National Lekotek Center’s
“Under the Big Top” Gala is March 3
The country’s leading source for toys and play for kids with disabilities celebrates with supporters at circus-themed event

CHICAGO, IL (February 15, 2006) – The National Lekotek Center, a division of Anixter Center, will host its “Annual Winter Benefit for Children with Disabilities” on Friday, March 3, at Fulton’s on the River, 315 N. LaSalle St., Chicago.

The event will benefit families served by Lekotek, a 501c3 charitable organization that uses interactive play experiences, and the learning that results, to promote the inclusion of children with special needs into family and community life. Lekotek is a division of Chicago’s Anixter Center, one of the largest human services organizations in the Midwest. Children and families receiving services at Lekotek locations in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood and in north suburban Evanston will directly benefit from the event.

Among the festivities will be both a silent and a live auction, including donations from many of Chicago’s leading retailers, hoteliers, restaurateurs and other civic-minded business leaders that want to support children with disabilities and their families in their quest to enhance family life through facilitated play. Guests will dance to the sounds of the popular Gold Coast Ensemble.

Funds raised will be used to: purchase new toys for Lekotek’s toy-lending library; train facilitators to work with families in specially-designed play sessions; maintain Lekotek facilities; and measure children’s progress to ensure continuous improvement.

Lekotek has long enjoyed a reputation as an authority on toys and play for children with disabilities, who number 6.2 million in the United States, or 13.2 percent of the population of children in the country.

The National Lekotek Center provides direct services, support and information to children with special needs and their families in resource and play centers that are found worldwide. Lekotek is a division of Anixter Center, a not-for-profit organization in Chicago that assists individuals with disabilities to live and work successfully in the community. Anixter Center recently was named the 13th-largest charitable organization in Chicago by Crain’s Chicago Business. People served by Lekotek include children with a range of disabilities such as Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, sight or hearing loss, developmental disabilities or chronic medical conditions, and their families. Lekotek, based in Chicago, Illinois, is the U.S. headquarters and the administrative and training center for the nationwide network of 34 Lekotek centers in nine states (California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia).

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The mission of the Lester and Rosalie Anixter Center is to assist people with disabilities to live and work successfully in the community. Anixter Center is a leading provider of high-quality vocational, residential and educational options, substance abuse prevention and treatment, and health care. Anixter Center is an advocate for the rights of people with disabilities to be full and equal members of the community.

Note to reporters and editors: for more information about Anixter Center, please visit our media room at http://www.anixter.org/mediaroom/index.htm.