PORT CARBON — More than 12 representatives of Lowe’s Home Improvement, Pottsville, arrived at the borough-owned John L. Miller Memorial Playground on Tuesday morning with shovels, mulch, paintbrushes and enthusiasm.
“Our motto is ‘We love where we live!’ ” Gina Kelly, who works in the store’s tools and hardware department, said as she added a new coat of paint to the concession stand.
For years, the company has made efforts to improve community parks by committing funds and manpower through its Lowe’s Heroes program. And recently Lowe’s in Pottsville accepted a request from Port Carbon Borough Council to make improvements to the Miller playground at Main and Mill streets.
“They’re doing a real nice job over there,” borough council member Warren Thomas said as he visited the workers about noon.
“This program provides the workers and the materials. For us that includes paint, mulch, boards, grass seed and tires for the seesaw. They also bring whatever equipment they will be needing and a lunch wagon. The group will be working to paint the chain-link fence, repair and paint the seesaw, repair benches, paint play equipment, paint the concession stand, repair sand boxes and replace sand. They will also mulch and seed some areas,” Sandra L. Palokas, the borough secretary/treasurer, said Monday.
Lowe’s in Pottsville may spend up to $2,500 to improve community parks in Schuylkill County this year. Of that, “about $1,000” may be spent on the Miller playground project, Tom J. Siko, the store’s plumbing department manager, said Tuesday.
“The borough sent us a letter about two months ago. And we’ll consider projects like this, as long as it involves recreation or it’s to help out a community in any way, shape or form. All you have to do is submit a request to our store manager, and it has to be approved by our corporate office,” Siko said.
He was working to refurbish a set of seesaws, along with Steve Pickett, a facilities and maintenance worker at Lowe’s in Pottsville, and Miranda Nothstein, an outdoor power equipment specialist at the store.
They removed the weathered metal planks and Pickett used a wire brush to knock the rust off the supports.
“We’re going to paint this. And we’re going to bring back two 2-by-10 wooden planks with new handles and new saddle seats,” Pickett said.
“We have to order them today so we’re probably looking at having them in two weeks,” Siko said.
Nothstein used a shovel to remove well-worn vehicle tires from the earth beneath the ends of the planks. “They have them here so when they go down they don’t hit the ground,” she said.
The team replaced them with newer tires Tuesday.
The borough had a dump truck on site to collect trash, like the older tires, and other debris.
Meanwhile, Shannon Tietsworth, the loss prevention and safety manager at the store, was painting the frame of a swing set yellow.
“We painted a teeter-totter red and purple this morning. Now we’re starting on this. The paint was donated to us by Valspar,” Tietsworth said, referring to Valspar Paint.
“We had painted donated by Valspar and Sherwin-Williams,” Siko said.
Kelly and Jill Ebling, the store’s paint department manager, were among the crew members coloring the park’s concession stand bright blue.
Among the crew members was a Port Carbon resident, Nick Karasoulis, 25, a pro-service loader at Lowe’s in Pottsville.
“I grew up in Pottsville, but I did come over here to play in this playground when I was younger. This playground needed some work. I remember when the sand scooper was over there and the slide was new. And there used to be a lot of kids that came over here. Now the equipment is rusted and there’s a lot of empty space. And I feel that this place has a lot of potential. And, sometimes, it kind of goes unnoticed and ignored,” Karasoulis said.
A description of the Lowe’s Heroes program is on the company’s website at www.lowes.com
“Lowe’s embraces teamwork as a core value and a key ingredient in maintaining an engaged work force. We believe that by working together we can build something better for our company, our customers and our communities. Transforming lives one community at a time, that’s been the mission of Lowe’s Heroes since the volunteer program began in our stores more than 10 years ago. The 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,” according to the site.
“Whether it was helping to rebuild a tornado-battered school or rebuilding a low-income homeowner’s pride alongside one of our national partners, Lowe’s Heroes assisted our neighbors across North America. Lowe’s Heroes participated in more than 1,300 projects, and Lowe’s contributed more than $1.3 million in materials,” according to the site.