Teachers' lounge gets makeover at no cost Home Depot staff volunteer time, donate supplies to school BY MICHAEL ACKER Staff Writer SAYRVILLE - Lori McLafferty had a plan for the rundown faculty room at Eisenhower School. She and the other elementary school teachers would get some supplies and come in over the summer to paint and improve the room. "I thought that I would come before school started and make sure that it was dressed up," McLafferty said. The local Home Depot wouldn't have it. Donald Alexa, store manager at the Home Depot on Route 9 in Old Bridge, overheard the teacher's request for paint and supplies, and offered to have his employees take on the whole project as a service to the school. Lauren Scott, human resources employee at the store, helped Alexa coordinate the volunteer effort. McLafferty, who has been teaching kindergarten for 12 years, said the teachers' lounge needed a lot of work. "The room had just gotten rundown over the years," she said. "It was just a dreary place. There were papers up on walls that no one took down. When you went there at lunch, you felt drained." "All of the teachers had volunteered to help with the faculty room and change the style, make it a little more cozy," Skowronski said. "That obviously didn't have to happen, because of Don and the people at Home Depot." PHOTOS BY CHRIS KELLY staff Employees of the Old Bridge Home Depot on the southbound side of Route 9 volunteer to improve the condition of the Eisenhower School's teachers' lounge Tuesday. Clockwise from top left, Sayreville resident Gina Allegretta paints the faculty room. Jim Schulhafer, of Linden, uses a paintbrush on a wall as part of Team Depot. Sherard Jones, of Matawan, uses a paint roller. On Tuesday, about a dozen employees from Home Depot gave the room the much-needed makeover. The group worked from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., painting the walls and bringing plants into the room. The store also donated toolboxes, brand-new custom-made blinds and an area rug for the room, McLafferty said. "They painted, they brought us a new microwave, they did all of the design along the sides," McLafferty said. "… I can't even remember everything they gave us." Skowronski said he appreciates the efforts of the store staff. "They did a wonderful job," Skowronski said. "It was quite a communal effort, as far as the Home Depot people are concerned." The store has done community service projects in Perth Amboy, Edison and Sayreville in the past, he noted. "What I love about it is the manager of the store said, 'You take care of our children and we take care of you,' " Skowronski said. With school budgets as tight as they are, McLafferty figured it was unlikely the school district would have funded such a project, especially since it was not a necessity, but more for staff morale. "A lot of us would avoid the lunch room all together and sit in our classroom," McLafferty said. "Now we are looking forward to going in there during lunchtime and talking to coworkers." And that came at no cost and with no work on the part of the faculty. "It is really going to brighten up our year," McLafferty added. "We really can't thank them enough for what they did."