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NASCAR Driver Tony Stewart and the Office Depot Foundation Team Up to Donate 4,000 Book Bags to Atlanta-Area Children in Need

The donations will be made during a special "Back-to-School Celebration" event beginning at 4 p.m. local time at the Office Depot store located at 2625 Piedmont Road in Atlanta. In addition to Stewart, special guests will include Andrea Boone, commissioner of Constituent Services for Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and Saundy Hutto, director for new business development and marketing with Speedway Children's Charities.

This year, the Office Depot Foundation is celebrating the 10th anniversary of its National Backpack Program. Since the program began in 2001, Office Depot and the Office Depot Foundation have donated approximately 2.3 million backpacks and book bags to children in need.

"The Foundation is tremendously excited to offer this award-winning program for the 10th consecutive year," said Mary Wong, president of the Office Depot Foundation, who will participate in the event. "Every year, we have seen our backpacks and book bags bring hope to children whose families might not be able to afford to buy one for them. Parents and teachers alike tell us that we truly are helping children to build self-confidence, boost self-esteem and achieve greater success in the classroom - all as a result of being properly prepared for school."

Stewart will help host the "Back-To-School Celebration" event as he prepares for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Emory Healthcare 500 race at Atlanta Motor Speedway (Sunday, Sept. 5, 7:30 p.m. EDT, ESPN). He is a two-time Sprint Cup Series race winner at the 1.54-mile track. Stewart is partnering with the Office Depot Foundation for the second year in a row and is helping the organization donate more than 300,000 backpacks and book bags throughout this 2010 back-to-school season.

"I am very proud to partner with the Office Depot Foundation again this year and to be able to help kids in need across the country," Stewart said. "I can tell you from experience how rewarding it is to see the look on these kids' faces when they get a new book bag - it's an automatic boost of confidence for them and helps them feel ready to take on the new school year just like everybody else. No matter what career path you choose in life, education is the foundation to success, and every kid deserves to head back to school with the tools they need to succeed."

The non-profit organizations and schools scheduled to participate in the September 2 donation event include:

• Atlanta Public Schools
• Clayton County Schools
• DeKalb County School System/DeKalb County Public Schools Foundation
• Fulton Education Foundation
• CaringWorks
• CHRIS Kids, Inc.
• City of Refuge
• Communities In Schools of Atlanta
• Easter Seals North Georgia
• Georgia Alliance to End Homelessness, Inc.
• Metro Atlanta CASA
• SafeHouse Outreach
• Walter F. White Elementary School
• Women's Resource Center to End Domestic Violence

The Foundation is hosting more than 20 "Back-to-School Celebrations" in cities across the U.S. - five of which will include Tony Stewart. The Office Depot Foundation is partnering with a number of national non-profit organizations - including the Tony Stewart Foundation, the National Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) Association, Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA), Feed The Children, the Kids In Need Foundation, Nourish America, Zach Bonner's Little Red Wagon Foundation and the National Foundation for Women Legislators - whose members participate in all 50 states. For the third consecutive year, donations will be made to children of the Navajo Nation in Arizona and the Rosebud Sioux Tribe in South Dakota.

For Office Depot store locations, please click on Office Depot: Your Local Office Supply Store to find locations near you.

For more information on the Office Depot Foundation, go to www.officedepotfoundation.org/.

About the Office Depot Foundation

The Office Depot Foundation is an independent foundation (tax exempt under IRC Sec. 501(c)(3)) that serves as the independent charitable giving arm of Office Depot, Inc. In keeping with its mission, Listen Learn Care, the Foundation supports a variety of programs that help children succeed in school and in life; enable civil society (non-profit) organizations to become more efficient and effective; help people and businesses prepare for disasters, then recover and rebuild afterwards; strengthen local communities through grants, product donations and volunteerism; and encourage community development through entrepreneurship and economic innovation. For more information, visit www.officedepotfoundation.org.

About Office Depot

Every day, Office Depot is Taking Care of Business for millions of customers around the globe. For the local corner store as well as Fortune 500 companies, Office Depot provides products and services to its customers through 1,598 worldwide retail stores, a dedicated sales force, top-rated catalogs and a $4.2 billion e-commerce operation. Office Depot has annual sales of approximately $12.1 billion, and employs about 41,000 associates around the world. The Company provides more office products and services to more customers in more countries than any other company, and currently sells to customers directly or through affiliates in 53 countries.

Office Depot's common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ODP and is included in the S&P 500 Index. Additional press information can be found at: http://mediarelations.officedepot.com.

To become a fan of Office Depot on Facebook and receive exclusive content, offers and more, please visit www.facebook.com/officedepot. To follow Office Depot on Twitter, please visit www.twitter.com/officedepot.

Edelman for Office Depot Racing
Lisa Schmitz, 312-240-2604 (office)
773-459-5337 (mobile)
lisa.schmitz@edelman.com
or
Office Depot Foundation
Leon Rubin, 706-867-0278 (office)
561-251-8075 (mobile)
lrubin@jkggroup.com