiving. But they did build things, although it wasn’t with play blocks.

The Lowe’s team selected the Westbay Children’s Center on Astral Street as their Lowe’s Heroes project. Led by Store Manager Wil Martinez, associates from throughout the store volunteered to assist in a variety of improvements including interior painting, playground work, rebuilding a storage shed, installing a decorative fence for a future reading garden, adding cabinets and countertops to the kitchen, installing storage shelving, and donating several large appliances to benefit the children and staff of the Center.

Lowe's Home Improvement embraces teamwork as a core value and a key ingredient in maintaining an engaged work force. The Lowe’s Heroes Program encourages employees in a location to team together, adopt a volunteer project with a local nonprofit organization or K–12 public school and make a difference.

Martinez collaborated with Center Director Deborah Rapa to determine the needs and plans.

“We look forward to continuing to volunteer at the Westbay Children’s Center in the future; they have a lot of great plans and we hope to help them achieve their vision. I could not be more proud of the associates at Quaker Lane Lowe’s,” he said.

Paul Salera said the project was completed between a Thursday and Sunday in November. He pointed out that many of the projects they accomplished such as the replacement of cabinets and appliances wouldn’t have been eligible for traditional grant funding. He estimated it would have cost Westbay $15,000 to have done all the work.

“It’s phenomenal that a local company wants to partner with a non-profit. These people volunteered their time. They just did it to help the local community,” he said.