Synovus volunteers give a facelift to the 1,000th House of Heroes home

A team of Synovus employees surrounded the home of a retired U.S. Army sergeant last week to give it a new coat of paint before the sun went down.

It was the 1,000th House of Heroes home nationwide to have repairs and to get tender-loving care by volunteers since the charitable organization was founded in Columbus in 2000.

Columbus-based Synovus adopted the first corporate-sponsored House of Heroes home, when a few dozen employees worked on a house in March 2001, and embraced the opportunity to work on house No. 1,000.

“They get it,” crew leader Chris Carlson, senior vice president and regional trust manager for Synovus Trust Company, said of the volunteers. “They understand the value, and we want to make sure we do it every year.”

Through its “Make a Difference in a Day” and “Operation HOH” programs, House of Heroes honors military and public service veterans by making home repairs and improvements for veterans or their surviving spouses who are in need of assistance. HOH was founded by former Columbus City Councilor Wayne Anthony as a joint initiative by local representatives of Congress of the United States, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Society for Human Resource Management, the Department of Defense, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and Hands On/City Cares of America.

Sgt. Anna Lopardo, who received home repairs, served both active-duty and in the Reserves after joining the military in 1982.

“I can’t do all of this myself,” Lopardo said of the project. “This is her Christmas present,” she added, referring to her Craftsman-style home that was built in 1939.