ADVISORY/Children's Hope Foundation and Variety Club of Phila. `Tee Off' Partnership With 1st Annual Pro-am Golf Tournament and Gala Event On October 1st.

    Assignment Editors
    ADVISORY... for Monday (Oct. 1, 2001)

    --(BUSINESS WIRE)--

     Foundation Announces $40,000 In Scholarships Will Be Awarded
  To Two Young Cancer Survivors At Presentation Following Tournament

-0-
*T

      WHAT: Children's Hope Foundation, a non-profit organization that
        provides scholarships to young people who have been affected
        by cancer, and Variety Club of Philadelphia, a non-profit
        organization that takes pride in providing programs and
        services to special-needs children throughout the Delaware
        Valley region, today jointly announced that they have formed a
        partnership. This partnership will officially `tee off' at the
        1st Annual Pro-Amateur Golf Tournament. This tournament will
        begin with a rendition of `God Bless America,' as sung by Kate
        Maunder, a talented 15 year-old girl who has been blind since
        birth. The Golf Tournament will be followed by a Silent
        Auction, including signed sports memorabilia; dinners at top
        restaurants such as Striped Bass; a very special dinner cooked
        `at home' for a party of 12 by award-winning chef Derek Davis;
        paintings by artists such as Picasso, Cezanne, and Peter Max,
        courtesy of I. Brewster & Co, and much more. This special day
        will be concluded with an Awards Presentation in which $40,000
        towards scholarships will be presented to two young people who
        have displayed courage in the face of cancer.

      WHO: Rich Marooney, Co-Founder, Children's Hope Foundation
        Dave LaBricciosa, Co-Founder, Children's Hope Foundation
        Andrew Pack, Executive Director, Variety Club of Philadelphia
        Lisa Sciotto, Sewell, New Jersey - scholarship recipient and
         cancer survivor
        Mark "Bubba" Gernerd, Jr. - scholarship recipient and cancer
         survivor
        Golf Pros from across Delaware Valley

      WHEN: MONDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2001
        12:00 Noon - Song Introduction and Shot Gun Start
        5:30 PM - Dinner and Silent Auction
        7:30 PM - Awards Presentation

      WHERE: Philadelphia Country Club(1)
        1601 Spring Mill Rd
        Gladwyne, Pennsylvania
        610/525-6000

          (1) 76 W / Ex. 29 / Rt. on Front St. / Rt. on Route 23 E. /
            Lft. Spring Mill Rd.

      WHY: Variety Club is a non-profit organization that takes pride in
        providing programs and services to special-needs children
        throughout the Delaware Valley region. The Variety Club has
        associated itself with Children's Hope in an effort to have an
        even greater impact on the lives of many disabled children in
        the Delaware Valley. Both Children's Hope Foundation founders
        have overcome their own personal challenges, each losing a
        family member to cancer. Rich Marooney's young son,
        five-year-old Ryan Marooney, died from a rare form of bone
        cancer known as Ewings Sarcoma. Dave LaBricciosa lost his
        33-year old brother, Robert to colorectal cancer in 1996. The
        Children's Hope Foundation scholarship is open to any regional
        high school student affected by cancer - either individually
        or by an immediate family member. Guidance counselors at local
        high schools are notified each year. Students are asked to
        compose an essay as to why they are the most worthy
        recipients.

      MEDIA: Please contact Peter Madden of AgileCat Communications at
        215.508.2082, 215.485.6162, or [e-mail] for
        interviews and/or attendance.

    --30--KMK/ph*

    CONTACT: Children's Hope Foundation
              by
             AgileCat Communications
             Peter Madden, 215/508-2082, 215/485-6162
             [e-mail]

    KEYWORD: PENNSYLVANIA
    INDUSTRY KEYWORD: MEDICAL SPORTS ADVISORY
    SOURCE:  Children's Hope Foundation