Sumner M. Redstone Charitable Foundation Awards $500,000 Grant to the Cambodian Children's Fund

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., June 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Sumner M. Redstone today announced a grant of $500,000 to the Cambodian Children's Fund (CCF), a non- profit program that provides a wide range of critical health and educational services to impoverished and abused children in Cambodia's capitol city of Phnom Penh.

Founded in January 2004 by Scott Neeson, then an L.A.-based film executive, the CCF currently serves more than 250 children through three facilities that provide shelter, food, in-house health services, cultural classes, and a range of educational and vocational training, including English and Cambodian language training and computer studies. The majority of children served by the CCF lived and worked at Steung Meanchey, Phnom Penh's notorious garbage dump.

Sumner M. Redstone, said, "Until very recently I was unaware of the horrible conditions under which multitudes of children live in Cambodia. I am hopeful that, just as Scott has raised my consciousness about this intolerable situation, my contribution will bring awareness to others who may also seek to contribute to the important lifesaving mission of the Cambodian Children's Fund. This initial donation, which is the maximum amount that the CCF can currently absorb from one donor, is just the beginning of what I expect will be an ongoing program of support from the Sumner M. Redstone Foundation."

Mr. Neeson said: "Mr. Redstone's remarkable generosity brings an immediate new future to nearly one hundred of Cambodia's most impoverished and at-risk children. These children will now have what every child deserves: shelter, food, health care and education, all in a caring and secure facility. They will be provided with the chance of a productive, healthy life. Equally important, the children that pass through the Sumner M. Redstone Child Rescue Center will possess the ability to stop the inter-generational cycle of abuse, impoverishment and illness for their family and community, an issue that has plagued Cambodia since the reign of Pol Pot."

Funding provided by the Sumner M. Redstone Charitable Foundation will be used to establish and fund The Sumner M. Redstone Child Rescue Center, a new stand-alone facility for children aged 5 to 16 that will provide a new life and home to nearly 100 of Cambodia's most impoverished, at-risk and abused children. The Center is scheduled to open in the fall of 2007. In addition, the CCF will purchase land and create a "passion for life" child development center to be named after Sumner M. Redstone. This center will provide residence and meals for the children, as well as a range of vital services including modern agriculture techniques, state of the art vocational programs, multi-level English and Cambodian language classes and advanced computer studies.

CCF's Star Bakery opened in November 2006, providing children with professional baking training and producing nutrient-enhanced bread that is given to the districts poorest families. The CCF also has a number of community-based programs that provide health care and nutrition to the families at Steung Meanchey.

Mr. Neeson, who is Executive Director of the CCF, spent most of his 26 year career in the film business and was involved in the release of such films as Titanic, Braveheart, Star Wars, Independence Day, Minority Report and Ice Age. In July 2003, while on a five week international travel holiday between his former position as president of 20th Century Fox International and a similar new position with Sony Pictures International, he was struck by the plight of the impoverished and abused street children in Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capitol city. Mr. Neeson ultimately spent 4 weeks in Phnom Penh and started the process of creating the CCF. In January 2007 Neeson received the Harvard School of Public Health and Quincy Jones "Q Prize" for his work in child advocacy.

CCF's first facility was opened in July 2004, while Neeson was still at Sony Pictures. In December 2004, he quit his position at Sony, sold his belongings (Brentwood house, motor yacht, cars and other belongings) and moved to Cambodia, where he now lives and works full-time on behalf of CCF.

The Sumner M. Redstone Foundation announced in April a commitment of $105 million in charitable grants to fund research and patient care advancements in cancer and burn recovery at three major non-profit healthcare organizations. Cash contributions of $35 million each were pledged to FasterCures/The Center for Accelerating Medical Solutions, based in Washington D.C.; the Cedars-Sinai Prostate Cancer Center in Los Angeles, California; and the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. Sumner M. Redstone Charitable Foundation

CONTACT: Carl Folta, Sumner M. Redstone Foundation, 212-258-6352; or
Scott Neeson, CCF, 310-694-6334