GEICO Announces Campaign to Help Raise Remaining Funds for Sniper Victims' Families

MEDIA ADVISORY Press Conference Thursday, February 27, 10 a.m., GEICO Headquarters

WASHINGTON, Feb. 21 -- GEICO will join with the Victims' Rights Foundation and Inkjets for Charity to raise the remaining $50,000 portion of the Foundation's $500,000 overall goal to assist families of the Washington sniper attacks.

        A press conference is set for Thursday, Feb. 27, 10 a.m. at GEICO
        headquarters, 5260 Western Ave. in Washington, D.C. to discuss the
        final leg of the campaign.

GEICO will donate the company's older model cell phones and used printer cartridges to raise the funds, and encourages other Washington area companies to do the same. GEICO associates are also making individual donations of these items to show their personal support for the families.

Inkjets for Charities, headquartered in Greenbelt, Md., will recycle the items and make a donation to the Victims' Rights Foundation for each cell phone and printer cartridge that is contributed. Wherever possible, the cell phones will be made available to local police departments to give to residents for emergency 911 calls.

Following last fall's sniper attacks in which 10 people were killed in the Washington area and six others wounded, the Victims' Rights Foundation pledged to help the families by raising $500,000. The Foundation has raised roughly $450,000 to date and expects that the cell phone-printer cartridge donation program will help reach the fund-raising goal.

GEICO is also making a monetary contribution to the Victims' Rights Foundation to help it meet its fund-raising goal.

Collection boxes for the donated items are also being placed at Exxon and Crown gas stations around the Washington area.

  Press conference principals are:

  * Gregory Wims, founder and head of Victims' Rights Foundation
  * Neal Holtz, president of Inkjets for Charity
  * Bill Roberts, GEICO executive vice president
  * Shan LaCoste, GEICO project manager