| Carpet One Celebrates an Outstanding Year of Community Service
Stores Across North America Gave Back to Their Communities in 2004 Through Carpet One’s Cause-Related Campaigns
MANCHESTER, NH (February 12, 2005) – During the past
year, Carpet One has made a strong commitment on both a national
and local level to support a range of worthy causes. This year,
the floor covering retail group launched two new cause-related
campaigns – one to support breast cancer awareness and
one to join USA Weekend magazine’s National “Make
A Difference Day.” Plus, they continued to contribute
to the U.S. Marine Corps Toys for Tots Foundation corporately
and at a local level.
“With over 1,000 locations across North America, we have
the ability to help hundreds of communities and thousands of
people,” explained Evan Hackel, President of Carpet One.
“Our stores have really embraced the campaigns Carpet
One introduced this year – they are realizing how important
it is to give back to the community that supports their business
and how powerful Carpet One can be when we join forces.”
Carpet One “Made A Difference”
Carpet One kicked off their year of community service last spring,
when they introduced the “Carpet One Makes A Difference”
program to their retailers, in continuing support of children’s
literacy and education. In July, Carpet One stores across the
U.S. and Canada held elections, inviting customers to vote for
their local elementary school library to receive a flooring
“makeover.” Each store tallied their votes and announced
their winning schools in August, just in time for the back-to-school
season.
The makeovers took place on October 23, 2004, which was USA
Weekend magazine’s National “Make A Difference Day”
– the largest national day of community service. Over
100 school libraries received makeovers courtesy of Carpet One
stores. The makeovers included everything from installing new
carpet to creating a reading area; from re-painting the walls
to inviting a local artist to create a mural. Participating
stores, volunteers and teachers agreed – these makeovers
truly created a more positive learning environment for the students,
which made all their hard work and efforts worthwhile.
Carpet One stores donated and installed over 80,000 sq. feet
of flooring to complete makeovers that together are worth more
than $250,000! Approximately 30,000 school children from all
over North America benefited from this campaign.
Carpet One Supports the Fight Against Breast Cancer
October was a busy month for Carpet One – they also kicked-off
their “Carpet One Welcomes Your Support” campaign
for National Breast Cancer Awareness month. Over 800 Carpet
One stores donated profits from sales of specially designed
pink ribbon welcome mats to their local American Cancer Society
chapters and Canadian Cancer Society community offices. All
funds raised are going to support breast cancer research, advocacy,
awareness and patient services.
Carpet One is already looking forward to their spring “Carpet
One Welcomes Your Support” campaign, which will officially
begin in April. They will be introducing new welcome mat designs
– profits from which will also support the fight against
breast cancer.
Patrice Case from Florcraft Carpet One in Anchorage and Fairbanks,
AK reported that her store sold over 200 welcome mats in the
fall. “We felt we needed to get the word out about the
breast cancer welcome mats in as many forms of media as we could
– and we were able to attract a lot of attention to this
campaign,” explained Case. “We are very excited
to be able to offer such a wonderful product to help this worthy
cause and we’re really looking forward to the spring program!”
Carpet One set a goal of raising $250,000 for the year in the
U.S. alone. After the success of the fall program, they are
well on their way to reaching that goal during the spring campaign.
Carpet One Contributes to the Toys for Tots Foundation
for the Seventh Year
During the holiday season, Carpet One stores donated children’s
books to kids in their communities through the U.S. Marine Corps
Toys for Tots Foundation. Many stores even became drop-off locations,
inviting people in their area to bring in their toy donations,
which were later picked up by a representative from Toys for
Tots.
One Carpet One store became even more involved in the cause.
John Shepard, a former Marine from Carpet One of the Gulf Coast
in Panama City, FL, became the regional Toys for Tots coordinator
in his community. Shepard took on the responsibilities of using
Carpet One of the Gulf Coast as a collection center for donations,
coordinating with other collection centers in the area and organizing
the actual distribution of donations throughout the community.
Shepard was excited to report that he collected 3,760 toys
and book donations at his store alone! “I’m really
proud of the way that our community has supported this wonderful
cause,” he said. “The Toys for Tots program was
very successful this year and I’m glad that Carpet One
of the Gulf Coast has the opportunity to be involved.”
Carpet One stores donated thousands of books to the Toys for
Tots Foundation this year. In their continual support of children’s
literacy, stores in the U.S. and Canada have donated more than
335,000 books during the last seven years.
It’s clear that Carpet One has made a significant impact
on communities throughout North America this past year –
a rare accomplishment for a company of their size. “We
have the resources and the support both locally and corporately,”
explained Hackel. “It’s really incredible to think
that we have made an impact on so many people in the past year.
We are all really looking forward to continuing our support
in 2005!”
About Carpet One
Carpet One (carpetone.com), the largest unit of CCA Global
Partners, is North America’s largest floor covering retailer
with locations in the United States, Canada, Australia and New
Zealand. The stores are known for a broad selection of floor
covering products, distinctive warranties, excellent service
and exclusive brand names such as Liz Claiborne Flooring, LEES
For Living and Good Housekeeping. Headquarters are in Manchester,
New Hampshire; Ontario, Canada; and Queensland, Australia. |