Extreme Volunteering: 2,000 Aaron's Managers to Give More Than Half a Million in Product and Monetary Donations and 5,100 Hours of Service to Dallas-Area Non-Profits

ATLANTA, March 20, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Aaron's, Inc. (NYSE: AAN), the nation's leader in the sales and lease ownership and specialty retailing of residential furniture, consumer electronics, home appliances and accessories, will hold its annual national store managers meeting March 20-22 in Dallas.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090423/CL03821LOGO)  

For the fourth year in a row, Aaron's associates will dedicate one day to "Extreme Volunteering" – a large-scale outreach effort to community projects benefiting military service members, area children and the community. This year marks Aaron's second visit to the Dallas area for its national meeting and community service endeavor.

Nearly 2,000 Aaron's associates will invest 5,100 hours and more than $500,000 in product and service donations. As part of the donation, the Company will present the American Cancer Society with a check for approximately $200,000 from funds raised during an employee campaign. Over the past four years, Aaron's managers will have invested 20,800 hours and $1.5 million in product and service donations to surrounding communities through outreach projects conducted at national meetings.

"The community outreach component of the annual managers meeting has become a highlight for all our participants, and the event reflects how deeply giving back to the communities we serve is embedded into our Company philosophy," said Ron Allen, Aaron's, Inc. President and Chief Executive Officer. "Texas is one of Aaron's largest and most successful markets, and we wanted to give back to a community in which we've been fortunate enough to build so many loyal customer relationships."

Updates from the meeting will be posted on: http://aaronsmeeting.wordpress.com/

Aaron's 2012 Dallas-Area Community Outreach Events for Wednesday, March 21

1. The Be the Match Foundation
   Location: The Gaylord Texan, 1501 Gaylord Trail, Grapevine, TX 76051
   Time: 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.   – The National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) and the Be the Match Foundation are nonprofit organizations dedicated to creating an opportunity for all leukemia patients to receive the bone marrow or umbilical cord blood transplant they need, when they need it. Every year, thousands of people of all ages are diagnosed with leukemia and other life-threatening diseases. About 70 percent of patients in need of a transplant do not have a matching donor in their family and depend on the NMDP's Be The Match Registry® to find an unrelated donor or umbilical cord blood unit. Aaron's will proudly host a Be the Match event to expand the registry and save more lives. This project was inspired by Mercede Joy Carmichael, the granddaughter of Mike Stewart, assistant regional manager of the Central North Carolina Region, who lost her battle with leukemia last month at the young age of 9. For more information, visit www.marrow.org.
   
2. Buckner Children & Family Services
   Location: 5200 Buckner Blvd. Dallas, TX 75227
   Time: 7 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. - Utilizing the power of volunteers' commitment, knowledge and expertise, Aaron's, Inc. is partnering with Buckner Children & Family Services in an effort to enrich the lives of children in foster care, enhance community programs for at-risk youth and provide aid and support to disadvantaged families. With an emphasis on education, recreation and essentials, volunteers will work together to create a lasting impression by executing various on-site service projects on the Buckner Campus. Associates will install new bedroom furniture and computers in the Sadler Cottages, and thousands of books, bookcases and rocking chairs will be donated. Additionally, assigned volunteers will work alongside Buckner staff on campus at the Shoes for Orphan Souls warehouse and Center for Humanitarian Aid, where thousands of new shoes and supplies will be processed, sorted and packed. Lastly, selected entries of the Fostering Our Future Art & Writing Contest (pre-event contest) will award scholarship funds to four children while honoring their foster parents for their contribution and sacrifice. For more information, visit www.buckner.org.
   
3. Carter BloodCare Blood Drive
   Location:  The Gaylord Texan, 1501 Gaylord Trail, Grapevine, TX 76051
   Time: 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. – Carter BloodCare is pleased to once again be partnering with Aaron's to host an on-site blood drive at the Gaylord Texan Resort. In 2010, dedicated Aaron's managers donated 180 units of lifesaving blood; while this year nearly 450 Aaron's associates have committed to donating blood. As the level of sophistication in medical treatment increases, so does the need for blood. Every two seconds, someone somewhere in America needs a blood transfusion, and the supply can only be maintained by volunteer donors. Additionally, blood credits earned during the drive will be donated to Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children in Dallas. For more information, visit www.carterbloodcare.org.
   
4. The Helping Hands Project™
   Location:  The Gaylord Texan, 1501 Gaylord Trail, Grapevine, TX 76051
   Time: 7 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. – The Helping Hands™ Project is a destination community service project that partners Aaron's with The Boys and Girls Club of America. One hundred and fifty Aaron's team members will be on-site at a local Boys and Girls Club in the DFW area to complete an extreme makeover in just 3 hours. This project entails painting in and outdoors; landscaping including planting new flowers, trees and shrubs; building maintenance; and general clean-up and re-organization of the facility's outdated library. New bookshelves and cubbies, along with a portion of the books collected from the Aaron's Book Drive, will be donated to the club to create a warm and inviting environment that fosters motivation for reading. 
   
5. The Leave a Legacy Workshop
   Location:  The Gaylord Texan, 1501 Gaylord Trail, Grapevine, TX 76051
   Time: 7 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. – Most of the reading problems faced by today's adolescents and adults are the result of issues that might have been avoided or resolved in early childhood. Aaron's will help provide an environment that fosters motivation for and exposure to literacy by building reading benches, storage cubbies, rocking chairs and bookshelves that will be donated to The Boys and Girls Club of America and to Buckner Children & Family Services for the use by the foster children and parents. Aaron's will also donate books collected from the Aaron's Book Drive. For more information, visit www.leavealegacy.org.
   
6. Turn Up The Heat On Hunger - North Texas Food Bank
   Location:  The Gaylord Texan, 1501 Gaylord Trail, Grapevine, TX 76051
   Time: 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. – Texas leads the nation with the highest percentage of food-deprived families. In effort to end the increasingly urgent issue of hunger in North Texas, Aaron's is teaming with the North Texas Food Bank to bring hope to the tables of deserving families. Teams of Aaron's associates will work together to pack food boxes based on nutritional requirements. Aaron's will partner with the North Texas Food Bank to assist in assembling 20,685 meals for those in need. Aaron's will also be donating a Frigidaire 30-inch freestanding electric range stove for the Food Bank's Kids Cafe. For more information, visit www.ntfb.org.
   
7. Relay for Life – American Cancer Society
   Location:  The Gaylord Texan, 1501 Gaylord Trail, Grapevine, TX 76051
   Time: 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. – Continuing their commitment to the American Cancer Society, Aaron's volunteers will host a mini Relay for Life Event onsite at the Gaylord Texan. Relay for Life is one of the largest fundraising events for the American Cancer Society. It allows communities around the world to join together with one common goal - to fight cancer. Aaron's will have a host of activities and games as the associates walk to celebrate survivors, remember loved ones and fight back against cancer. The company will present the American Cancer Society with a check for more than $200,000 raised from a company-wide employee campaign. For more information, visit www.relayforlife.org.
   
8. VA North Texas Health Care System, Dallas VA Medical Center
   Location:  4500 South Lancaster Road Dallas, TX 75216
   Time: 7:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. – VA North Texas Health Care System serves over 111,000 patients each year, delivering over one million outpatient visits to veterans in 38 North Texas counties and two counties in southern Oklahoma. The second largest VA in the nation, Dallas VA Medical Center is an 84-acre campus with four ICUs, a spinal cord injury center, state of the art MRI center and a women's mammography suite. Innovative clinical services include cardiac surgery, geriatric care and interventional chronic pain procedures, to name a few. In support of Dallas VA Medical Center and its commitment to providing veterans excellence in patient care, Aaron's will demonstrate its strength in numbers with furniture donations to be used in the patient and waiting areas of GI, ICU, dialysis, homeless domiciliary and the Guest House on the 9th floor. For more information, visit www.northtexas.va.gov.

About Aaron's, Inc.

Aaron's, Inc. (NYSE: AAN), the nation's leader in the sales and lease ownership and specialty retailing of residential furniture, consumer electronics, home appliances and accessories, has more than 1,950 Company-operated and franchised stores in 48 states and Canada. Founded in 1955 by entrepreneur and current Chairman R. Charles Loudermilk, Sr. and headquartered in Atlanta, Aaron's has been publicly traded since 1982. For more information, visit www.aarons.com.

SOURCE Aaron's, Inc.