Today at noon was the final day to cast your vote for Jerusalem House in its neck-and-neck battle with another nonprofit for a $25,000 award from Home Depot.  The winner will be officially announced July 1, but the nonprofit is posting via social media that it appears to have won the contest by some 200 votes.

Jerusalem House, Atlanta's oldest and largest provider of housing for homeless and low-income individuals affected by HIV/AIDS, went against other finalists The Abilities Foundation, based in Seminole, FL; Service International, from St. Louis, MO; and Teen Challenge from Reno, NV, as finalists in the Aprons in Action program. The tight battle came between Jerusalem House and Teen Challenge who exchanged leads throughout the voting process, with sometimes less than a dozen votes separating them at times.

Jerusalem House wins $25,000 in Home Depot Facebook competition

Today on Facebook and Twitter, Jerusalem House stated it believed it won the $25,000 from Home Depot gift card by just more than 200 votes.

“Well, the official results will be announced at 9 a.m. Eastern tomorrow, but we closed ahead of our nearest competitor by 200+ votes!
 Thank you everyone – it was a massive effort to win against an agency with multiple, nationwide locations, but – we did it Atlanta!” the agency posted to its Facebook page today shortly after noon.

Each finalist receives a $5,000 Home Depot gift card, and the grand prize, awarded to the cause with the most votes after 30 days, will be given a $25,000 gift card. Jerusalem House Executive Director Charlie Frew says that winning the grand prize would go to good use.

“Being selected as a finalist for the Aprons in Action program is an honor, and we are so thankful for the recognition,” said Frew.

“If we actually win the $25,000 Home Depot gift card, we’ll be able to finally build permanent steps at our Family Program and provide a safe pathway for our child residents to catch their buses for school, and for our mothers to access public transportation for work and medical treatment. So we encourage everyone to go to Facebook and vote for us!”

Last month’s winner was the Ronald McDonald House of Detroit.