For More Information:
Susan Dewhirst
Tom's of Maine
1-800-FOR-TOMS
sdewhirst@tomsofmaine.com

Tom’s of Maine Founders Honored by the Garden Club of America for Giving 10% of Profits to the Community and for Longstanding Commitment to Protect Rivers

(June 29, 2007 - Kennebunk, Maine)—Tom & Kate Chappell, cofounders of Tom’s of Maine, a leading natural personal care company, were recently awarded the Elizabeth Craig Weaver Proctor Medal from the Garden Club of America, a 94-year-old conservation organization with over 17,000 members.

The Chappells received the award for their personal commitment to conservation, for their corporate mission to protect the environment, for their sustainable business practices, and because they present one of the highest percentage donations of any corporation in America by distributing 10% of all Tom’s of Maine pre-tax profits to charitable causes.

Upon giving the award officials from the Garden Club of America stated: “Through corporate and personal donations and through Tom’s of Maine’s Rivers Awareness Partnership,™ the Chappells have been steadfast friends of rivers for many years on the local and national level. They and their family have done an enormous amount to create a river conservation ethic in America. In 1999, they linked the Maine Chapter of the Nature Conservancy’s St. John River Project with other river conservation groups and created a national marketing plan, which spurred the formation of scores of new watershed protection groups across the country. Personally and through Tom’s of Maine, they have supported many conservation projects in Maine. In addition to protecting the St. John River, they have helped protect the Kennebunk Plains, Katahdin Forest, the Mousam River Sanctuary, and other unique places, helping to make Maine a leader in creative conservation activities in the U.S. and the world. Tom and Kate Chappell’s corporate leadership is proactive and visionary.”

"At the heart of our lives, we have always integrated our core personal values, of caring for our communities and the environment, with our company’s values of social and environmental responsibility," stated Tom Chappell, cofounder and CEO of Tom's of Maine. "We believe a company can care for people, communities, and the environment while producing safe and effective products—and we are honored and grateful to be recognized for doing so."

About Tom's of Maine
Founded in Kennebunk, Maine, by Tom and Kate Chappell in 1970, Tom's of Maine creates effective personal care products using simple, natural ingredients derived from plants and minerals. Tom's of Maine products—toothpaste, mouthwash, floss, deodorant, and soap—do not contain artificial sweeteners, preservatives, colors, flavors, or animal ingredients; are tested for safety and efficacy without the use of animals; are biodegradable; and are packaged in earth-friendly ways. Our philosophy of "Natural Care" guides us in doing what is right for our customers, employees, communities, and environment. We fulfill our Natural Care mission by donating 10% of our profits to charitable organizations; by encouraging our employees to use 5% of their paid time in volunteer work; by adhering to our standards of natural, sustainable, and responsible; and by not testing on animals.

Tom’s of Maine products and packaging are designed to be sustainable and recyclable. Each year, we use packaging made of 100% recycled paper board. As a result, we save or prevent:

• 0.5 million pounds of solid waste
• 2.8 million gallons of wastewater
• 7 billion BTUs of electricity— that’s 70 years of electricity as required by the average U.S. home.
• 1 million pounds of greenhouse gases—that’s 1 million miles traveled in the average U.S. car
• 6,000 pounds of air pollution (HAPs, VOCs, TRSs combined)
• 26,732 pounds of hazardous effluent (BODs, TSSs, CODs, AOXs)

Tom’s of Maine also:

• Use vegetable-based inks on all of our professionally printed materials and packaging
• Wraps bar soaps in biodegradable cellulose made from wood fibers
• Created a deodorant stick made of just a single plastic (#5 polypropylene) so that it can be recycled—the first of its kind in the industry and a container that is even stronger and more reliable than the old nonrecyclable version!

About the Garden Club of America
The Garden Club of America, with headquarters in New York City, is a national nonprofit organization comprised of more than 17,500 members of GCA clubs who dedicate their energies and expertise to projects in their communities and across the nation. Founded in 1913, The Garden Club of America is a recognized national leader in the fields of horticulture, conservation, and civic improvement. Currently, there are 196 member clubs in 40 states as well as 8 foreign courtesy clubs.

The Garden Club of America works to stimulate the knowledge and love of gardening; to share the advantages of association by means of educational meetings, conferences, correspondence and publications; and to restore, improve, and protect the quality of the environment through educational programs and action in the fields of conservation and civic improvement.

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