Grainger Raises Awareness of Skilled Trades During Florida Georgia Line Summer Concert Tour

CHICAGO, June 5, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Grainger (NYSE: GWW), the leading broad line supplier of maintenance, repair and operating (MRO) products, today announced its sponsorship of 20 concerts throughout the Florida Georgia Line summer tour. During these stops, the duo will celebrate industrial trades professionals by honoring Grainger Tools for Tomorrow® scholarship program recipients. In addition, Grainger recently launched a sweepstakes for a chance to win Florida Georgia Line tickets for these 20 shows.

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"The story of Florida Georgia Line's Brian Kelley and Tyler Hubbard has similarities to many of our Grainger Tools for Tomorrow scholarship program recipients," said Deb Oler, vice president and general manager with Grainger. "Brian and Tyler each learned the lessons of hard work and persistence at a young age, and as they got older, learned their way around a toolbox by taking on a variety of jobs during the day as they worked on their music at night. This sponsorship allows us to celebrate the American worker and raise awareness of exciting careers in the skilled trades."

The U.S. is experiencing a shortage of trained, skilled laborers in manufacturing, welding and numerous other trades. These technical jobs are critical to the health of the economy and partnerships between industry, community colleges and local communities are needed to support and promote workforce development. To raise awareness of the opportunities in the trades and support students pursuing these careers, Grainger, in partnership with the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), launched the Grainger Tools for Tomorrow scholarship program in 2006. Designed to help students pursuing degrees in the industrial skilled trades realize their educational and career goals, the program awards scholarships to qualified students entering the final year of their technical education curriculum. Upon graduation, each student receives a customized tool kit from Grainger to kick-start their career. Since its inception, the program has offered more than 500 scholarships to 100 community colleges nationwide, with half designated for Veterans.

"Grainger works with businesses and institutions across virtually every segment of the economy and we have seen first-hand the impact of the skilled labor shortage affecting our customers' ability to thrive," said Laura Brown, Grainger's senior vice president of communications and investor relations.  "We continue to invest in technical education training through the Grainger Tools for Tomorrow scholarship program and are working to elevate awareness of the need for skilled workers."

For more information about this partnership, tour dates, Grainger's commitment to technical education and to enter for a chance to win concert tickets, visit: www.grainger.com/FloridaGeorgiaLine.

The Florida Georgia Line concert sponsorship was packaged by Premiere Networks, the leading audio network in the U.S.

About Grainger
W.W. Grainger, Inc., with 2012 sales of $9 billion, is North America's leading broad line supplier of maintenance, repair and operating products, with expanding global operations.

About Florida Georgia Line
Florida Georgia Line has skyrocketed since releasing back-to-back, multi-week #1 smashes in the US and Canada with the PLATINUM-certified "Get Your Shine On" and TRIPLE PLATINUM "Cruise," which combined with the remix (featuring Nelly) has sold over 3 million downloads. The record–breaking duo, comprised of Tyler Hubbard (Monroe, Georgia) and Brian Kelley (Ormond Beach, Florida), is the first in 21 years to top the Country airplay charts with their first two singles, according to Billboard. The ACM New Artist of the Year and New Vocal Duo or Group of the Year winners are currently touring with Taylor Swift's "THE RED TOUR" and Luke Bryan's "DIRT ROAD DIARIES TOUR" in support of their GOLD-certified Republic Nashville debut album, HERE'S TO THE GOOD TIMES. 

SOURCE W.W. Grainger, Inc.