The Home Depot underwrites volunteer landscaping effort at The Catholic Center -

By Tim Lilley

The Message editor

Volunteers begin installing weed-barrier landscaping fabric along the east side of the Diocese of Evansville Catholic Center and in a diamond-shaped landscaping feature adjacent to the building. Honor Flight of Southern Indiana worked with The Home Depot to secure funding and line up volunteers for the project. The diocese has provided Honor Flight with use of the Catholic Center during preparations for Honor Flight Nos. 13 and 14 from Evansville. The Message photos by Tim Lilley

Volunteers spent several hours at the Diocese of Evansville Catholic Center May 19 helping Honor Flight of Southern Indiana show gratitude for the diocese’s willingness to provide the Catholic Center as a site for Honor Flight preparations.

Sharron Lawrence, an associate at The Home Depot on the city’s west side, also serves as Vice-President of Honor Flight of Southern Indiana. She joined more than a dozen other volunteers who laid weed-barrier landscaping fabric on the east side of the Catholic Center before adding gravel along the base of the building and decorative stone to an adjacent diamond-shaped landscaping feature.

Volunteers load large bags of gravel on a tractor at the staging area near the main entrance of the Catholic Center. The tractor carried the material to the south end of the east side of the building for installation.

Sharron said, “We are very grateful to the diocese for providing us the Catholic Center as we prepared for Honor Flights 13 and 14. The Home Depot supports veterans in many different ways – including the grant we received for the materials to complete this project as a way of saying thank you.”

Sharron worked with her store manager, Derek Rickard, who secured a $9,000 grant from The Home Depot to fund the project. Volunteers from the company’s east and west Evansville locations worked at the Catholic Center to complete the effort. Joining them were members of the Honor Flight of Southern Indiana Wheelchair Committee, U.S. military veteran Harry Skinner and local high school students.

Workers level black landscaping rock that was installed in the diamond landscaping feature at the Catholic Center.

Diocese of Evansville Chancellor Dean Happe said, “It’s been our honor to partner with Honor Flight of Southern Indiana by providing facilities for their planning activities, as just a small part in helping them honor those who have served all of us and our country. We are grateful for the gracious effort of the Honor Flight Team, Home Depot, and all of the volunteers who contributed to this campus beautification project, which we would not otherwise have had the resources to complete.”

Westside Assistant Manager Brandon Bergner served as west team captain, and Eastside Customer Experience Manager Andrew Dargon served as east team captain. They worked side-by-side with their team members in completing the landscaping installation.

Impressively, volunteers completed the entire project in less than four hours.