THE HOME SAFETY COUNCIL® RECEIVES $3 MILLION CONTRIBUTION FROM LOWE’S

Lowe’s Continues Dedication to Keeping Families Safe at Home

Robin Frye of Lowe’s Community Relations awards Meri-K Appy, President of the Home Safety Council the $3 Million contribution check from Lowes.

WASHINGTON, DC – Proving that home improvement extends to home safety, Lowe’s and its vendor partners have donated $3 million to the national nonprofit Home Safety Council (HSC). The founding sponsor’s donation follows 13 years of support for community education and outreach that helps prevent injuries in the home.

“At Lowe’s we recognize that the best way for families to improve their homes is by making them safer,” said Larry D. Stone, chairman of the Lowe’s Charitable and Educational Foundation. “Through our continued support of the Home Safety Council, Lowe’s and our vendor partners hope to help HSC expand its successful education and outreach programs to arm millions of families with the knowledge they need to stay safe at home.”

With the vision that American homes could and should be safer, Lowe’s founded the Home Safety Council in 1993 as the only national nonprofit organization solely dedicated to preventing injuries at home. The research Lowe’s conducted at that time revealed home injuries to be a serious problem and cemented the need and future of the Home Safety Council.

“As the Home Safety Council’s founding sponsor, Lowe’s was way ahead of its time in recognizing the need to focus on home injury prevention,” said Meri-K Appy, president of the Home Safety Council. “Lowe’s helped bring national attention to home safety during a time when most American families took their homes for granted as a safe haven. With Lowe’s continued support, the Home Safety Council has been able to educate millions of people on the value of home safety through a host of programs and activities.”

As the Home Safety Council has grown and expanded over the past 13 years, Lowe’s has contributed millions of dollars to help fund home safety outreach programs and community service initiatives, including the Great Safety Adventure, an interactive traveling children’s exhibit, as well as the Home Safety Council’s critical work with local fire and life safety educators.

Now entering its ninth year on the road, the Great Safety Adventure tours the country visiting elementary schools and stopping in at Lowe’s stores on the weekend to teach children and their families how to stay safe in and around the home. The award-winning “field trip on wheels” has reached nearly one million children, parents and teachers, arming them with critical home safety knowledge.

The Home Safety Council’s Expert Network is a free online resource that now serves nearly 4,500 community safety educators with downloadable injury prevention educational materials for use at the local level. With the support of Lowe’s, HSC is also able to offer a variety of outstanding print and video teaching tools on home safety topics to members of the Expert Network at little or no cost.

About the Home Safety Council

The Home Safety Council (HSC) is the only national nonprofit organization solely dedicated to preventing home-related injuries that result in nearly 20,000 deaths and 21 million medical visits on average each year. Through national programs, partnerships and the support of volunteers, HSC educates people of all ages to be safer in and around their homes. The Home Safety Council is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization located in Washington, DC.

About Lowe’s

With fiscal year 2005 sales of $43.2 billion, Lowe's Companies, Inc. is a FORTUNE® 50 company that serves approximately 12 million customers a week at more than 1,350 home improvement stores in 49 states. Based in Mooresville, N.C., the 60-year-old company is the second-largest home improvement retailer in the world. For more information, visit Lowes.com.