GRAY – American Legion Post No. 86 on Route 100 in downtown Gray looks and operates like a new facility thanks to more than $27,000 in renovations and the work of nearly 100 volunteers.

Seventy-five of the volunteers were Home Depot associates who traveled from Maine’s 11 store locations to donate their time, and another 20 or more volunteers were American Legion members and friends.

Renovating the American Legion hall in Gray is one of 2,000 veterans’ projects completed this year by Home Depot associates statewide, and is the second Legion hall in Maine that was given a facelift within the last six months, said Bryan McMakin, store manager of the North Windham Home Depot, who spearheaded the effort.

Similar “Team Depot” projects took place at the American Legion halls on Peaks Island in June and in the Biddeford-Saco area this past spring, he said.

“It’s been a long three days,” McMakin said of the work at the hall in Gray, which received its finishing touches last Friday. After three months of planning, the orange-clad crew volunteered their time in 70-degree weather installing new hardwood floors, floor tiles, ceiling tiles, light fixtures, baseboard heating, windows and more, as a way to give back to the veterans for their service.

“It’s really a focus for Home Depot,” MacMakin said. “These [veterans] have sacrificed a ton for us. It’s the least we can do for them.”

A crew from All in One Insulation in Windham installed 1,600 square feet of insulation in the hall’s attic, MacMakin said.

Installation of the new vinyl windows, the attic insulation and a new baseboard heating system are expected to reduce heating costs at the hall by around 50 percent, MacMakin said.

Volunteers painted interior walls and the front porch and created a fenced-in recreational area that includes an 8-foot-in-diameter stone fire pit, along with two horseshoe pits, a 12-square-foot patio complete with a grill, and retaining walls around the entire building with freshly planted shrubs and flowerbeds.

“It’s really going to expand what they [the Legion] can do for rentals, like weddings,” MacMakin said. “They really have the ability to showcase the facility now.”

Home Depot supplied the materials for the project, MacMakin said, made possible with a $12,000 grant the Windham store received this fall from the Home Depot Foundation, which has granted more than $270 million to nonprofit organizations improving homes and lives in local communities, since its formation in 2002.

“This is the best part of my job. This is one of our core values as a company, to give back to the community,” MacMakin said.

Don Cobb, a Gray American Legion member, said the veterans raised about $15,000 toward renovations to the building that has been maintained through the years, but never to such a large degree. Cobb said he and Joe Hansen, a member of the Sons of Legionnaires, reached out to the local Home Depot after recognizing the need.

“There’s been support from all the way around,” Cobb said, as he oversaw the project at the hall last Thursday.

“People will see it,” he said of the renovations. “More people will stop by, and we may even get a bigger membership because of it.”

Aimee Senatore, executive director of the Sebago Lakes Region Chamber of Commerce, who made an appearance at the hall last week, said people only think of Home Depot as a big-box store and rarely do they realize the number of statewide community service projects Home Depot has led throughout the last several years.

“The chamber applauds the work,” Senatore said. The chamber tries to champion the idea that the Lakes Region is “a region of limitless opportunities,” which is also the chamber’s tagline, she said.

According to Senatore, “There is more than meets the eye when it comes to Home Depot. That type of leadership is exemplary. It’s exciting. They are making a real difference. It fosters a sense of community.”

The group of volunteers, some with zero experience in carpentry, donated their time simply “to give back to the veterans,” said Annemarie Gordon, manager of Home Depot in Auburn, as she brushed some paint onto the porch railings alongside a dozen other volunteers who were part of the painting crew.

“It’s the Home Depot culture. I love that everyone is here to give back,” Gordon said.

“I am really impressed with Home Depot and people volunteering their day off to be here,” said Jana Scotia, an auxiliary member, from New Gloucester, whose husband, Steve, is a veteran and who was also on site to dig post holes for the new fence. “They worked hard raising money,” she said of the American Legion members, “and I am really glad that Home Depot stepped up to the plate [to help.]”

“This is by far the most rewarding thing, and my associates are so passionate about giving back to these guys,” MacMakin said. “It’s a really good feeling. We are happy to help.”

Home Depot volunteers, from left, Teresa Pennington, Susan Yambor, Ami Bradley, Carrie Spring and Heather Gelston, create an 8-foot fire pit.Josh Vose, a Behr paint representative, left, and Annemarie Gordon, manager of Home Depot in Auburn, paint the front porch of the American Legion hall in Gray.