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. 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 to the professional customer that complement and supplement The Home Depot's core do-it-yourself (DIY) retail offering. The Home Depot® offers customized solutions that target and meet the evolving needs of specific professional customers involved in government, residential and commercial construction and facility maintenance. 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® show their support of the military through a wide variety of programs, including:

Extended Military Pay and Benefits
The Home Depot has implemented extended and enhanced leave of absence (or LOA) benefits for its 1,800 deployed associates. Beyond making sure these associates have a job when they return home, The Home Depot equalizes pay differential and extends health benefits to all of its deployed associates. The company has extended these benefits to its associates for the duration of the Iraqi conflict.

Leadership Development Program
The Home Depot's Store Leadership Program (SLP) places dynamic and driven individuals with a strong foundation of strategic and technical skills on the fast track to store management positions. Since the inception of the program, approximately 550 junior military officers have been hired through SLP.

Operation Career Front
In September 2004, The Home Depot joined forces with the United States Departments of Defense, Labor and Veterans Affairs to launch Operation Career Front, an unprecedented program designed to provide career opportunities to veterans, separating and retiring service members and their spouses who are interested in transferring their unique skills, knowledge and abilities into a successful second career. Through this program, The Home Depot hired 43,000 former military personnel between 2003 and 2005.

Tool Donation
In 2004, The Home Depot donated $1 million in tools and materials to support United States military efforts in Iraq.

Project Homefront
In 2003, the company donated 1 million hours of volunteer service and $1 million to help military families with home repairs while their loved ones were away serving on active duty.

The USO and The Home Depot
Through a holiday gift card campaign set up by The Home Depot to benefit USO centers worldwide, the USO will receive 5 percent of all The Home Depot gift card sales redeemed between January 1-28, 2007, up to $1 million. Proceeds from this promotion will support the construction of new USO centers and the ongoing maintenance and capital upkeep of existing facilities. "During the past three years, The Home Depot has had as many as 1,800 associates called to active duty, and we are proud to support the USO's efforts to help them and other troops as they serve our country," says Bob Nardelli, chairman, president and CEO of The Home Depot.

The Home Depot also awarded the USO a $250,000 grant in 2005. This donation funded renovation projects for eight USO centers, and supported USO programs and services. USO centers receiving the grant funds included USO El Paso, Inc.; USO of Metropolitan New York, Inc.; USO of Illinois, Inc.; USO of North Carolina, Inc.; James S. McDonnell USO, Inc.; USO of South Texas, Inc.; USO of Pennsylvania & Southern New Jersey, Inc.; and USO of Greater Houston, Inc.

Awards and Recognition

• Military Officers Association of America’s Distinguished Service Award (2005)
• No. 2 Ranking – Top 10 Employers for Military Personnel – G.I. Jobs Magazine (2005)
• USO (United Service Organizations) Patriot Award (May 2005)
• Partnership for Public Service Private Sector Leadership Award (May 2005)
• Marine Corps Law Enforcement Foundation’s Most Distinguished American Award (June 2005)
• U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Citizenship in Action Award (2004)
• Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve’s Freedom Award (2004)
• AmeriCorps*NCCC Corporate Citizen Award (2004)
• Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve’s Homefront Award (2003)
• American Veteran Awards Corporate Patriotism Award (2002)