Rebuilding Together, Lowe's Announce Rehabilitation of Six Homes In Acadiana, La.

Projects in Gulf Coast Latest of More Than 200 in Multi-Year National Partnership

WASHINGTON, Jan. 18 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, Rebuilding Together, the nation's leading nonprofit organization working to preserve affordable homeownership, announced that Rebuilding Together Acadiana's CapacityCorps team will use part of the $1 million commitment from the Lowe's Charitable and Educational Foundation to rehabilitate several homes in the Abbeville and New Iberia neighborhoods of Acadiana, La., during the week of January 18 to January 22, 2010.

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Several homes that were damaged by hurricanes will undergo extensive improvements, including deconstruction work, roof repair, weatherization, wheelchair ramp construction, and other home accessibility modifications.  

One home that was damaged beyond repair by Hurricane Gustav in 2008 will be deconstructed by CapacityCorps members for the homeowners—a Vietnam veteran, his wife and their daughter who has a disability—in order to move the family one step closer to returning to a safe and healthy home.  The family currently resides in a FEMA trailer and has been waiting for help to transform the damaged residence back into a safe and efficient home.

Rebuilding Together and the Lowe's Charitable and Educational Foundation have been working together since 2007, and more than 220 rebuild projects have been successfully completed across the country through the partnership.  The Lowe's Charitable and Educational Foundation has awarded a total of  $3 million to Rebuilding Together, allowing both organizations to make a difference in communities by providing safe, warm, dry, and energy efficient homes to homeowners in need.

Lowe's also funds Rebuilding Together's AmeriCorps program, CapacityCorps.  This program increases the capacity and capability of Rebuilding Together affiliates by focusing on community outreach, project implementation, and volunteer recruitment. CapacityCorps fosters the education and advancement of our nation's future leaders and allows more low-income homeowners and families to experience the lasting effects of a Rebuilding Together rehabilitated home.  

ABOUT REBUILDING TOGETHER

Rebuilding Together is the nation's leading nonprofit organization working to preserve affordable homeownership and revitalize neighborhoods by providing critical home repair and modification services to those in need at no cost to homeowners. With the help of everyday citizen volunteers, skilled trades people, the support of local business and major corporate partners, Rebuilding Together affiliates in America's largest cities and smallest towns make life considerably better for thousands of low-income homeowners and the communities in which they live by completing 10,000 projects per year.  In addition to its core home repair work, Rebuilding Together also rehabilitates community centers and conducts home modification and repair programs that focus on aging in place. Rebuilding Together has programs dedicated to ageing in place, energy efficiency, veteran's housing, and disaster recovery and reconstruction.

For more information, visit www.RebuildingTogether.org.

ABOUT LOWE'S

Lowe's is a proud supporter of Rebuilding Together, American Red Cross, United Way of America, and the Home Safety Council, in addition to numerous non-profit organizations and programs that help communities across the country.  In 2008, Lowe's and the Lowe's Charitable and Educational Foundation together contributed more than $25 million to support community and education projects in the United States and Canada. Lowe's also encourages volunteerism through the Lowe's Heroes program, a company-wide employee volunteer initiative.  Lowe's is a FORTUNE® 50 company with fiscal year 2008 sales of $48.2 billion and has more than 1,700 stores in the United States and Canada.  For more information, visit Lowes.com/community. Follow us on Twitter @Lowes and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Lowes.

SOURCE Rebuilding Together