NEBO, WV -- Mountain Re-Source Center (MRC) and Tile Partners for Humanity (TPFH), the tile industry partnership that is part of MRC, awarded the inaugural "Giving Green" award to Florida Tile for its support of community improvement projects through generous donations of ceramic tile.

The award celebrates significant support in the form of product donations, like tile, and the impact that those donations are able to make in communities around the world.

MRC and TPFH will present the award to Florida Tile at Coverings in Orlando, FL. The presentation will take place on Tuesday, April 17, at 3 p.m. at Florida Tile's booth.

Florida Tile has donated to TPFH and MRC since 2004, when it provided 895 square feet of floor tile for two Habitat for Humanity homes in Atlanta, GA. Since that time, the company has donated nearly 350 loads of tile that have gone to 17 states, 37 nonprofit organizations and nine countries.

For Herb Miller, Executive Director of MRC and TPFH, the award honors the impact of the contributions more than the quantity of material. "Through Florida Tile's donations, our partners have built six homeless shelters and built or rebuilt at least 10 schools and 15 clinics at home and abroad," he said. "It's incredible to realize that through their generosity and understanding of the need to support community improvement they have served more than 2,100 families. We are proud to partner with them and to recognize their ongoing efforts to improve lives around the world."

The tile serves partners both in the U.S.-- such as Habitat for Humanity and other community improvement organizations -- as well as organizations working abroad. MRC estimates that the material has benefited at least 175 communities and has traveled to Central and South America through MRC's nonprofit partners. A number of organizations work specifically in disaster relief, rebuilding communities after hurricanes along the Gulf Coast, flooding in Pennsylvania and the earthquakes in Haiti. Other MRC partners have used the tile to build schools and clinics in poverty-stricken areas in third world countries like Honduras and Guatemala.