Month: September 2023

Sept. 28, 2023, marks the first anniversary of Hurricane Ian. Over the past 12 months, The Home Depot Foundation has teamed up with local nonprofits to help communities in southwest Florida recover from the storm.

Inspiritus, one of the Foundation’s national partners, has worked tirelessly to assist with restoration efforts. In the aftermath, the Foundation committed $1 million to support immediate response and recovery. In the weeks that followed, the Foundation donated an additional $200,000 to Inspiritus for long-term recovery. With this funding, they rebuilt more than 200 homes and completed over 400 recovery projects. Recently, they’re focusing their efforts in the Fort Myers neighborhood of Harlem Heights.

Residents Julia and Leon rode out the storm at home. The couple was rescued by boat after more than three feet of water flooded their house. Just down the road, Lester is a military veteran who spent months living in his flooded car post-Ian. His home suffered severe water and termite damage, and he currently lives in a trailer provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

There are countless stories like these and houses across the area that still need repairs. Team Depot, The Home Depot’s associate volunteer force, recently partnered with Inspiritus to help renovate these homes in Harlem Heights. The projects include mudding, replacing doors, laying new floors and trim, installing kitchen cabinets and more. 

The Home Depot Foundation is committed to supporting communities with natural disaster preparedness, short-term response and long-term recovery.​ The Foundation supports communities impacted by natural disasters with ​the help of Team Depot and nonprofit partners including Inspiritus, American Red Cross, Team Rubicon, Convoy of Hope and Operation Blessing. Learn more at HomeDepotFoundation.org.

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Covia, a leading provider of high-quality, diversified specialty minerals and material solutions for the industrial and energy markets, announced that, for the second consecutive year, the company was awarded a bronze medal for sustainable performance of its business by EcoVadis. Covia ranked in the top 21% of companies assessed in “Quarrying of Stone, Sand, and Clay” industry.

Ecovadis is an independent rating agency that assesses sustainability and CSR practices across a multitude of industries worldwide. Their comprehensive evaluation process examines four key areas including environment, labor and human rights, ethics, and sustainable procurement. Covia’s 2023 performance earned a higher score than 2022, putting the company in the top 35% of all companies evaluated across all industries.

“Our higher score this year reflects our work to further integrate sustainability into our operations and supply chain. We refined several of our environmental programs and initiatives, including: the phased rollout of our new Environmental Management System (EMS), completing a third-party verification of our emissions calculation, investing $1.7 million in capital projects aimed at reducing emissions, and establishing our signature Community Beekeeping Initiative in Mexico. Our score increased because of the hard work that our Covia Team Members put into our organization every day, and this validates the importance of what they do,” said Natalie Eglinton, Covia’s Director, ESG. “The EcoVadis rating is a great benchmark for us as we continue to work toward our ESG goals.”

Read more about how Covia is committed to delivering a lasting impact on our business, our people, our planet, and the communities where we live and work.