NEW YORK (October 2001) --- Local clubs and troops of six of the largest national youth organizations are invited to enter their best community service projects as part of the 29th annual "Colgate Youth for America" campaign. Colgate-Palmolive Company presents cash awards of up to $2,000 for the most creative and best-executed projects by local units of Camp Fire USA, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Boy Scouts of America, Girl Scouts of the USA, Girls Incorporated, and National 4-H Council - organizations representing 13 million children across America.

Local club and troop community service programs running between March 1, 2001, and March 1, 2002, are eligible to win one of more than 315 cash awards.

Last year's top winners reflect the ingenuity and resourcefulness of today's kids:

Top Camp Fire groups included the Grand Prize "Best of All Entries" winners from Florida that set out on a week-long road trip performing difficult service work throughout the state, a group from Oregon that donated their own hair for wigs for child cancer patients, and a Washington state group that collected winter clothing and accessories for needy schoolchildren.

Boys & Girls Club winners included a club from Washington state that created and hosted web sites for non-profit organizations, a Colorado club that planted a community vegetable garden that now meets the needs of a local food bank, and a North Carolina club that provided free yard work and other services to seniors.

Local Boy Scout winners included a troop from Ohio that hosted and subsidized an outdoor summer camp for troubled youth, a Pennsylvania troop that raised money for a Mobile Police Automatic External Defibrillator, and a Cub Scout pack from Illinois that adopted and helped fill the needs of their local food pantry.

Local Girl Scout winners included a troop from Kentucky that helped recruit new foster families for children, a Virginia troop that implemented a weekend bag-lunch program at a shelter that previously only provided weekday service, and a Minnesota troop whose members mentored younger students about peer issues.

Local Girls Incorporated winners included a unit from New Hampshire that designed and built a community playground, a unit from Massachusetts whose members taught senior citizens computer skills, and a North Carolina unit that supported a cross-cultural education program by hosting Japanese students.

Details about these top-winning programs can be found online at www.Colgate.com within the "Colgate Cares" section of the web site.

"By bringing these exceptional young people into the spotlight, Colgate Youth for America hopes to inspire others like them to make a difference in their own communities," says Ian Cook -- EVP and President of Colgate-Palmolive North America and Executive Advisor to the Youth for America program.

To date, Colgate-Palmolive Company has awarded nearly $6 million to America's children through Colgate Youth for America. The campaign, initiated in 1972 to encourage social responsibility, is now the longest-running corporate-sponsored program for young people. Colgate Youth for America has been honored by The White House under the last five administrations, has received a Freedoms Foundation Award, is included in The Points of Light Foundation and Volunteer Center National Network, and is praised annually by members of Congress, governors and mayors across the nation.

Entry forms are now available through regional offices of the six national organizations, or by sending a stamped, self-addressed envelope to Colgate Youth for America Campaign, P.O. Box 1058, FDR Station, New York, NY 10150-1058. Entry forms and more information about past winners can also be found online at www.colgate.com. Entries must be postmarked by March 15, 2002.

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Contact:
David Forman (212) 736-0564
e-mail: fcw001@aol.com


Jennifer Barbara (212)310-3481
e-mail: jennifer_barbara@colpal.com