Take a Drive With Ashley Judd and Benefit Best Buddies! Fourteenth Annual Best Buddies Ball, Sponsored by AOL Time Warner, to be Held On October 12

    WASHINGTON--Oct. 11, 2002--Best Buddies, an international organization dedicated to enhancing the lives of people with mental retardation, is providing a unique opportunity for one lucky person to be the FIRST in the nation to own Volvo's new XC90 - and take a drive with Hollywood superstar Ashley Judd in a first-of-its kind eBay live auction on October 12 at the Best Buddies Ball.
    On October 12, Best Buddies will auction the first XC90 in America - Volvo's first-ever SUV - at the fourteenth annual Best Buddies Ball at the home of Sargent and Eunice Kennedy Shriver. eBay will feature simultaneous live offline and online bidding for the Volvo SUV, with all of the proceeds supporting Best Buddies and its mission of the providing one-to-one friendships and jobs for people with mental retardation.
    Since October 3, individuals across the nation have been able to submit bids and register online for the live auction which will be held on October 12, one of the evening's highlights of the Ball. This is the first time a new model consumer-delivered vehicle will be up for bid through eBay Live Auctions. As the premier sponsor of the event, AOL Time Warner played a key role in organizing both the ball and auction, and the auction will be promoted by the AOL service.
    "We're thrilled that this auction, and the involvement of Volvo, America Online and eBay, will bring the Best Buddies movement and our efforts on behalf of people with mental retardation to the attention of millions of people across the country," said Best Buddies Founder and Chairman Anthony Kennedy Shriver. "Volvo's generous donation of this vehicle is one element of Volvo's extraordinary support of Best Buddies, which is part of a national cause-related marketing partnership between the two organizations."
    "We're breaking new ground -- combining the excitement of an online and offline auction, a Hollywood superstar and a highly anticipated new vehicle - all for a good cause," added Tatiana Gau, AOL Senior Vice President of Integrity Assurance, and Chair of the Best Buddies Ball.
    In addition to owning the first XC90 in North America, the highest bidder will also receive two first-class airline tickets to a city where they will meet Ashley Judd and take a ride in their new XC90 with her. The final price is expected to reach six figures, several times the $44,620 sticker price of the vehicle.
    The gleaming Black Sapphire XC90 AWD T6 donated by Volvo to Best Buddies is the top-of-line vehicle within the XC90's model line. With its stunning good looks and no fewer than five automotive world's firsts - including the first ever SUV with Roll Stability Control and side impact window curtains for all three rows of seats - the 2003 Volvo XC90 truly marks the introduction of the next generation of sport-utility vehicle. The undeniable popularity of the vehicle is evidenced by the fact that two months before the vehicles arrive in the showrooms, there have already been deposits made on virtually all 6,000 XC90's that will be available this year.

    Founded in 1989 by Anthony K. Shriver, Best Buddies International has more than 860 middle school, high school and college chapters and more than 50,000 active volunteers throughout the United States, Canada, Cuba, Egypt, Greece, Ireland, and Sweden.

    Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Founder of Special Olympics, Best Buddies board member, and Chair of the Auction Committee for the Best Buddies Ball, noted "Every parent is called upon to make sacrifices in the name of love. Parents of Best Buddies have done more. They have challenged the spirit of the times that say that only intellectual achievement is the measure of human life. I believe this is wrong. Their commitment is to the values that count and will endure -- skill, courage, sharing and joy."

    To participate in the auction, consumers can go to http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1866145650

    For more information on the Best Buddies Ball, please call Scott Tracy 305-374-2233 ext. 50, or go to www.bestbuddiesball.org

    For more information about the Volvo XC90 go to www.VolvoXC90.com