<em>Photo above: Lowe’s Heroes from the Beaufort store help beautify Bridges Preparatory School.</em>

Helping hands from the local Lowe’s Heroes program donated landscaping materials and their labor to beautify Bridges Prep’s kindergarten and first grade campus on Lady’s Island recently.

The Beaufort Lowe’s store donated the decorative white rock, rubberized mulch, plants, shovels, and rakes, and Lowes employees performed the work. Lowes also donated picnic tables and an electric power washer to the state charter school.

“This is a very generous contribution from the Lowe’s Heroes, and all of us at Bridges Prep appreciate it,” said Dee Matthews, chairwoman of the Board of Directors. “They brought a plan, all the materials and the back labor to make it happen. Outstanding!”

Lowe’s Heroes is a volunteer program in which employees adopt a project with a local nonprofit organization to help improve the communities where they work and live. The Lowe’s Heroes program has been in place since the late 1990s. Each project selected must address one of three topic areas: Community improvement, public education or national partnership support.

Lowe’s of Beaufort selected Bridges Preparatory School for its 2015 project to beautify the school’s entranceway. The team of 12 volunteers cleaned the area, leveled the ground, installed borders, planted decorative plants, and spread stone and mulch to beautify the entranceway. The next day picnic tables were delivered for the student and faculty enjoyment.

“We talk to our students every week about the importance of community, of giving back and making our community a better place,” said Interim Head of School Bob Bohnstengel. “Thanks to the Lowe’s Heroes, our students get to see community service in action. Their donation is very much appreciated.”

Bridges Preparatory School was chartered by South Carolina in mid-2012 and opened at near capacity in August 2013. Since then, enrollment has grown by 42 percent. For the 2016-2017 school year, Bridges Prep will expand to ninth grade.

As part of its growth, the school expanded to three locations, with the K-1 program located at Celadon on Lady’s Island and the other grades in downtown Beaufort. Last fall, Bridges Prep received almost $10 million in federal loan money to renovate the former Boys &amp; Girls Club property to accommodate the growing school.

The Beaufort Lowe’s Heroes volunteers were Shakira Poston, Jim Spaeth, Vidal Moultrie, Regina Shockey, Brad Knox, Josh Nelson, Melissa Clayton, Theron Mitchell, Brandon Pennington, Sabrina Rameau, Steve Salisbury, Liz Male and Greg Matz.

As a state charter school, Bridges Prep is open to all students in the Lowcountry without tuition. Bridges Prep follows the Paideia principles of education: All children can learn and therefore they all deserve the same quality of schooling, not just the same quantity; and the quality of schooling to which they are entitled is what the wisest parents would wish for their own children, the best education for the best being the best education for all.