Access to Books is Key to Children's Reading Success Heart of America and Capital One Partner in Literacy Celebration to Donate 200,000 Books WASHINGTON, March 2 /PRNewswire/ -- According to research from the National Center for Education Statistics, fourth-graders who reported having 25 books or more at home scored higher on reading tests than their classmates with fewer books at home. To help ensure that more children have an opportunity to read and learn, the Heart of America Foundation -- through its Books From The Heart program -- and Capital One Financial Corporation are joining together for the second year to promote the Literacy Celebration -- a national book drive and donation campaign. In the first year of their partnership, Heart ofAmerica and Capital One gathered more than 104,000 new and "gently-used" books and donated them to more than 40,000 underprivileged children from across the country. The goal for the 2004 Literacy Celebration, which will take place from March 1-15, isto collect 200,000 books for partner schools and libraries and at-risk children who might not otherwise have access to books -- the basic building blocks of knowledge. "Literacy continues to be a problem across America today," said Bill Halamandaris, co-founder of Heart of America. "The situation is made more difficult by the fact that more than 12 million American children live in poverty and lack the books they need to learn. Our partnership with Capital One enables us to help get to the heart of the issue." "Capital One is thrilled to support this effort. We have always looked for innovative ways to help address community needs -- and particularly efforts to help children in our communities to get a good start in life," said Capital One CFO Gary Perlin. "Giving children access to books is an important beginning for a successful future." Capital One employees in Northern Virginia; Richmond, Va.; Boise, Idaho; Dallas/Fort Worth; San Diego; Seattle; and Tampa will conduct book drives and special events -- including readings to children at schools in impoverished areas -- centered on raising awareness of literacy. The book drives and special events will be held in conjunction with the National Education Association's seventh-annual Read Across America Day, which will take place on March 2. Heart of America will then match what Capital One employees collect, with the hope of doubling last year's total. About Heart of America Books From The Heart(TM) is a national program of The Heart of America Foundation(R), a nonprofit humanitarian network located in Washington, D.C. The Heart of America's mission is to teach the values at the heart of America, and help people learn, particularly youth, that we help ourselves when we help others. The Books From The Heart(TM) program goal is to make sure children across the country have books readily accessible in their schools and homes and to provide a tool to teach school children about service to their communities. About Capital One Capital One is a proud sponsor of the Heart of America's Books From The Heart program. This is the fourth year the financial services company has been involved with Literacy Celebration and the second year it has joined with Heart of America. Over the past four years, Capital One has been responsible for placing about 140,000 books in the hands of 43,000 children. In addition, Capital One employees have spent more than 6,000 hours reading and distributing books to children. Headquartered in McLean, Virginia, Capital One Financial Corporation (http://www.capitalone.com/) is a holding company whose principal subsidiaries, Capital One Bank and Capital One, F.S.B., offer consumer lending products and Capital One Auto Finance, Inc., which offers auto loan products. Capital One's subsidiaries collectively had 47.0 million managed accounts and $71.2 billion in managed loans outstanding as of December 31, 2003. Capital One, a Fortune 500 company, is one of the largest providers of MasterCard and Visa credit cards in the world. Capital One trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "COF" and is included in the S&P 500 index. DATASOURCE: Heart of America CONTACT: Bill Halamandaris of Heart of America, +1-202-347-6278, ; or Hamilton Holloway of Capital One, +1-804-284-5800, cell: +1-804-347-4147, Web site: http://www.capitalone.com/

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