May 31, 2006

M & T Bank establishes fund for

SS. Columba & Brigid Montessori School

M&T Chairman Supplements Fund with Personal Gift

Robert G. Wilmers, chairman of the board of M&T Bank Corporation, and Bishop Edward U. Kmiec will tour SS. Columba & Brigid Montessori School on Wed., May 31, at 10 a.m.

At that time, Wilmers will announce that the M & T Charitable Foundation has made a five-year, $250,000 commitment to the Foundation of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Buffalo and that Wilmers personally will donate an additional $100,000. The gift will establish the M & T Scholars Fund that will provide disadvantaged children from SS Columba & Brigid Montessori School with education grants beginning in the academic year 2006-2007.

SS. Columba & Brigid Montessori School, located at Eagle and Hickory Streets in Buffalo, provides quality pre-K to first grade education for low income, inner-city children of Buffalo, giving them school readiness skills, a strong focus on literacy and reducing financial barriers to a quality education. The diocese operates the school.

Bishop Kmiec welcomed the generous gift, saying, “With this gift, we have another demonstration of M & T’s outstanding support of the critically important educational mission to provide early childhood intervention for Buffalo’s disadvantaged. And, with his personal gift, Bob Wilmers once again goes the extra mile, putting his commitment and concern about the quality of local education into action.”

Over 90 percent of students are from families with income at or below the poverty level, 78 percent are non-Catholic, and 60 percent of students are from single parent households. Enrollment is currently at capacity with 70 students.

“We are gratified to provide a helping hand for kids to gain the quality education that will allow them to make future contributions to our society, but without the financial wherewithal to do so,” said Wilmers. “The Catholic Diocese provides the high quality early education program through the SS Columba & Brigid School; we are delighted to provide the opportunity”.

A little over a decade ago, M&T Bank began to engineer the turnaround of one of Buffalo's lowest achieving urban public schools through its formation and leadership of the Westminster Community School Partnership.

Today, through that collaboration of hard-working educators, committed parents and dedicated students, the school is now one of Buffalo’s top-performing schools, operating as a conversion charter school, and providing its kids with opportunities few would have thought possible.

The M&T Scholars Fund at SS Columba & Brigid Montessori School is being made in memory of Sister Karen Klimczak, OSF, at the parish where she served as a pastoral associate.

For more information on ways to support SS. Columba & Brigid Montessori School or to provide assistance to needy students, please call the Foundation of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Buffalo at 716-847-8370 or visit their Web site at www.frcdb.org

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