FREDDIE MAC, BENNETT COLLEGE JOIN FORCES TO HELP HURRICANE VICTIMS MOVING TO GREENSBORO NC

Greensboro, NC – Bennett College and Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE) today announced they are joining forces to help hundreds of families and students who are relocating to the Triad area because of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Freddie Mac, one of the nation's largest investors in residential mortgages, is donating $150,000 to Bennett College to fund a new Family Resource Center and support a variety of post-relocation enrichment programs for several hundred storm-displaced families who relocated to the Greensboro area and whose lives were disrupted by the loss of home, jobs, and schools.

"We are proud to team up with Bennett College to help these hurricane evacuees re-build their lives in Greensboro," said Dwight Robinson, senior vice president of community relations at Freddie Mac. "By working together, we hope to give them the information, support, and assistance they need to achieve a smooth transition in their new community."

Bennett has a long history of responding to crisis and has provided critical support to North Carolinians during the civil rights movement, when they faced homelessness or when they reach out across state lines to help Americans affected by natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina.

Bennett has already begun to enroll 20 students from the New Orleans' area who were attending Dillard or Xavier Universities when the Hurricane struck. Thanks to Freddie Mac's donation, these students will be able to continue their education at Bennett. Other efforts supported by the Bennett College/Freddie Mac Hurricane Disaster Relief Initiative include:

• Student Transfer Program: Transfer previously matriculating college students who were displaced by the hurricane at no cost to the student. This program will cover tuition, board, books, and student activity fees.

• Family Resource Center: A family resource center being established at Bennett College that will provide access to computers and resource materials on family relocation, financial management, education, and employment. Staffed by trained students, faculty and staff volunteers, the new center will also provide on-site counseling.

• Family Outreach Support: Support and assistance will be provided to displaced families relocating in the Triad area. The assistance will include assessment to identify family resource and support needs and transitional counseling. Transition teams will consist for faculty members trained in the appropriate areas of need.

• Ongoing Family Enrichment Center: A series of structured activities that will help relocated families to engage in intellectual, life enhancing, and social activities as they work to rebuild their lives from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.

• Middle College at Bennett: This program will be offered at no cost to qualified high school freshmen, sophomore and junior female students to attend the "Middle College" program, which is designed to prepare young students for a four-year college experience.

For more information about the Bennett College/Freddie Mac Hurricane Disaster Relief Initiative, contact Phanalphie Rhue or Denada Jackson at 336-884-0774.

About Bennett College
Bennett College was founded in 1873 as a co-educational institution. Bennett College is a small, private, historically Black liberal arts college for women. The college offers women an education conducive to excellence in scholarly pursuits; preparation for leadership roles in the workplace, society, and the world; and life-long learning in a technologically advanced, complex global society. As a United Methodist Church-related institution, Bennett College promotes morally grounded maturation, intellectual honesty, purposeful public service, and responsible civic action.

About Freddie Mac
Freddie Mac is a stockholder-owned company established by Congress in 1970 to support homeownership and rental housing. Freddie Mac fulfills its mission by purchasing residential mortgages and mortgage-related securities, which it finances primarily by issuing mortgage-related securities and debt instruments in the capital markets. Over the years, Freddie Mac has made home possible for one in six homebuyers and nearly four million renters in America.

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