Press Releases

HOUSTON, TX -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 02/09/10 -- The housing and homebuilding industry is not letting the unprecedented economic challenges it continues to face curtail its commitment to community support and development. By the close of 2009, homebuilding professionals demonstrated a continued focus on charitable giving efforts, contributing more than $3 million to arts and cultural, educational, social-service, faith-based and other organizations nationwide.

This contribution to builders' own communities is the cumulative and generous result of individual grants made by housing-industry professionals through the Homebuilding Community Foundation (HCF). As a "give through," not a "give to" organization, HCF offers housing professionals a way to simplify their giving efforts by establishing personal, or "donor-advised" funds, which are professionally invested and managed by HCF. Fund holders then continue to support their favorite organizations by directing gifts out of their HCF funds to their preferred charities. In 2009, HCF-invested funds earned a 26.3 percent return, growing participants' ability to issue grants.

"In this time when charitable organizations are more dependent on private donors than ever for the capital to continue their work and further their missions, our colleagues have come through for them," says HCF president J. Roger Glunt, who is also president of Glunt Development Company, Inc. "By giving through HCF, they are able to easily continue their philanthropic work even during difficult years, making a difference in their communities while collectively spotlighting the generosity of our shared industry. For me, philanthropy is like a hobby. HCF makes it easy to support that hobby."

About HCF

The Homebuilding Community Foundation (HCF) offers philanthropists in the housing and homebuilding professions an easy way to manage their charitable efforts in their communities. Since its founding in 2001 by the late James Z. Pugash, president of industry finance group Hearthstone, housing-industry donors have contributed $61.6 million to establish donor-advised funds through HCF. These funds have delivered more than $52 million in financial support to cultural, educational, faith-based and social-service organizations nationwide.

Homebuilding Community Foundation: Building Pride at Home.

Contact:
J. Roger Glunt
President, Glunt Development Co. Inc. and
President, Homebuilding Community Foundation
412-242-4667

Charlene Slack Balderas
Director of Foundation Services
Greater Houston Community Foundation
713-333-2200

TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 02/09/10 -- On February 5, 2010, the TSX Venture Exchange announced that Cathay Forest Products Corp. (TSX VENTURE: CFZ) ("Cathay Forest") has been named as one of the TSX Venture 50, a ranking of strong performers listed on the TSX Venture Exchange. The TSX Venture 50 is comprised of 10 emerging companies in each of the five industry sectors that have been identified as leaders in Canada's public venture market. Cathay Forest was selected as part of the Diversified Industries sector.

"It is an honour to be named as part of this year's TSX Venture 50, this our second time in the past three years," said Anthony Ng, CEO. "Our listing on the TSX Venture Exchange has provided us with an excellent forum to reach our stakeholders and meet our goals."

The 2010 TSX Venture 50 were selected based on four equally weighted criteria (return on investment, trading, analyst coverage and market capitalization growth) in the Diversified Industries, Cleantech, Mining, Oil & Gas and Technology and Life Sciences sectors.

About Cathay Forest

Cathay Forest is a forest products company that manages approximately 1,000,000 hectares of standing timber properties and fast-growth, high-yield poplar plantations in China and Russia. Cathay Forest is building a world-class forest products company through a customer base that includes the domestic Chinese pulp and paper industry and other wood products customers in the Japanese market.

Forward-Looking Statements

All statements, other than statements of historical fact, in this news release are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, statements regarding the future plans and objectives of Cathay Forest. Actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Except as required by applicable securities law, Cathay Forest assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements should circumstances or management's estimates or opinions change.

The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy of this release.

Contacts:
Cathay Forest Products Corp.
Ermo Ou
Vice President, Corporate Planning
(416) 226-7269
ermo.ou@cathayforest.com

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Feb. 9, 2010) - On February 5, 2010, the TSX Venture Exchange announced that Cathay Forest Products Corp. (TSX VENTURE: CFZ) ("Cathay Forest") has been named as one of the TSX Venture 50, a ranking of strong performers listed on the TSX Venture Exchange. The TSX Venture 50 is comprised of 10 emerging companies in each of the five industry sectors that have been identified as leaders in Canada's public venture market. Cathay Forest was selected as part of the Diversified Industries sector.

"It is an honour to be named as part of this year's TSX Venture 50, this our second time in the past three years," said Anthony Ng, CEO. "Our listing on the TSX Venture Exchange has provided us with an excellent forum to reach our stakeholders and meet our goals."

The 2010 TSX Venture 50 were selected based on four equally weighted criteria (return on investment, trading, analyst coverage and market capitalization growth) in the Diversified Industries, Cleantech, Mining, Oil & Gas and Technology and Life Sciences sectors.

About Cathay Forest

Cathay Forest is a forest products company that manages approximately 1,000,000 hectares of standing timber properties and fast-growth, high-yield poplar plantations in China and Russia. Cathay Forest is building a world-class forest products company through a customer base that includes the domestic Chinese pulp and paper industry and other wood products customers in the Japanese market.

Forward-Looking Statements

All statements, other than statements of historical fact, in this news release are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, statements regarding the future plans and objectives of Cathay Forest. Actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Except as required by applicable securities law, Cathay Forest assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements should circumstances or management's estimates or opinions change.

The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy of this release.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
        Cathay Forest Products Corp.
        Ermo Ou
        Vice President, Corporate Planning
        (416) 226-7269
        ermo.ou@cathayforest.com

Source: Cathay Forest Products Corp.

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Junior Achievement of Southern California (JA), a nonprofit leader in youth personal finance education, recently announced the launch of the Steps to Success Initiative, a new initiative aimed at delivering JA's cutting edge suite of personal economics curricula to the students of East Los Angeles. The initiative was wholly-funded by OneWest Foundation with a $225,000 grant.

Steps to Success, developed in conjunction with OneWest Foundation, is a multi-year, multi-grade program delivery framework, which will teach students the essentials of financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and workforce readiness. Lesson plans range from instruction in budgeting, saving, and investing, to career exploration and personal/professional goal setting. The Steps to Success Initiative's multi-year framework will ensure that students receive the benefit of multiple JA programs as they progress through their school careers.

The East Los Angeles community was targeted by OneWest Foundation and Junior Achievement because it is one of the highest-need areas in Los Angeles County, where a great majority of students are from low-income families.

"Financial literacy education is the surest way to give today's students a foundation for future success, and break the cycle of poverty," said Steven T. Mnuchin, Chairman of OneWest Bank and OneWest Foundation. "We are proud to partner with Junior Achievement, to deliver the Steps to Success Initiative to the students of East Los Angeles."

"The Steps to Success Initiative will teach students how to plan for the future and take control of their financial destiny," said Gary Hickman, President of Junior Achievement of Southern California. "We applaud and thank OneWest for their support, which will allow us to offer the Steps to Success Initiative to some 2,400 students each year."

About Junior Achievement:

JA of Southern California is a volunteer driven, not-for-profit organization dedicated to educating students about entrepreneurship, financial literacy and work readiness, through experiential, hands-on programs. JA programs help prepare young people for the real world by showing them how to generate wealth and effectively manage it, how to create jobs which make their communities more robust, and how to apply entrepreneurial thinking to the workplace. This year more than 4,000 classroom volunteers will teach JA programs to over 100,000 students in ten Southern California counties: Los Angeles, Kern, King, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Tulare, and Ventura. For more information, please visit www.jasocal.org.

About OneWest Foundation:

OneWest Foundation is a nonprofit public benefit corporation established in 2009 with a $10 million contribution from OneWest Bank, FSB. OneWest Foundation priorities include the provision of affordable housing, healthcare, education, and financial literacy, as well as other important community development efforts that develop, stabilize or rehabilitate underserved communities. OneWest Bank, FSB is a regional bank focused on delivering personalized, relationship-based banking to its customers. The bank has 72 retail branches in Southern California with approximately $11 billion in deposits and total assets of $24 billion, including a loan portfolio, a securities portfolio, a servicing platform representing over $150 Billion of loans serviced for third party investors, and Financial Freedom, a reverse mortgage platform -- Financial Freedom. OneWest is an FDIC-insured institution and funds deposited in the bank are insured up to the FDIC's insurance limit of $250,000 per depositor. Information about OneWest Bank can be found on the company's website at www.onewestbank.com.

    Source: OneWest Foundation

BROCKVILLE, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Feb. 9, 2010) - Canada's Environment Minister, Jim Prentice today announced that a draft of proposed municipal wastewater systems effluent regulations is now available for public consultation. Once in force, these regulations will set standards for the discharge from all wastewater facilities in Canada. Over time, wastewater facilities across the country will have to meet these national standards. It will no longer be permitted to directly release raw sewage into our waterways.

"Today we are taking action to protect our environment for future generations," said Minister Prentice, "It is not acceptable that we continue discharging untreated waste into our water ways."

When finalized the regulations will be a key component in implementing the Canada-wide Strategy for the Management of Municipal Wastewater that was endorsed by the Canadian Council of Minister of the Environment (CCME) in 2009.

"With new municipal wastewater regulations in development, and our ongoing commitments under the Action Plan for Clean Water, the Government of Canada is taking concrete steps to make sure that Canadians continue to enjoy water that is clean, safe and plentiful for generations to come. We are committed to continue working together with provinces, territories and municipalities to make this a reality," said Minister Prentice.

The proposed municipal wastewater regulations will provide national performance standards and give regulatory clarity on standards and rules on reporting for more than 4,000 Canadian wastewater facilities.

The Government of Canada has supported wastewater projects under the Green Infrastructure Fund and Building Canada Fund. Canada's Economic Action Plan accelerated and expanded the existing $33-billion federal investment in infrastructure with almost $12 billion in new infrastructure stimulus funding across Canada over two years.

Canadians can now access the draft of the proposed regulations through Environment Canada's public inquiry centre at 1-800-668-6767 (in Canada only), 819-997-2800 or environinfo@ec.gc.ca.

For more information and to view a backgrounder on this announcement, please visit: www.ec.gc.ca.

(Egalement offert en francais)

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
        Office of the Minister of the Environment
        Frederic Baril
        Press Secretary
        819-997-1441

        Environment Canada
        Media Relations
        819-934-8008
        1-888-908-8008
        www.ec.gc.ca

        Canada's Environment Minister
        Twitter page:
        http://twitter.com/jimprentice

Source: Environment Canada