Rod Kenel, sales manager for Lowe’s Home Improvement Center, can’t offer a handshake because his hands are covered with planting soil. He is a thin man with a Midwestern accent, who laughs at the fact that he’s been transplanted to the east coast to help open Lowe’s newest store.
“We expect to open in December,” he said, and points to the buckets of mums already decorating the location near 57th Street and Avenue E. Although it is a bright day, the shadow of the highway ramps falls over the area, darkening the entrance to the city during the morning hours – a shadow the brightly colored flowers help to offset.
It’s not the ramp that has many residents concerned, but the deteriorated properties nearby that give the city a run down look to people coming here for the first time.
“We tried to start a community garden on the lot across the street,” said Council President Terrence Ruane, who came to look over the planting. “It didn’t work out. But maybe this gesture by Lowe’s will inspire people again.”
“Whenever we come into a community, we look around for something we can do to give back to the community.” – Rod Kenel
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“Whenever we come into a community, we look around for something we can do to give back to the community,” he said.
Beautifying Bayonne
Each year, Lowe’s Heroes volunteer program helps to improve the communities where Lowe’s employees work and live. Together, each store team identifies a community improvement project that will make a difference in their community, such as working with Habitat for Humanity or a local public school.
Kenel said that while projects vary, the idea is to make the community where Lowe’s is located a better place to live.
Lowe’s Heroes volunteer program began about 10 years ago. The program encourages employees in a location to team together to adopt a volunteer project with a local nonprofit organization or public school in order to make a difference.
Lowe’s Foundation has committed $1.5 million to support this program.
Kenel said Lowe’s has planted about 80 mums at the gateway and as many as 150 plants near the three veterans’ monuments along the Kill Van Kull in Dennis Collins Park.
He said this effort is part of an effort to embrace the community in which Lowe’s is located.
“What we’re trying to do is keep Bayonne dollars in Bayonne,” he said.
This is done by creating jobs, giving people a place to shop, and by projects such as this that help create pride in the community.
Joseph Santangelo, Lowe’s store manager, said this will be an ongoing project.
Mayor Mark Smith said the city is seeking to rebuild the gateway area. Recently, the City Council has applied for grants that would purchase two closed gas station sites along this section of the city in order to expand nearby Russell Golding Park.
“We need to make this part of the city attractive for people that come here,” said Ruane, who hopes to regenerate interest in developing a community garden in a nearby vacant lot. “We need to take pride in our community.”
Al Sullivan may be reached at asullivan@hudsonreporter.com.