WASHINGTON, D.C.- Partners since 1996 with the goal of building and refurbishing playspaces across North America, KaBOOM! and The Home Depot® were honored with the 2006 Golden Halo Award today during the 4th Annual Cause Marketing Forum conference in New York City. The Cause Marketing Halo Award is America's highest honor for companies and organizations that give back to the community through creative and effective cause marketing campaigns.

"The Cause Marketing Halo Awards demonstrate the good that can be done when businesses and nonprofits team up," said David Hessekiel, president of Cause Marketing Forum, Inc., the program's organizer. "It's a competition in which we all win."

The award recognizes KaBOOM! and The Home Depot for their long term, high impact partnership that has positively affected the lives of thousands of children and communities across North America. Illustrating their commitment, the organizations recently launched an unprecedented community initiative to create and refurbish 1,000 playspaces in 1,000 days. The Home Depot is investing $25 million and nearly 1 million volunteer hours in support of this three-year program, which is expected to benefit 1.5 million parents and children.

"With The Home Depot's support, every day we are closer to making our vision of a great place to play within walking distance of every child in America a reality. This award not only recognizes the incredible role The Home Depot plays in that effort, but also the example they set as a leader in corporate philanthropy," said Darell Hammond, CEO and co-founder of KaBOOM!.

KaBOOM! and The Home Depot have worked together over the last 10 years to develop a community-build model that encourages civic leadership and revitalizes communities through creating great playspaces for children. With The Home Depot's financial and volunteer support, the partnership has mobilized more than 40,000 volunteers to build or improve more than 500 community playgrounds, skateparks and sports fields across North America.

"We are honored to receive this recognition and will continue to celebrate our commitment to volunteerism as we work with KaBOOM! to complete more than 500 playspaces by the end of the year," said Brad Shaw, senior vice president of Corporate Communications & External Affairs of The Home Depot. "Through this partnership, we have been able to connect with communities in a truly meaningful way and build on what is already a fundamental part of our culture - giving back to the communities where we live and work."

In August, KaBOOM! and The Home Depot will partner with Playworld Systems and Hands on Network to build 10 playgrounds in the Gulf Coast region during the week of the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina making landfall. The week-long effort is part of Operation Playground, a two-year KaBOOM! initiative to build 100 playgrounds in Gulf Coast communities affected by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

In addition to receiving the award, Hammond and Shaw were featured speakers at the conference and delivered addresses on corporate service and cause marketing partnerships.
KaBOOM! and The Home Depot were selected as this year's winners by an interdisciplinary panel of cause marketing experts based on conceptual strength, execution, business results and cause results. As winners of the 4th annual Cause Marketing Forum Golden Halo Awards, the organizations will be highlighted in a special section of Advertising Age magazine.

About KaBOOM! Celebrating its 10 year anniversary in 2006, KaBOOM! is a national nonprofit organization that envisions a great place to play within walking distance of every child in America. Over the past decade, KaBOOM! has used its innovative community-build model to bring together business and community interests to construct nearly 1,000 new playgrounds, skateparks, sports fields and ice rinks across North America. KaBOOM! also offers a variety of resources, including a Web portal and online community, regional and national trainings, grants and publications for communities that wish to plan a new playspace on their own. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., KaBOOM! also has offices in Chicago, Atlanta and San Mateo, Calif. For more information, visit http://www.kaboom.org.

About The Home Depot The Home Depot® is the world's largest home improvement specialty retailer, with 2,065 retail stores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, 10 Canadian provinces and Mexico. Through its HD SupplySM businesses, The Home Depot is also one of the largest diversified wholesale distributors in the United States, with more than 900 locations in the United States and Canada offering products and services for building, improving and maintaining homes, businesses and municipal infrastructures. In fiscal 2005, The Home Depot had sales of $81.5 billion and earnings of $5.8 billion. The Company employs approximately 355,000 associates and has been recognized by FORTUNE magazine as the No. 1 Most Admired Specialty Retailer and the No. 13 Most Admired Corporation in America for 2006. 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.

KaBOOM!

KaBOOM!

KaBOOM! is the national non-profit dedicated to the bold goal of ensuring that all children, particularly the 16 million American children living in poverty, get the active play they need to become healthy and successful adults. KaBOOM! has been a powerful champion for play since its founding in 1996, working with partners to build, improve, and open more than 15,000 playgrounds, engage more than 1,000,000 volunteers and serve more than 6,600,000 children. KaBOOM! creates and catalyzes great places to play; inspires, empowers and leads play advocates; and elevates the societal conversation about the importance of play in children’s lives. For more information, visit kaboom.org/act.

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