This year, Ace will select 10 community organizations to receive $10,000 and one day of service.

Throughout the month of August, you can nominate a "helpful place" in your town that's in need of a makeover. Nominations will be due by August 31, 2008 and 10 winners will be announced by early September.

"New Faces for Helpful Places" Background

Every community has a helpful place - a local organization that provides help to those in need and contributes to the overall well-being of the community. While these organizations hold a special place in the heart of every community, many times the facilities that are home to these organizations are in need of a little TLC.

Since 2004, Ace Hardware - known as the "helpful place" - has teamed up with its store owners, Ace's "Helpful Hardware Man" Lou Manfredini, and local communities across the country to give facelifts to these types of facilities because giving back to the communities in which Ace stores serve has been part of Ace's history for more than 80 years.

Known as the "New Faces for Helpful Places" program, Ace has renovated 29 organizations, each time rounding up a crew of local volunteers for one day, donating money and supplies, and providing renovations such as new paint, lighting, storage, and bathroom and kitchen repairs. In total, Ace has donated $200,000 to local "helpful places" across the country.