FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 Contact: Midwest Pension Rights Project, St. Louis
 Suzanne Lagomarcino 314-725-5862 or Joni Ott 314-725-1516


Not-For-Profit Pension Project Receives $450,000 Grant

November 01, 2004 -- ST. LOUIS -- The Midwest Pension Rights Project is the recipient of a $450,000 grant from the U.S. Administration on Aging. The Project, sponsored by the Gateway Chapter of the Older Women's League (OWL), helps individuals interpret pension plans, recover pension benefits and locate lost pensions. The three-year grant provides $150,000 per year to the Project, which has recovered more than $8 million in pension benefits for individuals since its inception in 1993. One hundred percent of the money recovered by the Project is paid to the client, and the client is not charged for any of the Project's services.

Recent Project successes include recovery of a pension valued at $27,833 for a 70 year-old widow who had tried for several years to obtain her survivor benefit. The company repeatedly refused her a benefit because her husband stated on his retirement application that he was divorced. After the Midwest Pension Rights Project intervened, the widow began receiving her benefit within six months. In another case, the Project worked to get a former union factory worker his pension, valued at $21,360, after his company went bankrupt in the 1980s. He had been told, upon retirement, that there were no records to support his work history.

The Midwest Pension Rights Project, with offices in St. Louis and Chicago, is the only free service in Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska that provides attorneys to answer questions about pension benefits, obtain unclaimed pension or survivor benefits, appeal denial of pension rights and maintain a library of pension plans from nationally known companies. All work is handled over the telephone. The Midwest Pension Rights Project can be reached toll-free at 1-877-725-1516.