42: Partnering With the Home Depot Foundation to Serve U.S. Veterans With Joe Wimberley

When The Home Depot was founded in 1978, I imagine its creators had no idea how revolutionary this new “hardware store” would be for home improvement. Or that their vision of a one-stop shop for the do-it-yourselfer would come true.

Fast forward and I know you’ve been inside one yourself, searching for the right size nail or color of paint. I’ve done my own share of tracking down a friendly face in an orange vest with my latest how-to question.

Today, The Home Depot is the world’s largest home improvement retailer with more than 2,200 stores across North America. It’s even appeared on Fortune’s Most Admired list.

Perhaps that is partly attributed to its values—because right there next to creating shareholder value is the company imperative to give back. The Home Depot Foundation has even pledged to invest half a billion dollars by 2025 in serving veterans, filling the labor gap and rebuilding after natural disasters.

Joe Wimberley is on the show today to share more about the foundation’s efforts to partner with nonprofits and engage its own employees in fulfilling thousands of service projects each year. As the Senior Manager of Team Depot under The Home Depot Foundation, Joe manages the company’s employee engagement efforts in volunteerism.

These Team Depot members volunteer their time, he says, because they see it as a collective, familial mission. Afterall, some 35,000 Home Depot associates are veterans themselves.

And as you’ll hear, these skilled volunteers have partnered time and again with The Salvation Army to transform facilities for veterans into homes. To ensure our veterans know, as Joe says, that they are well-loved and cared for.

Find show notes for this episode and more at caringmagazine.org/podcast.