MIDDLEPORT - A handful of employees and management from Lowe's Home Improvement Center in Pottsville spent their free time Friday sprucing up the Middleport Playground.
Store Manager Dennis Shaffer said Lowe's donated items to the park and employees volunteered to do the work as part of the ongoing Lowe's Heroes Project.
Shaffer said in his three years as manager, the Middleport Playground project is the third to be completed behind improvements at a Minersville playground in 2012 and work at a Pottsville soup kitchen in 2011.
"What we do is reach out annually and try and help wherever we can," Shaffer said.
In Middleport, Lowe's donated a range and microwave oven to be used in the concession stand, tables for inside the concession stand, tables and benches for use throughout the park and new locks to improve security at the concession stand.
The store also donated paint to give the concession stand a new look and workers completed work on the new outdoor tables so they can withstand the weather.
Shaffer said members of the Middleport Playground Association asked if Lowe's can assist with donating items to improve the playground. He and other store employees decided to take it one step further and make the playground its project for 2013.
"They asked us for help and we thought we'd just do a little bit more," he said.
John Leskho, a member of the park association, joined store employees in working at the park Friday.
He said that through the help of state Rep. Neal Goodman, D-123, and the Eastern Schuylkill Recreation Commission, several items were purchased recently including two new play sets, swings, a much needed fence and mulch where needed.
Although the grant helped to provide those items, Leshko said more work was needed and the money wasn't available to complete it.
"With a population of 450 it's hard to raise funds ... the borough can't afford it either," he said regarding the small community.
Shaffer said Lowe's has been undertaking such projects for more than 10 years and hopes to continue to do so in the future.
"This is our (Lowe's) way of giving back," Shaffer said.