'Aprons In Action': Four Detroit-Area Non-Profits Compete For $250,000 In Home Depot Foundation Contest

Four Detroit-area charities are vying for a big national prize to continue doing good in the community, and you can help one of them take home $250,000.

The Home Depot "Aprons in Action" initiative spotlights the volunteer efforts of Home Depot employees and the local community organizations they serve. The foundation focuses on improving the homes of veterans in need and their families.

In the course of the last year, Ronald McDonald House, LifeBUILDERS of Detroit, Jewish Family Service of Metropolitan Detroit and Taylor's VFW Post #4422 were each featured in one of the foundation's monthly contests and each won $25,000 in Home Depot gift cards.

Those monthly winners are now competing for a grand prize $250,000 cash. The winner will be chosen by public voting and the prizes awarded by the Home Depot Foundation. While organizations are shooting for the grand prize, the second, $150,000, and third, $100,000, are nothing to sneeze at.

The four metro Detroit do-gooder groups are up against seven other organizations from around the country. Michigan is the only state with more than one semifinalist.

Detroit's Ronald McDonald House serves as a home-away-from-home for families of children who are patients at Detroit Children's Hospital, and it would use the $250,000 to make critical repairs to its facilities. LifeBUILDERS, which serves Detroit's east side, plans to build a secondary home for youth with commercial kitchens.

The "Project Build!" program run by Jewish Family Service makes improvements to the homes of people who need help most, like building a ramp to make it easier for a child with cerebral palsy to enter and exit his house. Taylor's VFW POST #4422 would use $250,000 to assist more returning veterans with home repair and other services they cannot afford.

Voting closes March 31, but in the meantime you can vote once daily for your favorite charity organization on Home Depot Foundation's Facebook page.