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Lori Byrd was shocked when Lowe’s Heros supervisor Travis Brock took her on a tour of what will be her new front yard.
“I thought we were going to spread some dirt and throw out some grass seed,” Byrd said. “This is amazing.”
Brock and eight other employees of the Lowe’s Home Improvement store in Carthage, along with two younger volunteers, spent Saturday morning spreading dirt and much more at the Habitat for Humanity home at North Maple Street and Vine Street.
They also build flowerbeds around the front porch and a tree in the front yard and spread mulch and compost around the yard.
The volunteers also painted the foundation concrete patched small holes in the door jam and foundation and worked on the basement of the home Byrd will take over on Friday.
Byrd has been waiting a year and a half for this week and for Friday.
She said one of her big disappointments was that some of her family would be out of town on Friday when Scott Clayton, director of the Joplin Area Habitat for Humanity gives her the keys, but when Clayton asked if she wanted to postpone the ceremony, she quickly said; “No!”
Clayton said volunteers were accomplishing a number of tasks on the last Saturday work day before handing over the home to the new owner.
“Lowe’s Heros are doing landscaping and we’re painting the front to make it look a little better,” Clayton said. “We’ve got the Master Gardners here working on landscaping as well. We’re basically working on this whole front area putting in some bushes and flowers and making it look nice.”
Brock said Old Castle Blocks donated a pallet of blocks for the landscaping, Green Country Soil donated a pallet of mulch and compost and Valspar Paints donated the paint used on the foundation.
Members of the Ozark Gateways Master Gardners, a group sponsored by the University of Missouri Extension Office, loaned their expertise in gardening to the group by planting the landscaping shrubs and flowers around the home.
“We’re here because one person can make a difference,” said Master Gardner Lou Anne Herron. “It instills a bigger sense of pride in what you have if somebody helps you out just a little bit and this is what we enjoy doing. If we didn’t like digging in the dirt, we wouldn’t be here. We’re all kids at heart who never got over playing in the dirt.”
Lori Byrd was shocked when Lowe’s Heros supervisor Travis Brock took her on a tour of what will be her new front yard.
“I thought we were going to spread some dirt and throw out some grass seed,” Byrd said. “This is amazing.”
Brock and eight other employees of the Lowe’s Home Improvement store in Carthage, along with two younger volunteers, spent Saturday morning spreading dirt and much more at the Habitat for Humanity home at North Maple Street and Vine Street.
They also build flowerbeds around the front porch and a tree in the front yard and spread mulch and compost around the yard.
The volunteers also painted the foundation concrete patched small holes in the door jam and foundation and worked on the basement of the home Byrd will take over on Friday.
Byrd has been waiting a year and a half for this week and for Friday.
She said one of her big disappointments was that some of her family would be out of town on Friday when Scott Clayton, director of the Joplin Area Habitat for Humanity gives her the keys, but when Clayton asked if she wanted to postpone the ceremony, she quickly said; “No!”
Clayton said volunteers were accomplishing a number of tasks on the last Saturday work day before handing over the home to the new owner.
“Lowe’s Heros are doing landscaping and we’re painting the front to make it look a little better,” Clayton said. “We’ve got the Master Gardners here working on landscaping as well. We’re basically working on this whole front area putting in some bushes and flowers and making it look nice.”
Brock said Old Castle Blocks donated a pallet of blocks for the landscaping, Green Country Soil donated a pallet of mulch and compost and Valspar Paints donated the paint used on the foundation.
Members of the Ozark Gateways Master Gardners, a group sponsored by the University of Missouri Extension Office, loaned their expertise in gardening to the group by planting the landscaping shrubs and flowers around the home.
“We’re here because one person can make a difference,” said Master Gardner Lou Anne Herron. “It instills a bigger sense of pride in what you have if somebody helps you out just a little bit and this is what we enjoy doing. If we didn’t like digging in the dirt, we wouldn’t be here. We’re all kids at heart who never got over playing in the dirt.”
Brock said he first met Lori Byrd when the project to build this home first started more than a year and a half ago.
At that time Lowe’s gave Habitat a grant to finish the home. He said Lowe’s Heros wanted to come out and landscape the place because Byrd has been so patient with the process.
“It’s been a year and a half, she hasn’t complained, she hasn’t felt like why isn’t it done, she hasn’t been selfish,” Brock said. “She’s been very relaxed and just happy it’s coming on to being done.”
