The Home Depot Pledges $1 Million for Student Scholarships and Grants for
Building and Construction Trade Schools

    
    National Trade Scholarship Program provides $1,000 scholarships to 500
    students, matched by funding for schools to buy classroom tools




    
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<p><location>ATLANTA</location>, <chron>Jan. 12</chron> /CNW/ -- The Home Depot®, the world's largest home improvement retailer, today announced <money>$1 million</money> in funding for its 2010 Pro Trade Scholarship Program. The Home Depot has more than tripled a <money>$300,000</money> scholarship fund it first established in 2009 to support students attending professional building and construction trade schools.</p>
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    (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20030502/HOMEDEPOTLOGO)

    
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<p>This year's program will not only support individual students, but also the schools they attend. Specifically, <money>$1,000</money> scholarships will be available to 500 trade school students to help them offset the cost of tuition, books and tools for their chosen trade. The schools of the scholarship recipients will receive additional funds for classroom tools from The Home Depot Foundation through matching gifts of <money>$1,000</money> for each scholarship awarded to one or more of their students.</p>
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<p>"Professional contractors are important customers of The Home Depot, and their future is vital to the American dream of home ownership and economic growth," said <person>Chris Waits</person>, vice president of The Home Depot Sales & Services. "Now, more than ever, we want to help our current and future pros build successful businesses."</p>
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<p>Scholarship applications will be accepted through <chron>April 30, 2010</chron> online at <a href="http://www.homedepot.com/tradescholarship">www.homedepot.com/tradescholarship</a>, and are also available in a downloadable Spanish language format. The scholarship program is open to all students nationwide who are currently enrolled in a building and construction trade school program at a vocational/technical school, college or university. Winners will be selected based on a combination of academic performance, leadership and work experience.</p>
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<p>The Home Depot is the world's largest home improvement specialty retailer, with 2,245 retail stores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, <location>Puerto Rico</location>, <location>U.S. Virgin Islands</location>, <location>Guam</location>, 10 Canadian provinces, <location>Mexico</location> and <location>China</location>. In fiscal 2008, The Home Depot had sales of <money>$71.3 billion</money> and earnings from continuing operations of <money>$2.3 billion</money>. The Company employs more than 300,000 associates. The Home Depot's stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: HD) and is included in the Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor's 500 index.</p>
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For further information: Financial Community: Diane Dayhoff, Vice President of Investor Relations, [phone], [email protected]; News Media: Stephen Holmes, Sr. Manager of Corporate Communications, [phone], [email protected] Web Site: http://www.homedepot.com/tradescholarship