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1,000 Residents of Johnson City Area Will Receive Arbor Day Foundation Membership in $pruce Up Your Home Contest

Nebraska City, Neb. (April 24, 2009) – The landscape of Johnson City, Tenn., and its surrounding communities will get a healthy splash of green this year thanks to Dow Advanced Materials (formerly Rohm and Haas Company), Dow Coatings Paint Quality Institute and the company's $pruce Up Your Home contest Grand Prize winner Cathy Horner.

As part of the Grand Prize, 1,000 residents and nonprofit organizations in and around Johnson City will receive 10 free trees as part of a 6-month membership to the Arbor Day Foundation. The Arbor Day Foundation is the nation's largest nonprofit organization dedicated to planting trees.

The first 1,000 residents and nonprofit organizations of the Johnson City area to register at www.arborday.org/spruceupyourhome between now and the end of the year or until all memberships have been given away will receive 10 free trees from the Arbor Day Foundation as part of the $pruce Up Your Home contest. The 10,000 trees distributed to the area will have a positive impact on the environment and in the entire community.

"The trees planted in and around Johnson City through the $pruce Up Your Home contest will have a significant impact on the health of the community," said Kevin Sander, director of corporate partnerships at the Arbor Day Foundation. "Trees add many benefits to a community, and we are happy to team up with Rohm and Haas to distribute Arbor Day Foundation trees to people in Johnson City."

As the $pruce Up Your Home Grand Prize winner, Horner received an exterior house paint job, an $8,000 home improvement gift card, a 5-foot-tall tree planted in her yard and a membership to the Arbor Day Foundation.

The $pruce Up Your Home contest was created to help families maintain and better their homes. The contest began in September 2008 and extended through February 2009.

The contest was created in honor of Rohm and Haas Company's (now a part of Dow Advanced Materials) water-based acrylic technology being designated a National Historic Chemical Landmark by the American Chemical Society (ACS) in late 2008. The technology can be found in everything from house paints, caulks, adhesives to dishwashers, baby diapers and even on or behind the walls of China's Forbidden City. The environmentally advanced technology has taken 20 million tons of VOCs out of the air since 1953 – the equivalent of six pounds of fewer pollutants in the air for every man, woman and child alive in the world as of Aug. 1, 2008.

Eight runners-up received up to $5,000 for an exterior paint job for their home, a 2-foot-tall Colorado blue spruce seedling and a 6-month membership to the Arbor Day Foundation.

To learn more about budget-friendly spruce ups for your home, please visit www.paintquality.com/spruceup.

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About the Arbor Day Foundation: The Arbor Day Foundation is a nonprofit conservation organization of nearly one million members, with a mission to inspire people to plant, nurture, and celebrate trees. More information on the Foundation and its programs can be found at arborday.org.

About the Paint Quality Institute: The Paint Quality Institute (SM) was formed by Rohm and Haas Company (now Dow Advanced Materials) in 1989 to educate people on the advantages of using quality interior and exterior paints and coatings. The Paint Quality Institute's goal is to provide information on the virtues of quality paint as well as color trends and decorating with paint through a variety of vehicles, including television appearances, newspaper and magazine articles, and instructional literature. Please be sure to visit the Paint Quality Institute at www.paintquality.com.

About the Arbor Day Foundation

The Arbor Day Foundation is a global nonprofit inspiring people to plant, nurture, and celebrate trees. It is a growing community of more than 1 million leaders, innovators, planters, and supporters united in the belief that trees bring people together to do great things. For more than 50 years, the Arbor Day Foundation has answered critical need by activating a vast network of individuals and organizations to plant trees with purpose and scale. To date, it has planted more than 500 million trees in forests and communities in more than 50 countries. And this is only the beginning.

The Arbor Day Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit pursuing a future where all life flourishes through the power of trees. Learn more at arborday.org.