At Christmas, if you want to talk about the true spirit of giving, think about Home Depot. I don’t work for them in any way, nor do I own shares. But I saw a Home Depot team come into a veterans homeless shelter in Philadelphia in 2013 and make a world of difference in just one day.

I was the Director of that shelter in Philadelphia. We housed about 30 homeless veterans. The Home Depot on Oregon Avenue had been good to us before, giving us discounts and cash grants. But we needed a lot of work on the House, not to mention new appliances. We found about a home makeover program and applied for it. We were approved for the program and eagerly awaited the day.

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The night before the day came I went to the opera with a friend, she may be reading this, and after saying goodnight to her my knee gave out on an escalator at 30th Street Station in Philadelphia. I tumbled and was knocked unconscious. After an ambulance ride and a treatment of six stitches in my head, I showed up at the shelter for work clad in a blood-soaked tuxedo. Such began a day that was going to get a lot better as it wore on.

I cleaned up. When I was presentable, I saw  waiting outside literally dozens of Home Depot employees and a great amount of supplies. At no cost to us they completely refurbished the House. They gave us appliances, paint jobs, floor jobs, a new grill, landscaping, and many other things to make the place a much better living environment. They did this in less than a day. All our veterans were very grateful.

Personally, I can’t say enough good things about Home Depot. They are truly a blessing to American veterans. Merry Christmas to them.

FNC: “Military families nationwide are being gifted thousands of dollars this holiday season to help with necessary home repairs.

As part of the Home Depot Foundation’s annual Operation Surprise campaign, 10 families at 10 military bases across the nation will get $10,000 to help with critical home repairs and upgrades. The annual campaign, which kicked off on Veterans Day and lasts through the end of the year, aims to ‘provide life-changing moments of surprise and support for veterans and communities in need’ through acts of service, according to The Home Depot Foundation.

This initiative is part of the foundation’s longstanding commitment to veteran causes. For the past 10 years, the foundation has been focused on ending veteran homelessness, improving veteran housing through home repairs and building smart homes that are accessible for wounded veterans in partnership with the nation’s leading veterans service organizations.  Earlier this year, the foundation announced that it already invested more than $400 million to improve the lives of veterans grappling with homelessness and service-related injuries.”