The Home Depot to Contribute 5% of Themed Gift Card Sales

Company to Donate Up to $1 Million to Help Build Playgrounds, Construct Health Homes and Support Disaster Relief

Atlanta (October 12, 2006)- The Home Depot, the world's largest home improvement retailer, announced today it will donate 5 percent of sales of three newly designed gift cards to the Company's nonprofit partners: The Home Depot Foundation, KaBOOM! and Hands On Network. Consumers may choose from these uniquely themed gift cards and purchase amounts in any denomination at The Home Depot stores nationwide through November 6.

Awards of Excellence for Community Trees- Deadline: Dec. 8 

The Home Depot Foundation, in partnership with the U.S. Conference of Mayors, recently announced the opening of the application period for the Second Annual Awards of Excellence for Community Trees. The Home Depot Foundation believes that the urban forest is one of the essential building blocks for healthy, livable communities impacting our social, environmental, economic and overall well being.

Trees as Biotechnology to Improve the Environment

Urbanization concentrates people, materials, and energy into relatively small geographical areas to facilitate the functioning of society. Urbanization often degrades local and regional environmental quality as natural landscapes are replaced with anthropogenic materials. Byproducts of urbanization (eg., heat combustion, and chemical emissions) affect the health of the local and regional landscapes, as well as the health of the people who reside, visit and/or work in and around urban areas. (excerpted from a research paper by David Nowak, PhD, USDA Forest Service)

Urban Forum 2006- Nov. 8-10, 2006

(Miami, Florida). From issues of eminent domain to decoding the language of new market tax credits, resolving safety concerns to developing funding strategies, the Urban Forum will address the pressing concerns facing the revitalization of urban neighborhood business districts today.

Action Alert for Helping the U&CF Program

Washington, DC (October 25, 2006)- House and Senate appropriations staff are reportedly now working, pre-conference, to develop joint budgets for the FY 2007 federal budget for Urban and Community Forestry and other key Forest Service programs. For advocates, the biggest challenge right now is to make an impact in the Senate. From what we hear, Senate members generally have not been vocal in their support for the Urban and Community Forestry program, with the exception of a small handful of lawmakers.

Greenscape of Jacksonville- Flowering Tree Sale

(Jacksonville, FL) Greenscape of Jacksonville sponsors an annual Flowering Tree Sale that raises money, increases public awareness, and results in the planting of thousands of trees.  In 1988, a board member suggested operating a tree sale that would raise money for the organization and encourage residents to plant trees by offering high-quality trees at low prices.