Team Depot helps local veterans

Team Depot helps local veterans - A group of people posing for the camera - T-shirt

Seeing Clearly

In a stilted Big Pine Key house, disabled Army Veteran Donald Pereau’s windows needed some help. “It’s tough not knowing when storms are coming and having to worry about how the windows will get shuttered and un-shuttered,” he said.

That’s when Team Depot, the Marathon Home Depot store volunteers, stepped up to help Pereau. With grants for wounded veterans through Home Depot, the team secured $16,000 to help replace the old windows with hurricane impact windows in the home. They also had enough left to do over the interior of the house with a fresh coat of paint.

“From the injuries I sustained while enlisted, it’s a blessing for them to come out here and help me out,” said Pereau, who served from 1997 to 2001 and then again from 2004 to 2016 before receiving a medical discharge. “Not having to worry about storms coming will be a huge help.”

The windows in his home hadn’t been replaced since it was originally built, so in addition to not having to worry about shutters anymore, he is also excited about the energy costs that will come from the upgrade.

Team Depot does about $20 million a year for veterans around the country. The local team has done everything from installing ramps to donating grills for the American Legion. “We try to do one big project a quarter,” said Team Depot volunteer Scott Zimmerman.

KRISTEN LIVENGOOD/Keys Weekly

Team Depot Volunteers help install new windows at the Big Pine Key Veteran’s house. They also had fun adding a fresh coat of paint to the living room for the Vet. Pictured are Brent McKee, the window coordinator for this project, left, Frank Molina, Brandon Coile, Liliana Senmartin, and Scott Zimmerman.

Kristen Livengood is a Marathon High School and University of South Florida grad, mom of two beautiful little girls, and wife to some cute guy she met in a bar. She enjoys red wine, Tito's, Jameson, running (very, very slowly), and spearfishing.