Some places are more than places.
A park can be where a community finds its way back to each other after the unthinkable. A headquarters can offer veterans the sense of belonging they’ve been missing. And a playground can be a simple way to show children their community cares.
This year, Lowe’s asked communities across the country: What’s on your bucket list? More than 5,000 nominations poured in, filled with ideas to strengthen the places neighbors count on.
Lowe’s selected 100 large-scale projects to help bring those dreams to life.
Behind every project, there’s a story worth telling.
A place to come together again
In Ingram, Texas, the story starts at a park along the river.
Flooding hit Ingram City Park hard, damaging a gathering place in a community with few public river access points. Rebuilding is about more than replacing what was lost. It’s about giving families a place to come together again.
Local leaders arrived at the park expecting to answer a few follow-up questions. Instead, they learned their community would receive a $300,000 Lowe’s Community Impact Grant to help bring the park back to life.
Christina Holcomb of the West Kerr Chamber struggled to find words afterward.
“There’s so many beautiful things that can still happen,” Holcomb said.
For her, rebuilding the park is an opportunity for people to “come together, meet people you’ve never met before and share stories.”
Another community leader reflected on what that could mean after a year marked by loss.
“We’ve had a lot of tears in the last year,” the leader said. “And this will bring nothing but smiles.”
A place to belong
Hundreds of miles away in Pearl, Mississippi, Lee Stringer has been building a different kind of gathering place.
5th Squad began with four veterans who didn’t want to lose the camaraderie they’d found in military service. Soon, they were welcoming other veterans and their families into that circle.
Stringer’s vision is simple.
“You served your country, you’re part of us,” said Stringer, co-founder and president of 5th Squad.
Today, veterans can walk through the doors and find people who understand experiences that can be difficult to put into words. Their families find that same sense of belonging among others who have experienced deployments, moves and long stretches apart.
A $200,000 Lowe’s Community Impact Grant will give 5th Squad more space to bring veterans and their families together and expand its services.
Lowe’s associates will also work alongside 5th Squad volunteers, who are accustomed to getting their hands dirty, whether building wheelchair ramps, mowing lawns or loading trailers.
For Stringer, doing the work together is “even bigger than the check itself.”
A place built for them
At Third Creek Elementary in Statesville, North Carolina, Principal Carla Moorefield thought Lowe’s was stopping by for a tour.
Then came the surprise: Her school would receive a $200,000 grant.
“Oh, I was completely surprised,” Moorefield said. “So excited. I cannot wait to see our kids’ faces.”
For years, the school has relied on one aging playground, juggling the schedules of hundreds of students around a single outdoor space. The grant will help build a new playground and outdoor learning center.
Statesville Mayor Doug Hendricks said the playground has been there for more than two decades. But for him, its replacement represents more than new equipment.
Asked how he hopes children will feel when they step onto a new playground built for them, he needed only one word.
“Loved,” Hendricks said. “To know that their hometown loves them.”
100 projects. Thousands of neighbors.
Ingram City Park, 5th Squad and Third Creek Elementary are three chapters in a much bigger story.
This year, Lowe’s is investing $10 million in Community Impact Grants for 100 large-scale projects and another $10 million to support more than 2,000 associate-led projects nationwide, fulfilling a five-year, $100 million commitment to revitalizing and restoring hometowns.
From food pantries and shelters to spaces serving veterans, first responders and families, Lowe’s associates will help turn those plans into something real, contributing an expected 200,000 volunteer hours this year.
Because strong communities don’t just happen.
They’re built.
Explore the 2026 Lowe’s Community Impact projects and follow their transformations at Lowes.com/HowWeHelp.
