Community Spotlight: Local Riding Therapy Group to Compete in National Contest

BRADENTON – Sarasota Manatee Association for Riding Therapy, Inc., a Bradenton nonprofit that supports local veterans, is enlisting area residents to help the organization win a $25,000 The Home Depot gift card by voting daily in February in The Home Depot Foundation’s second annual Aprons in Action Facebook contest. Voting runs through Feb. 28, 2013 at www.facebook.com/homedepotfoundation. The organization that receives the most votes during the month will win the $25,000 prize to help fund an organizational or community improvement project, and will have the opportunity to compete for the grand prize of $250,000 at the end of the year-long program.

In the February round of the competition, SMART is competing against three other veterans-focused organizations across the country including Grand Rapids Home for Veterans in Grand Rapids, Mich., Lompoc Veterans Memorial Building Foundation, Lompoc, Calif., and Screaming Eagle Foundation in Ft. Campbell, Ky. The runner-up organizations will receive $5,000 in The Home Depot gift cards.

“If we win the $25,000 from The Home Depot, we will be able to make some much needed improvements at SMART which will allow us to serve an even greater number of veterans and their family members. So help us make a difference by voting everyday on Facebook, and tell everyone you know to do the same!,” said Gail Clifton, executive director of SMART.

Aprons in Action Unites Communities to Support Veterans

Each month during the year-long Aprons in Action competition, The Home Depot Foundation will select four organizations that support U.S. veterans to compete for the monthly prize.  In May 2013, Facebook fans will be recruited by all 11 monthly winners to vote in the contest’s final round. The organization that receives the most votes will win the $250,000 grand prize from The Home Depot Foundation, and the organizations that earn the second and third most votes will win $150,000 and $100,000, respectively.

How To Vote

Voting runs from Feb. 1 at 9 a.m. ET through Feb. 28 at 11:59 p.m. ET. Find Aprons in Action on The Home Depot Foundation’s Facebook page. Voting is available on computers and mobile devices.

The final percentages of votes for each nonprofit will be posted on The Home Depot and The Home Depot Foundation’s Facebook pages on March 1 at 9 a.m. ET.

For more information and to view the program rules, visit The Home Depot on Facebook or go to www.homedepotfoundation.org. 

Across the country, The Home Depot Associates give back to their communities by volunteering their time and talents with local nonprofit organizations that support our nation’s veterans, like SMART. Volunteers from Team Depot will offer additional hours and supplies to each of the featured nonprofits for extra work in their communities through the Aprons in Action Program.

“The Aprons in Action program is a fun way for us to support the organizations that help our nation’s heroes,” said Kelly Caffarelli, president of The Home Depot Foundation. “Throughout the competition, we will provide $1 million to 44 deserving organizations to help them continue their service and generate awareness of their community efforts.”

About Sarasota Manatee Association for Riding Therapy, Inc. (SMART):

SMART is dedicated to enhancing the physical, emotional, and cognitive growth of individuals with special needs by providing a quality educational and recreational therapeutic horseback riding, carriage driving and equine assisted activities program. The Horses for Heroes program provides the benefits of horseback riding, driving and equine assisted activities to our area military service members and their families. The program is open to all veterans from all branches of the service and is designed to assist injured veterans and their families, veterans and their families in transition, and veterans and their families seeking personal enrichment, exercise and growth. SMART's Horses for Heroes program is provided at no cost to veterans and their families.

About The Home Depot Foundation:

The Home Depot Foundation is dedicated to improving the homes of U.S. military veterans through financial and volunteer resources to help nonprofit organizations. The Foundation has committed $80 million to these efforts over five years. 

Through Team Depot, the company’s associate-led volunteer program, thousands of Home Depot associates volunteer their time and talents to positively transform neighborhoods and perform basic repairs and modifications to homes and facilities serving veterans with critical housing needs.

Since its formation in 2002, The Home Depot Foundation has granted more than $340 million to nonprofit organizations improving homes and lives in local communities. To learn more and see our associates in action, visit www.homedepotfoundation.org, @homedepotfdn on Twitter , or www.facebook.com/homedepotfoundation.