ATLANTA — Retail giant Home Depot has launched its first gift card to commemorate civil rights, just in time for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the inauguration of Barack Obama, and Black History Month in February.
The gift cards are available in the chain’s nearly 2,000 U.S. stores and at . The commemorative gift cards say “Join the dream” and “It all can be a reality.”
It’s Home Depot’s way of embracing the excitement around the historic inauguration and the Center for Civil and Human Rights being built in Atlanta to, in part, make a permanent home for historic King documents, the company said.
Five percent of the amount purchased on the gift cards will be donated to the center that is slated to open downtown in 2011.
The Home Depot Foundation contributed $1 million toward bringing those documents to Atlanta in 2006.
“I give our chairman and CEO Frank Blake credit,” said Marvin Ellison, executive vice president of U.S. stores. “He felt it was important for Home Depot to continue to re-establish itself as a great corporate citizen of Atlanta.”
Blake wanted to “take the next step to help build a permanent home to house the papers,” Ellison explained.
This will be Home Depot’s first gift-card program that lets customers get involved with a fundraising drive. The company wants to raise $1 million through the gift card, which will be on sale through Feb. 28, Ellison said.
“It’s obviously very exciting to partner with Home Depot, a great Atlanta company,” said Doug Shipman, executive director of the civil rights center.
