NAPERVILLE, IL. - April 9, 2009 - Today Nicor announced the results of its 2008 philanthropy endeavors, which resulted in more than $2 million in corporate and employee donations "“ and thousands of volunteer hours "“ benefiting more than 1,200 worthy causes in communities throughout northern Illinois.

"Nicor and its employees know that by supporting philanthropic activities such as volunteer activities, scholarship programs, and financial donations to local charities, we are strengthening communities throughout northern Illinois," said Julian Brown, Corporate Contributions Manager for Nicor Gas. "We go out into the communities where we live and serve to make a real difference with not just our checkbooks but with paintbrushes, rakes, energy efficiency kits, new books, and our walking shoes."

Adventures in Reading with Nicor, the company's signature philanthropic program, is designed to foster a life-long love of reading among children. Nicor provides free books to students and parents, professional development training for teachers, special coaching sessions for parents, and motivational prizes and activities with assembly presentations featuring Super Reader, Nicor's costumed super hero, at participating schools.  The program launched in 2006, and since then it has encouraged students to read more than 80,000 books.

"Adventures in Reading with Nicor has been and continues to be a tremendous success, with Nicor giving away more than 10,000 books and encouraging students to read more than 30,000 books in 2008," said Claudia Colalillo, Senior Vice President Human Resources and Philanthropy for Nicor Inc. and Nicor Gas. In 2008, Nicor furthered the reach of the Adventures in Reading with Nicor program by adding Smith Elementary School in Aurora. This is the third school we have added to the program which helps, build another community partnership and inspire even more students to become lifelong readers.

Nicor and its employees also demonstrated their generosity throughout 2008 by giving back to the communities in which they live and serve in a variety of additional ways:

• 2008 marked another successful Volunteer Day, with nearly 1,000 employees, family members, elected officials and community members participating in 18 projects in 17 northern Illinois communities. Our lead project at the Hanson Center in Burr Ridge was featured in the United Way of Metropolitan Chicago’s 2008 campaign video.
• The company and its employees joined forces and together donated more than $1 million to the United Way’s annual campaign.  Nicor has ranked in the top 50 of Chicago region corporate donors for the past 17 years. Nicor's support was also recognized by United Way with two awards: the Leo Perlis Labor Participation Award for union involvement and the Francis Wisebart Jacobs Award was given to Julian Brown for his campaign coordination.
• In 2008 Nicor employees broke their previous participation record when more than 360 Nicor participants laced up their walking shoes for the annual March of Dimes March for Babies, which raised more than $102,000 (including company match) in donations to help save babies. Nicor ranked 5th in the state of Illinois for 2008 fundraising and was honored by the March of Dimes with the Marquis Award for outstanding contributions.

Together Nicor Gas, its employees, and customers helped keep people warm by contributing more than $533,000 to the Nicor Sharing Program, a home heating assistance program. Since the program's inception in 1983, the program has raised over $13 million in assistance for more than 77,000 families who did not qualify for government assistance but needed financial support to help pay their gas bills.  More than 2,700 customers were assisted by this program in 2008.

• Nicor Gas is proud the founding corporate sponsor of Illinois Dollars for Scholars. Since 1997, Nicor Gas has granted more than $500,000 in incentive grants to help establish Dollars for Scholars Chapters in Illinois. As a result, over the last decade, Nicor Gas chapters have raised more than $6.5 million and have distributed $2.85 million to over 3,700 students.
• Nicor Services and Nicor Advanced Energy sponsored "Coats for Kids" in cooperation with the Urban Youth Ministry division of Wayside Cross Ministries of Aurora. With the participation of 87 employees, 106 winter coats were donated to children in need throughout Kane, Kendall, and DuPage Counties.
• Almost 500 Nicor employees utilized the corporation’s Matching Gifts program to double their gifts and generate a combined $114,000 in donations to support various local and national non-profit organizations.
• Nicor is the founding corporate sponsor of Community Resource Network's chicagovolunteer.net, a Web site that brings together volunteers with more than 3,300 volunteer opportunities posted each day. With Nicor's support, the Web site received nearly 1.3 million visits, a 48 percent increase over last year.
• Nicor, in support of its employee volunteer efforts, gave more than $24,000 in Volunteer in Partnership grants. These grants support nonprofit organizations that have Nicor employees as volunteers.

To learn more about Nicor's philanthropic programs, visit www.nicor.com or contact Julian Brown, Manager of Corporate Contributions at 630-388-2763.

Nicor Inc. (NYSE: GAS) is a holding company and is a member of the Standard & Poor's 500 Index. Its primary business is Nicor Gas, one of the nation's largest natural gas distribution companies. Nicor owns Tropical Shipping, a containerized shipping business serving the Caribbean region and the Bahamas. In addition, the company owns and has an equity interest in several energy-related businesses. For more information, visit the Nicor Web site at www.nicor.com.

NICOR Inc.

NICOR Inc.

Nicor Inc. (NYSE: GAS) is a holding company and is a member of the Standard & Poor's 500 Index. Its primary business is Nicor Gas, one of the nation's largest natural gas distribution companies. Nicor owns Tropical Shipping, a containerized shipping business serving the Caribbean region and the Bahamas. In addition, the company owns and has an equity interest in several energy-related businesses.

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