Home Depot helps Burbank VFW with renovations

More than 70 volunteers from local Home Depot stores helped give the Burbank Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 8310 facility at 1006 W. Magnolia Blvd. a renovation.

The community project was a part of the Home Depot Foundation’s “Celebration of Service” campaign, in which the organization helps veterans and their families.

Using $10,000 in grant money from the Home Depot, the volunteers were able to repaint the interior and exterior of the building, place an elastomeric coating on the roof to help keep the building cool and reduce air-conditioning use, renovate the bar area and install new ceiling fans in a matter of five hours, said Luigi Iezza, an assistant store manager at the Home Depot in Burbank, who led the renovation effort.

“This is not going to be a one-time thing,” Iezza said. “Hopefully, we can build that relationship with the VFW.”

Juan Guillen, captain of the Burbank VFW, said he and other members of Post 8310 are humbled and grateful for the work that Iezza and the Home Depot volunteers put into the facility, which Guillen said was in need of repairs.

Guillen said a lot of work had to be done to keep the local VFW above water after he became head of the post in July 2016.

Now that the facility has undergone a makeover, Guillen said he hopes the VFW can continue helping veterans, with help from others in the community.

“I know we can’t survive without the support of the community,” Guillen said. “With the veteran population being a shrinking number, we can’t just survive on veterans. We need the community to embrace us and support us.”

anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com

Twitter: @acocarpio