Students, store workers combine their efforts

A computer table and new tile floor were only the outward signs of the building going on between Columbia Falls High School students and The Home Depot this week.

What really was being built was a better community and strong relationships.

Teacher Linda Hall, aide Cheryl Forke and about 35 students who receive services through the high school's Special Education department worked side-by-side with an all-volunteer crew of store employees on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

They converted a dingy bus-drivers' break room into a classroom.

They did it on a $500 budget - footed by The Home Depot through its Team Depot program. The corporate grant was generously salted with extras such as window blinds and ceiling tiles, thanks to the support of store managers who pitched in on the project.

"Yesterday was so positive for all our employees," Charlie Stafford said on Wednesday morning. He's the Team Depot representative for the Kalispell store. "All of them are volunteer. They were very excited to be doing this."

"I was just hoping for fresh paint and a new floor," Hall said. "If I got that, I would have been happy. But they added the ceiling tiles and computer table and reframed and painted the bulletin board and put up new blinds.

"I'm sure before the day's out, I'll have a new list of things they're throwing in." Hall just shook her head in amazement.

It all started this fall when Principal Terri Steglich recognized that, although Special Education teacher Hall probably could continue hauling her teaching materials from room to room to work with her students, the situation was not ideal.

In a search for a permanent space, Steglich landed on the high school annex. The annex houses the bus barn, art room and a couple of other classes as well as a room that, over the years, had metamorphosed from a copy center to the bus drivers' break room.

If that nook were to become useful class space, some computer space and bulletin boards would have to come in and the worn brown carpet, marred walls and grimy ceiling tiles would have to go.

Steglich figured maintenance employees could have it freshened up and ready for occupation by the first of the year.

But Hall's a little impatient - and she saw a prime opportunity for "her kids."

She got together with Forke, the school's job coach who lines up job training and job shadow opportunities for the Special Education students. They started arranging for the students to take a Home Depot class on how to do an interior paint job.

One suggestion led to another, and before long Hall was working with the store's flooring department.

"But then Amy (Larson) said I should talk to Charlie, and Charlie said, 'Let's see what we can do,'" Hall said.

As it turned out, they could do a lot.

Stafford explained the project at an employees' meeting, and put out the signup sheet. The response was great, with about 35 employees signing up throughout the three days.

They worked side by side with the students, ripping up the old carpet and showing them how to prepare the floor and lay the new tile, texturing the walls and rolling on new paint, measuring and cutting and nailing together boards for a new computer table.

"Some of the kids got to eat lunch with the Home Depot managers," Hall added. "That was a real good experience."

Behavior problems evaporated over the two days. One boy who normally recoils when touched allowed a Home Depot worker to show him how to use a paint roller, hand over hand, before carrying out the job himself.

Enthusiasm for their work was at a peak. Confidence soared along with the new knowledge for specific job skills.

"I hope to keep our relationship going," she said, so some of the students could job shadow or apprentice with a worker.

"This gives us a chance to show our community that we are here to give something, not just to take," Stafford said, speaking for Home Depot's part in the equation.

As a private building contractor and active community volunteer on his own, Stafford was a natural choice to head up Team Depot's forays to give a hand and a hammer to Habitat for Humanity, United Way, Northwest Montana Human Resources and dozens of other community-building projects across the valley.

Connections made between the store employees and the special education students this week carried a value far beyond lumber and paint.

"It lets our employees know that what they do out here in the community has meaning," Stafford said. "I got nothing but positive feedback. They'd ask me, 'What more do you need?'"

And, as the father of a Down Syndrome son, he's glad for the chance his co-workers got to know the students this week.

"These kids are just wonderful to work with. Every one of them has been very polite and eager to learn.

"This is kind of my thing," Stafford said. "And to have these kids want to learn - they're great. They can do anything. They're going to take ownership of this room."

He's grateful, too, for the support these efforts get from top to bottom at The Home Depot.

For an employee base that ranges seasonally between 80 and 130, having 35 involved in the volunteer effort is heartening to Stafford.

He received a letter from corporate headquarters commending him not only for closing in on 50 percent participation after just two years but also for results in the community. He doesn't take that lightly.

But there's another factor he treasures, too.

"For me to have the managers here, that's huge," Stafford said. "To have them get on their hands and knees and do the scrubbing, that's wonderful. It shows we're working as a team."

Sam Weber, one of his volunteers who gave both his free days to the Columbia Falls project this week, thinks it's pretty special, too.

"People think of Home Depot as a huge corporation, but they really value the community they're in," Weber said. "They tell us, 'You should give back to the community.' We are part of the community, so we do."

For her part, Hall is a bit overwhelmed and deeply thankful for the boost this will give to her Special Education students. She summed it up simply:

"I'm living in gratitude."

Reporter Nancy Kimball can be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at nkimball@dailyinterlake.com