Foundation

Reading Garden Challenge

Stephen C. Foster Elementary School in Compton
wins 2010 Reading Garden Challenge

The Home Depot Center Charitable Foundation, Los Angeles Galaxy Foundation and The Home Depot to build Reading Garden on Earth Day

CARSON, Calif. (Friday, April 16, 2010) - The Home Depot Center Charitable Foundation, The Los Angeles Galaxy Foundation, and The Home Depot announced today that Stephen C. Foster Elementary School in Compton, Calif., is the winner of the 2010 Reading Garden Challenge and as a result will have a Reading Garden built on the campus of their school.

Elementary schools from Carson, Compton, Gardena, Long Beach, Lomita, Lynwood, Torrance and the Beach cities' had the opportunity to participate in the 2010 Reading Garden Challenge. The Challenge was supported by the National Education Association's (NEA) Lorax Student Earth Day and encouraged schools and students (grades K-5) to focus on Earth Day by reading Dr. Seuss' The Lorax and answering the Challenge Questions for the opportunity to have a Reading Garden built at their school.

There will be four days of activities at Stephen C. Foster Elementary School with preparations beginning on Monday, April 19 with an Earth Day Planting clinic for students with seeds donated by the America the Beautiful Fund. On Tuesday, April 20, there will be a clinic for students to paint pots and build birdhouses to be displayed in the Reading Garden. Meanwhile, on Wednesday April 21, supplies and materials will be delivered and the final preparations completed for the Reading Garden build. The week will culminate, on Earth Day, Thursday, April 22, with more than 80 volunteers from the LA Galaxy, Home Depot stores throughout the area, The Home Depot Center, and the NEA along with Stephen C. Foster Elementary School students building planters, installing arches and benches and planting flowers.

"We are pleased to once again partner with The Home Depot and The Home Depot Center Charitable Foundation to build a reading garden at Stephen C. Foster Elementary School and help instill and encourage a lifelong joy of reading for the students," said Gloria King, Director of the LA Galaxy Foundation. "We are thrilled to have the NEA join us for this year's Reading Challenge and build."

The Reading Garden is funded with proceeds from the 2009 How Suite It Is! fundraiser and a generous donation from The Home Depot. "The Home Depot recognizes and embraces a strong commitment to invest in children. Our partnership again this year with Los Angeles Galaxy Foundation and The Home Depot Center Charitable Foundation in building this reading garden is one way we are delivering on that promise, working to help more children grow and learn together in a safe, healthy environment," said Sherry Caraway, Community Affairs Manager of The Home Depot. "We are proud of our associates who have spent hundreds of volunteer hours working to revitalize Stephen C. Foster Elementary School. They have made an impact that will be felt by children for generations to come." Additional contributions were made by the America the Beautiful Fund, who donated seeds for the Earth Day Planting Clinic, the National Education Association's Lorax Student Earth Day, and Panera Bread Carson and Torrance.

On Saturday, August 28, the Los Angeles Galaxy Foundation and The Home Depot Center Charitable Foundation will host the 2010 How Suite It Is! fundraiser prior to the Galaxy's home game against the Kansas City Wizards to raise funds for additional reading gardens.

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