AMERICUS — The Americus-Sumter County Fuller Center for Housing has been selected to participate in Framing Hope, The Home Depot’s national product donation program, in partnership with Gifts In Kind International, that matches Home Depot stores with local nonprofit organizations. As a beneficiary of the program, The Fuller Center will receive donated building and maintenance supplies and assorted home improvement products from The Home Depot store.

“This will be a great help to our efforts to build and repair homes in Sumter County for those who need a simple, decent place to live,” Kirk Lyman-Barner, the executive director of the Americus-Sumter County Fuller Center, said. “We are incredibly thankful for this gift.”

Launched in 2008, Framing Hope is funded by The Home Depot and The Home Depot Foundation and managed by Gifts In Kind International, an international charity that distributes new, donated products to qualified nonprofit organizations. Framing Hope’s mission is to support charitable organizations that focus on affordable housing initiatives with unsold, usable products from local Home Depot stores. Framing Hope allows nonprofit to stretch their dollars further and use their resources wisely with donated materials that help with the construction and maintenance of healthy, affordable housing.

“Framing Hope is a great example of a program that supports the triple bottom line, because it benefits people by providing supplies to support safe, healthy housing; it benefits the planet by diverting our unsold merchandise from landfills; and it benefits local non-profit by giving them additional resources,” said Kelly Caffarelli, president of The Home Depot Foundation. “We are delighted that The Americus-Sumter Fuller Center will be a part of the program, and we look forward to this partnership enhancing their ability to make a positive impact on the community.”

More than 825 Home Depot stores are partnered with about 650 nonprofit organizations across the country. The non-profit selection process and the specifics of the donation process for each are managed by Gifts in Kind International.

“The generous donations of The Home Depot to charitable organizations around the country help non-profits such as the Americus Fuller Center to survive these tough economic times and continue serving people in need in the community,” said Gifts In Kind International President and CEO Cindy Hallberlin. “Gifts In Kind is honored to work with The Home Depot to help non-profits and the people they serve in Americus and Sumter County obtain products that can help them be more successful.”

Charitable organizations wishing to partner with a local Home Depot store should contact Gifts In Kind International at 703-836-2121 or visit www.giftsinkind.org/homedepot.

The Fuller Center for Housing, an ecumenical Christian non-profit, was started in 2005 by Habitat for Humanity founder Millard Fuller as a way to continue his vision of a grassroots movement working to eliminate poverty housing worldwide. Finish this with two sentences about your local CP. Visit www.FullerCenter.org for more information.

Ranked by Forbes Magazine as one of the nation’s best-managed charities in America, Gifts In Kind International at www.giftsinkind.org, is dedicated to helping people and communities by distributing new corporate product donations — including books, toys, personal care products and clothing, building supplies, computers and other technology products and more — to qualified nonprofit organizations. The charitable organization works with more than half of the Fortune 100 consumer, retail and technology companies. Last year, Gifts In Kind distributed product donations valued at more than $400 million.

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, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, 10 Canadian provinces, Mexico and China. Created in 2002, The Home Depot Foundation supports nonprofit organizations dedicated to creating and preserving healthy, affordable homes as the cornerstone of sustainable communities. Since its formation, The Home Depot Foundation has granted $190 million to nonprofit organizations and supported the development of more than 95,000 homes, planted more than 1.2 million trees, and built or refurbished more than 1,875 playgrounds, parks and greenspaces. For more information, visit www.homedepotfoundation.org and follow them on Twitter at homedepotfdn.