Most of the time, if a customer needs assistance in a Home Depot store a friendly sales associate is more than happy to assist a customer find something.

Monday, Home Depot employees traveled the extra mile and gave the main building of Project Adventure a fresh coat of interior paint.

"It probably hasn't been painted for 10 years," said Cindy Simpson, director of Project Adventure - a local non-profit organization which has provided residential, educational and counseling services to teenagers in Department of Family and Child Services' custody for more than 20 years.

Dennis Summerlin, Covington Home Depot human resources manager and Team Depot district captain, said the project was the first Team Depot effort in Newton County since the store opened in December of 2006.

"Team Depot is Home Depot's way of giving back to the community," Summerlin said. "It is one of our core values."

Summerlin said Team Depot donates supplies and manpower to non-profit organizations for small and large building projects such as painting, landscaping and playground construction.

Approximately 30 volunteers from stores in Covington, Stone Mountain, mid-town Atlanta, Tucker, North Lilburn and as far away as Kennesaw came to Project Adventure Monday to paint.

"It's a lot more than I expected," Simpson said.

Both Simpson and Summerlin said they felt the project was an appropriate one for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday because it should be a day of service.

Summerlin said he was pleased with the turn-out, especially since the volunteers could have done a number of other things on the holiday.

 He added he hopes the project begins an ongoing relationship between Home Depot and Project Adventure.

"We're going to come back later in the spring or summer and paint the rest of the building," Summerlin said.

Simpson said volunteers and donations to Project Adventure decrease significantly after the holiday season.

"We rarely have people come to us and ask 'can we help,'" Simpson said.

Team Depot crews also plan to construct a new playground at the Covington YMCA this June with the assistance of KaBOOM! and Hands on Atlanta. Summerlin said a larger crew of about 200 volunteers will finish the project in one day.

"We want to let the eastern part of the metro area know that Home Depot cares about their community too," Summerlin said.