9.27.2005 ET

(CSRwire) STRATHAM, N.H.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 27, 2005--Timberland's Traveling Service Program Provides Positive Experience for Volunteers, Positive Impact for Communities.

According to a recent nationwide survey, over 60 percent of adult Americans feel volunteerism is the best way they can personally improve their community(1).

Generation Y (defined as those born during the 1980s or later), more than any other, named volunteering as the most important thing they can do to contribute to community improvement. Other means of actively engaging, such as attending a community meeting, also scored highly with this age group - higher than passive activities like writing a check or signing a petition - disproving commonly held beliefs that "Gen Yers" can only be engaged through MP3 players, personal computers and video games.

This is welcome news as The Timberland Company rolls through cities across the U.S. with its Community Builders Tour (CBT). The CBT is one of several Timberland programs designed to unite consumers, employees, business and community partners in the spirit of service and with an interest in making a difference in our neighborhoods.

"The Community Builders Tour is an important effort for Timberland and its partners in creating a lasting, positive change in the community," said Jeffrey Swartz, President and CEO of The Timberland Company. "We believe that everything we do has an impact on the communities in which we live and work -- and as a responsible corporate citizen, we must actively and positively engage in those communities and inspire others to do the same. It looks like Americans, especially young people, are hearing that message loud and clear."

Timberland's 2005 CBT stops include Philadelphia (October 1) Baltimore (October 22) and Atlanta (November 5). The tour continues in 2006 with return visits to Philadelphia and Atlanta, as well as stops in Boston, New York, Washington D.C. and Chicago. In each city along the tour, Timberland works with community volunteers to address critical issues -- hunger, inadequate housing and homelessness, a lack of safe play and learning spaces for children. National and local partners help to develop service projects specifically tailored to each community's greatest needs such as restoring neighborhood parks and playgrounds, renovating schoolyards, cultivating community gardens, painting murals, building ballparks and basketball courts or landscaping and beautifying neighborhoods.

This year, the Bright Horizons Foundation for Children, the nonprofit organization of Bright Horizons Family Solutions, The Home Depot and City Year have joined the Community Builders Tour as national partners - each bringing their own strengths and specialties to the CBT effort. At each stop along the tour, the Bright Horizons Foundation for Children will lead "Bright Spaces" projects, designed to create safe, warm and nurturing play areas for local at-risk children and their families. The Home Depot will provide design expertise, supplies, equipment and manpower to assist in the renovation and restoration of service projects, and City Year will help identify community needs and community partners in each city, as well as coordinate and participate in service events.

"We are proud to partner with Timberland as part of the Community Builders Tour. Our mission is to make a difference in the lives of children and families, and the transforming work of the CBT will brighten the lives of so many children and families who are living in crisis situations," said David Lissy, CEO, Bright Horizons Family Solutions. "Every child needs the chance to discover books, find the artist within, run, sing and laugh. Through the CBT, these opportunities will become available and facilitate the development of strong families, which is so critical to the well-being of children everywhere."

Each service day culminates with a CBT volunteer celebration, complete with food and live entertainment. Participants can learn about great local service organizations, enjoy music and refreshments and view new Timberland(R) products for the first time.

The Community Builders Tour is focused not only on community revitalization, but also on community pride. In each city along the tour, a local artist is selected to create original artwork in celebration of service and the community. The artist's design then serves as the basis for a mural, which is painted at the CBT event site, and incorporated into the design of the official "CBT service boot." The service boot is displayed at local retail locations, and a customized pair of boots is raffled off at each CBT celebration. These "boot artists" are also showcased during special retail events in each CBT city, where consumers can choose from a menu of design options and have their Timberland(R) boots customized by the local artist.

Approximately 250 volunteers contribute pride, passion and energy to the CBT transformation in each city. By the end of 2006, the Community Builders Tour will have generated more than 25,000 hours of community service. Approximately 4,500 hours will be generated during CBT events in 2005 alone.

About Timberland

Timberland (NYSE: TBL) is a global leader in the design, engineering and marketing of premium-quality footwear, apparel and accessories for consumers who value the outdoors and their time in it.

Timberland(R) products are sold worldwide through leading department and specialty stores as well as Timberland(R) retail stores.

Timberland's dedication to making quality products is matched by the company's commitment to "doing well and doing good" -- forging powerful partnerships among employees, consumers and service partners to transform the communities in which they live and work. To learn more about Timberland, please visit www.timberland.com. For more information about Timberland's commitment to corporate social responsibility, including a searchable database of thousands of volunteer opportunities, please visit www.timberlandserve.com.

About Bright Horizons Family Solutions

Bright Horizons Family Solutions (www.brighthorizons.com) is the world's leading provider of employer-sponsored child care, early education and work/life consulting services, managing more than 600 early care and family centers in the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Canada. Bright Horizons serves more than 600 clients, including more than 100 FORTUNE 500 companies and nearly two-thirds of the "100 Best Companies for Working Mothers," as recognized by Working Mother magazine. Bright Horizons is one of FORTUNE magazine's "100 Best Companies to Work For." The Bright Horizons Foundation for Children was created in 1999 to help achieve the company's mission of making a difference in the lives of children and families.

About Home Depot

Founded in 1978, The Home Depot(R) is the world's largest home improvement specialty retailer and the second largest retailer in the United States, with fiscal 2004 sales of $73.1 billion. The company employs approximately 325,000 associates and has 1,943 stores in 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, 10 Canadian provinces and Mexico. The company has announced plans for retail expansion into China. The Home Depot has been recognized by Fortune as the No. 1 Most Admired Specialty Retailer for 2005. Its 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. HDE. The Home Depot Foundation mission is to build affordable, efficient and healthy homes while promoting sustainability by supporting nonprofit organizations with funding and volunteers.

About City Year

City Year unites a diverse corps of young adults, ages 17 to 24, for a demanding year of full-time community service, leadership development and civic engagement. Founded in Boston in 1988, City Year has established programs in Boston; Chicago; Cleveland; Columbia, SC; Columbus; Detroit; Little Rock; New Hampshire; New York; Philadelphia; Rhode Island; San Antonio; San Jose/Silicon Valley; Seattle/King County and Washington, D.C. City Year South Africa is launching in 2005. Lead investors in City Year include The Atlantic Philanthropies, Bank of America, Cisco Systems, Comcast, CSX, and The Timberland Company. City Year is a proud member of AmeriCorps. Visit www.cityyear.org for more information.

(1) Survey conducted among 1118 adults across the United States in
August 2005 by Russell Research/Russell Omnibus. For a survey
of this size, the sampling error is +/- 3.1 percent at the 95
percent confidence level.


Copyright Business Wire 2005

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