Rica Orszag
Washington, D.C. Martin Luther King, Jr.
National Memorial Foundation Project, Inc.
202-253-8974
rorszag@mlkmemorial.org

Boeing and Exelon Foundation to Co-Chair Event

(Washington, D.C., January 14, 2009) – Leaders of the Washington, D.C. Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation today announced a February 17 Chicago Dream Dinner to raise funds for the four-acre Memorial on the National Mall. Boeing and the Exelon Foundation will be the lead dinner sponsors.

The Chicago Dream Dinner will take place at the Hyatt Regency Chicago, located at 151 E. Wacker Drive. Cocktails begin at 6 p.m., followed by dinner and a program at 7 p.m. John W. Rowe, Exelon Foundation Chairman and Exelon Corporation Chairman and CEO; Frank M. Clark, Exelon Foundation board member and Chairman and CEO of ComEd, an Exelon Corporation subsidiary; and James A. Bell, Boeing Corporate President and Chief Financial Officer, will serve as dinner co-chairs.

“We are thrilled to bring the campaign to build a lasting memorial to Dr. King to the great city of Chicago,” said Harry E. Johnson, President and CEO of the Memorial Foundation. “We are very excited to partner with Boeing and the Exelon Foundation in honoring the legacy of Dr. King.”

Dinner tickets begin at $250 and sponsorships start at $10,000. Both are available by calling (312) 553-2000 or visiting www.chicagoforthedream.org.

The Chicago dinner is part of a series of Dream Dinners that have been held in Atlanta, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Houston and San Francisco. A Miami Dream Dinner was held on January 8 and featured former U.S. President Bill Clinton.

The Memorial Foundation has raised $102 million out of the needed $120 million. Major donors to the Memorial include: General Motors, Tommy Hilfiger Corporate Foundation, NBA/WNBA, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., W.K. Kellogg Foundation, The Walt Disney Company Foundation, The Coca-Cola Foundation, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, The Ford Motor Fund, Toyota, AARP, AFLAC, BP America, Inc., CIGNA, Credit Unions of the United States, DuPont, ExxonMobil Foundation, Fannie Mae Corporation, FedEx Corporation, GE, Ann and Joel Horowitz Family Foundation, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Sheila C. Johnson-Newman, Lehman Brothers, George Lucas, MacFarlane Partners, The J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation, McDonald’s Corporation, MetLife Foundation, National Association of Realtors (NAR), National Education Association (NEA), Nationwide Foundation, PepsiCo Foundation, The Pew Charitable Trusts, Pfizer Foundation, Prudential Financial, Inc., Shell Oil Company, State Farm Insurance, Verizon Foundation, Viacom, Wal-Mart and Morehouse College, among others.

About the Washington, D.C., Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation, Inc.
A Memorial honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. will be built on the National Mall, situated adjacent to the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial and in a direct line between the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials. Congress passed Joint Resolutions in 1996 authorizing Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. to establish a Memorial honoring Dr. King to be built in Washington, D.C. The ceremonial groundbreaking took place on November 13, 2006 and the Memorial will be completed in 2010. McKissack & McKissack / Turner Construction Company / Gilford Corporation / Tompkins Builders, Inc. Joint Venture will serve as the Design-Build Team. McKissack & McKissack is the oldest minority-owned architectural firm in the United States. For more information or to make a donation, please visit www.buildthedream.org.

About Boeing
Boeing is the world’s leading aerospace company and the largest manufacturer of commercial jetliners and military aircraft combined. Headquartered in Chicago, Boeing employs more than 160,000 people across the United States and in 70 countries. Boeing’s Global Corporate Citizenship function provided more than $58M in 2008 to support efforts around the globe, including education programs, disaster relief, environmental efforts, arts and cultural awareness activities, and programs that improve health and human services.

About the Exelon Foundation
The Exelon Foundation is an independent, nonprofit organization funded solely by Exelon Corporation, an energy company, through shareholder dollars. The Foundation supports nonprofit, tax-exempt organizations primarily within the Exelon operating companies’ service areas. The mission of the Foundation is to encourage respect for the environment and strengthen the social and economic fabric of the community by primarily providing program grants in three areas – environment and conservation awareness, innovative math and science education, and diversity and tolerance.

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