Big Lots announced today the relaunch of their national point-of-sale fundraising campaign. Now through April 22, all Big Lots stores will collect donations and 100 percent of the dollars raised will support Nationwide Children's Hospital. This marks the company's fifth fundraising campaign in three years on behalf of Nationwide Children's.
In addition to benefiting Big Lots Behavioral Health Services at Nationwide Children's Hospital, the campaign will help address, nationally, the growing need for mental and behavioral health care.
In the summer of 2016, Big Lots, together with the Big Lots Foundation, announced a $50 million transformational gift to Nationwide Children's to construct the largest behavioral health treatment and research center of its kind dedicated to children and adolescents on a pediatric medical campus in the U.S. This specific type of commitment by Big Lots represents the single largest corporate financial gift to support pediatric behavioral health. Slated to open in 2020, the Big Lots Behavioral Health Pavilion will be a 386,000-square-foot treatment and research pavilion that will care for children and teens with mental illness and behavioral health challenges. It will also house behavioral health researchers and foster collaboration between community partners.
"Nationwide Children's Hospital is honored and grateful for the continued support of Big Lots and the Big Lots Foundation," said Steve Allen, MD, Chief Executive Officer, Nationwide Children's. "This unwavering commitment to pediatric mental and behavioral health awareness and care by Big Lots associates and customers will have a lasting impact for patients and families for years to come."
"Behavioral Health treatments are some of the most underfunded pediatric and adolescent health services available for our youth," said Tim Johnson, EVP, CAO & CFO. "We are proud to partner with Nationwide Children's to start the conversation."
To learn more about the Give Big for Kids campaign or to make a donation online, visit biglots.com/give4kids.
About Big Lots, Inc.
Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, Big Lots, Inc. (NYSE: BIG) is a community retailer operating 1,416 BIG LOTS stores in 47 states, dedicated to friendly service, trustworthy value, and affordable solutions in every season and category – furniture, food, décor, and more. We exist to serve everyone like family, providing a better shopping experience for our customers, valuing and developing our associates, and creating growth for our shareholders. Big Lots supports the communities it serves through the Big Lots Foundation, a charitable organization focused on four areas of need: hunger, housing, healthcare, and education. For more information about the Company, visit www.biglots.com.
About Nationwide Children's Hospital
Named to the Top 10 Honor Roll on U.S. News & World Report's 2017-18 list of "America's Best Children's Hospitals," Nationwide Children's Hospital is one of America's largest not-for-profit freestanding pediatric healthcare systems providing wellness, preventive, diagnostic, treatment and rehabilitative care for infants, children and adolescents, as well as adult patients with congenital disease. Nationwide Children's has a staff of nearly 13,000 providing state-of-the-art pediatric care during more than 1.4 million patient visits annually. As home to the Department of Pediatrics of The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Nationwide Children's physicians train the next generation of pediatricians and pediatric specialists. The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital is one of the Top 10 National Institutes of Health-funded freestanding pediatric research facilities. More information is available at NationwideChildrens.org.