JCPenney Donates $50,000 to Florida Hurricane Relief; 51 of 55 Florida JCPenney Stores Open For Business.

PLANO, Texas -- J. C. Penney Company Fund, Inc., the charitable foundation of the J. C. Penney Company (NYSE:JCP), is donating $50,000 to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund to assist communities affected by Hurricane Charley.

The following monies are being contributed in areas where JCPenney customers, employees and stores were hardest hit by the hurricane:

--$12,500 -- Lee County Chapter.

--$12,500 -- Charlotte Chapter.

--$10,000 -- Polk County Chapter.

--$5,000 -- American Red Cross of Central Florida.

The Fund is also providing $10,000 to the American Red Cross national office to assist other impacted communities.

JCPenney stores are accepting American Red Cross emergency vouchers.

Only four of JCPenney's 55 Florida department stores remained closed today as recovery efforts progressed. The four stores -- at Port Charlotte Town Center in Port Charlotte, Coralwood Shopping Center in Cape Coral, Lakeshore Mall in Sebring and Eagle Ridge Mall in Lake Wales -- are expected to reopen Wednesday.

JCPenney is a member of the American Red Cross Annual Disaster Giving Program, which provides funds for shelter, food, counseling and other assistance to those in need nationwide. Since 1999, JCPenney and the J. C. Penney Company Fund, Inc., have donated more than $94 million to a variety of charitable causes, including relief efforts for major disasters.

JCPenney is one of America's largest department store, catalog, and e-commerce retailers, employing approximately 150,000 associates. As of July 31, 2004, J. C. Penney Corporation, Inc. operated 1,018 JCPenney department stores throughout the United States and Puerto Rico, including 55 stores in Florida, and 60 Renner department stores in Brazil. JCPenney Catalog, including e-commerce, is the nation's largest catalog merchant of general merchandise, and JCPenney.com is one of the largest apparel and home furnishings sites on the Internet. J. C. Penney Corporation, Inc. is a contributor to JCPenney Afterschool Fund, a charitable organization committed to providing children with high quality after school programs to help them reach their full potential.