Home Depot : Team Depot Hits the Road

April 18, 2018

Each year, thousands of Home Depot associates dedicate their days off to join Team Depot, the company's associate-led volunteer force, and give back in the communities where they live and work.

In honor of National Volunteer Week (April 15 - 21), we are celebrating volunteerism through the eyes of the associates who make Team Depot possible. Follow @TeamDepot's Instagram Stories to come along with us as we visit five projects in five days.

Tuesday, April 17 - Indianapolis, IN

A 60-year-old veteran is finally coming home today after years of being homeless. More than 70 Team Depot volunteers joined forces with Volunteers of America to make critical repairs and renovations around the house where Michael Malone grew up, and recently inherited from his mother. The final touch, a proud American flag raised high in the front yard.

'If I turn the corner and see a flag flying, I know I'll be home then,' says Michael as he stares up at the red, white and blue. 'My daughter was born on the 4th of July, so each time I see the flag, I think of her.'

Michael served in the Air Force from 1976 to 1980 and the Air Reserves from 1981 to 1996. After the devastating loss of his daughter in a car accident during her first year of college, he lost his motivation and purpose, falling on hard times and living in the streets.

Sadly, Michael is one of more than 40,000 homeless veterans in America. The Home Depot Foundation has committed a quarter of a billion dollars by 2020 to help diminish this unacceptable statistic. Now, he can return to his home and become self-sufficient again as he ages in place.