Homepoint.Com Announces National Partnership With The Jason Foundation To Combat Teen Suicide

Furniture World Magazine

HomePoint.com (www.homepoint.com), title sponsor of the HomePoint.com Music City Bowl, announced its national partnership with The Jason Foundation, Inc., a Nashville-based non-profit organization dedicated to the awareness, education and prevention of teen suicide. This alliance signals an important response to U.S. Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher's "call to action" to combat what has been termed a national health emergency. Through its partnership, HomePoint.com plans to sponsor local, regional and national initiatives to help battle this problem, now the second leading cause of death for teens, ages 15-19. HomePoint.com, the online home furnishings supersite, will assist the organization in financing and expanding its key programs and seminars. Initially, HomePoint.com will help The Jason Foundation nationalize its pioneering education and prevention program, "A Promise for Tomorrow," and make it available to parents, teens and teachers. HomePoint.com will also deploy its Internet expertise to redesign The Jason Foundation website (www.jasonfoundation.com), re-launching it as an informative, educational and interactive site to appeal to a broad range of users. Finally, HomePoint.com will provide links to the Jason Foundation driving incremental visitors to the site. Mike West, president and CEO of HomePoint.com said, "The Jason Foundation is an outstanding organization with resources that should be available to any teen or parent in the U.S. We are proud to fill their need for a national partner to help spread the word about this significant health problem that affects our nation's youth." A. Clark Flatt, president and CEO of The Jason Foundation said, "As a parent that has suffered through the tragedy of losing my child to suicide, being able to expand the efforts of this organization to reach teens and parents on a broader scope realizes a personal goal." He continued, "All of us at The Jason Foundation, including our national spokesperson Coach Phillip Fulmer of the University of Tennessee Volunteers, are thrilled to have HomePoint.com as our partner. We're certain that together we will go a long way in garnering national attention for this issue." HomePoint.com (www.homepoint.com), which is headquartered in Greenville, SC, first debuted in December 1998, under the FurniturePoint.com brand name. The organization subsequently blossomed into HomePoint.com in June. In August, 1999, HomePoint.com secured $16.5 million in equity financing from Catterton Partners and GE Equity, along with New Millennium Partners and Piedmont Venture Partners, to be directed toward building the HomePoint.com brand, operating expenses and developing its home furnishings supersite. HomePoint.com services consumers with a comprehensive selection of home furnishings, free shipping in the continental U.S., design consultation and a 100 percent customer satisfaction guarantee. The Jason Foundation, Inc. (1-888-881-2323) was formed after the tragic suicide of the founder's son, Jason Flatt. Alarmed to discover that teen suicide is the second leading cause of death for teens and that few programs are available addressing the prevention strategies, A. Clark Flatt, president and CEO, created the Jason Foundation. The organization focuses on teen suicide awareness, education and prevention to combat the rising tragedy of teen suicide in our nation. Programs are provided free of charge to schools, churches and other youth organizations. The Jason Foundation now has one or more of its programs underway in 28 states and four foreign countries. The Jason Foundation is a non-profit 501 (C) (3) corporation. For more information contact melissa.introne@homepoint.com