The Nutro Company Launches Nationwide Grant Program to Enhance Dog Parks

NASHVILLE, TN--(Marketwire - Jun 13, 2012) - The Nutro Company, a leading manufacturer of natural* pet food products, has teamed up with country singer Sara Evans to encourage dog owners nationwide to apply for grant support to help enhance their local dog parks during the third annual ROOM TO RUN™ Dog Park Appreciation Project. Now in its third year, The Nutro Company is expanding ROOM TO RUN™, a community program designed to support public, non-profit dog parks and off-leash areas, to encourage greater community engagement.

"As a proud dog owner, I'm excited to help The Nutro Company kick off the third annual event and to help spread the word to dog lovers around the country," said Sara Evans. "Our dog Roman is like a member of our family, and I know many people feel the same way about their own dogs. I support the ROOM TO RUN™ effort to give dogs and their owners an enhanced place to play and bond."

On June 13, 2012, the grant application forms will be available on the ROOM TO RUN™ grant website at www.easymatch.com/NutroRoomToRun. Thirty $2,000 grants will be awarded on a rolling basis (through October 2012) to help fund enhancement efforts in public, non-profit dog parks serving local communities in the U.S. Dog park enhancements may range from:

• General repairs and maintenance (e.g., painting benches, repairing fences)
• Installation of new agility equipment
• Landscaping
• Updates to water system
• Creation of a poop bag center

To award the grants, The Nutro Company has formed the ROOM TO RUN™ Associate Board to review and select parks that exhibit the greatest need. The deadline for entries is September 31, 2012.

"Enhancing dog parks is a natural fit for The Nutro Company, as we've had a long-standing commitment to promote a healthy lifestyle for pets by producing natural pet food for more than 80 years," said Kent Cunningham, vice president of Marketing for The Nutro Company. "Many of us use our own local dog parks as a place to interact and bond with our dogs, so we're excited to take ROOM TO RUN™ to the next level by encouraging community members to take action and apply for grant support to help enhance their local parks."

Since the program's inception in 2010, ROOM TO RUN™ has committed more than 3,000 man hours to enhance 60 dog parks across North America.

To learn more about the ROOM TO RUN™ Dog Park Appreciation Project, visit The Nutro Company's Community Initiatives page at www.nutro.com/about-us/community-initiatives.aspx or find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/NutroProducts (and click the ROOM TO RUN™ tab). Grant applications can be found online at www.easymatch.com/NutroRoomToRun until the September 31, 2012 deadline.

ROOM TO RUN™ criteria for grant support consideration include:

• Demonstrate the enhancement needs of the dog park and the resulting benefit to community (via explanation in application and photos)
• Confirm dog park officials are willing to make park enhancements and that they can be executed in a six-month time period
• Applicant and/or recipient dog park will provide photo updates of dog park enhancements
• Recipient dog park is willing to place a placard provided by The Nutro Company in the park for at least one year, commemorating the grant

About The Nutro Company
The Nutro Company is a leading manufacturer of natural* pet food products sold exclusively at pet specialty stores. The company has been making "The World's Best Pet Food" for more than 80 years and is dedicated to quality, excellence and innovation in dog and cat nutrition offering healthful formulas for every pet's life stage, activity level and size. The Nutro Company's family of brands includes NUTRO® MAX®, NUTRO® NATURAL CHOICE® and NUTRO® ULTRA™ pet food brands in addition to the GREENIES® brands which include the U.S. leader in pet specialty dental chews and GREENIES® PILL POCKETS® treats. For more information, please visit www.nutro.com and www.greenies.com.

About Sara Evans
Sara Evans is an ACM and CMA Award-winning recording artist with career sales of more than five million albums. Her smash singles include such chart-topping hits as "Born to Fly," "No Place That Far," "Suds in the Bucket," "A Real Fine Place to Start," and the multi-week number 1, "A Little Bit Stronger." Sara's new single "Anywhere," from her current RCA Nashville album Stronger, is now climbing the charts at Country Radio. For more information, please visit www.SaraEvans.com.

®/™ Trademarks © The Nutro Company 2011.
*With added vitamins and minerals.