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Lowe’s awards $20k to Keep Covington Beautiful to support Empower Tools’ free tool lending service


Keep America Beautiful, the nation’s iconic community improvement nonprofit organization, announced the organization is providing Keep Covington Beautiful with a $20,000 grant as part of the 2017 Keep America Beautiful/Lowe’s Community Partners Grant Program.

The 2017 Keep America Beautiful/Lowe’s Community Partners Grant Program engages local volunteers to take action to benefit their community with projects that focus on critical needs.

“Lowe’s has been empowering our national network of affiliates with significant Lowe’s Community Partners Grants for years, helping Keep America Beautiful turn public spaces into beautiful places,” said Helen Lowman, president and CEO of Keep America Beautiful. “We believe everyone has a right to live in a clean, green and beautiful community, and Lowe’s is taking responsibility to contribute to our vision.”

The Keep Covington Beautiful Grant will be used to support Empower Tools, a new free tool lending service in Covington. Available tools range from yard equipment to home improvement necessities and can be easily checked out at no cost with a Kenton County Library card. The store is located at 305 W. Pike and the hours are 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays and 4-7 p.m. on Wednesdays. The funds from the grant will be used to purchase new tools, more than doubling the current inventory, and supplies for monthly workshops.

Empower Tools is the result of research conducted by The Center for Great Neighborhoods (The Center) for its FreshLo initiative. While speaking to Covington residents, representatives from The Center discovered a need for a tool sharing program and workshops to learn more about urban gardening and property improvements.

To organize the tool lending service, The Center partnered with Wolf Tree Farms and the Kenton County Public Library.

”We are excited to partner with Empower Tools on this grant and increase their inventory so that Covington residents have the tools necessary to spruce up their properties,” said Jen Barnett, Vice President of Keep Covington Beautiful. “So much of KCB’s work is focused on empowering residents to beautify their neighborhoods, and this project gives our volunteers access to resources to be able to do just that.”

In addition to Keep Covington Beautiful’s grant initiative, Lowe’s is supporting more than 30 other grant-funded community service projects in 2017. Since the Keep America Beautiful/Lowe’s partnership began in 2012, Lowe’s has contributed more than $6 million and over 1,800 Lowe’s Heroes volunteers to help Keep America Beautiful improve communities.

The projects range from restoring neighborhood parks and planting community and school gardens to leading disaster restoration initiatives and large-scale cleanups.

“Our Lowe’s Heroes volunteers are ready to roll up their sleeves to help make our communities better places to live,” said James Frison, Lowe’s director of community relations. “By working with Keep America Beautiful to address critical needs, we’re demonstrating our commitment to protecting the environment and improving the health of our communities.”


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One Comment

  1. Amberly Emery says:

    I love this program..sometimes being a single home owner is over whelming..I have been able to borrow tools to maintain my yard and home..Thank you!!

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