HomeAid America, Costa Mesa, Calif., announced a national building partnership investment from Georgia-Pacific Corp. With this new addition, HomeAid America, a national non-profit organization dedicated to building shelters for the temporarily homeless, now boasts 13 national building partners who provide financial and in-kind resources to build temporary shelters for the homeless in 11 states across the country.

"We are honored to be a partner with HomeAid to benefit homeless men, women and children," says Dave Paterson, president of Georgia-Pacific Building Products. "When you have an opportunity to go beyond business as usual - to actually make a commitment to help the communities where we live and work - it's much more meaningful."

Georgia-Pacific contributed to HomeAid previously this year with the donation of a 3,400-square-foot, four-bedroom house, constructed on site as a demonstration home at the International Builders Show in Las Vegas in January. Built by Beazer Homes, another national building partner, the home was auctioned to the highest bidder with the proceeds providing seed funding for HomeAid's newest chapter, HomeAid Southern Nevada. The chapter will in turn launch a regional shelter development program serving the local community.

In 2003, GP donated a seven-bedroom home for abused teens that was showcased

at the International Builders Show. The home, also built by Beazer Homes, was donated to care provider, Olive Crest, a group that provides homes and loving families for youth; education and vocational training counseling; relationship building skills and spiritual support; parent and child abuse prevention education; health, nutritional and recreational activities.

Michael Lennon, president and CEO of HomeAid America, said, "We're very pleased we've been able to take our partnership with Georgia-Pacific to the next level to help the underserved." HomeAid provides transitional housing for community care providers that operate programs which provide vocational and life skills training for temporarily homeless individuals and families who have been affected by life-altering events such as sudden job loss, domestic violence, divorce or desertion, catastrophic illness, and drug or alcohol addiction.