The Home Depot Foundation Invests $5.5M in Disaster Preparedness and Community Resilience Ahead of Storm Season
ATLANTA, May 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- As hurricane season approaches, The Home Depot Foundation is directly supporting efforts to help communities better prepare for, withstand and recover from natural disasters by investing more than $5.5 million in grants to nonprofit partners. These grants, along with mitigation training for those partners supporting rebuilding efforts, will aid communities through every stage of the disaster response cycle.
Beyond philanthropy, The Home Depot activates its Disaster Response Command Center for significant disasters, providing continuous, daily communication between teams, impacted stores and suppliers. The Command Center organizes more than 100 expert associates across the business in real-time ahead of a storm. This approach supports communities at every stage, from immediate relief to long-term recovery, by combining operational expertise with resilient building practices to create stronger, safer homes.
Disaster Investment Highlights
The $5.5 million grants will fund:
- Community resilience and fortification efforts by Habitat for Humanity International, including repairs and rehabilitations in Augusta, Georgia; Lafayette, Louisiana; and Planada, California, and the construction of new homes in California and Northwest Iowa.
- Team Rubicon's response efforts to train 8,000 volunteers and its long-term recovery work through the completion of 100 home repairs.
- The design and completion of Operation Blessing's mobile "energy hub" trailer where community members can access WiFi and charge their power tools and other devices.
- The establishment of Inspiritus' centrally located warehouse in South Georgia and specialized training for its volunteers to lead immediate response and long-term recovery efforts.
- The maintenance of a 450-unit housing complex for those who lost their homes during the 2023 Lahaina wildfire, in partnership with HomeAid Hawaii.
- The development of the "Strong Homes" program with the Federal Alliance for Safe Homes (FLASH), designed to train nonprofit construction managers in FORTIFIED Gold standards and resilient building practices.
"Preparedness is a year-round commitment to building stronger, disaster-ready neighborhoods," said Erin Izen, executive director of The Home Depot Foundation. "With our research showing a "recovery lag" in areas rebuilding after a wildfire, hurricane or tornado, we're working to prioritize both reactive recovery and proactive resilience."
Prioritizing Fortification and Long-Term Recovery
The Foundation's focus on fortification comes at a critical time, with the country experiencing an average of 23 billion-dollar disasters each year since 2020. As the cost of long-term recovery becomes less sustainable, it's increasingly important to support community resilience; in fact, the National Institute of Building Sciences has found that every $1 spent on hazard mitigation saves $6 in future recovery costs.
Long-term recovery remains a cornerstone of the Foundation's work with partners. In Pensacola, Florida, the local Habitat for Humanity affiliate recently completed all recovery work from damage caused by Hurricane Sally in 2020. A testament to the Foundation's "last out" philosophy – staying long after media attention fades, ensuring communities have the support they need to fully recover– this multi-year partnership provided the final funding needed to repair homes and return families to their communities.
"Pensacola is a resilient community, but resilience has its limits," said Andrew Rhodes, director of development for Pensacola Habitat for Humanity. "Nearly six years after Hurricane Sally, blue tarps still dot our neighborhoods – a lingering reminder of damage that many lower-income homeowners simply couldn't afford to fix. For them, a leaking roof became something to endure quietly and alone.
"The Home Depot Foundation changed that," he added. "By repairing the roofs and addressing the resulting interior damage, they've provided more than just a home improvement. For the first time in years, these families don't have to worry when the clouds gather. This is stability, dignity and safety restored."
Additional Foundation grants will fund programs with American Red Cross, Convoy of Hope, World Central Kitchen and Appalachia Service Project. This funding will support ongoing disaster response and long-term recovery efforts, including building homes for Hurricane Helene victims in the Asheville area, purchasing bulk food and distributing to those in need, providing shelter and financial assistance, and pre-positioning supplies for immediate response operations in warehouses around the country.
About The Home Depot Foundation
The Home Depot Foundation, a nonprofit supported by The Home Depot (NYSE: HD), works to improve the homes and lives of U.S. veterans, support communities impacted by natural disasters and train skilled tradespeople to fill the labor gap. Since 2011, the Foundation has invested more than $650 million in veteran causes and improved more than 70,000 veteran homes and facilities. The Foundation has pledged to invest $750 million in veteran causes by 2030 and $50 million in training the next generation of skilled tradespeople through the Path to Pro program by 2028. To learn more about The Home Depot Foundation visit HomeDepotFoundation.org and follow us on Twitter @HomeDepotFound and on Facebook and Instagram @HomeDepotFoundation.
About The Home Depot
The Home Depot is the world's largest home improvement specialty retailer. At the end of the fiscal year 2025, the company operated a total of 2,359 retail stores and over 1,250 SRS locations across all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, 10 Canadian provinces and Mexico. The Company employs over 470,000 associates. The Home Depot's stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: HD) and is included in the Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor's 500 index.
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SOURCE The Home Depot Foundation