FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Doreen Stephens (973) 975-4090

‘TIS THE SEASON FOR LEARNING TO GIVE

Creative Discovery Museum exhibit features The LEAGUE teaching tool

December 9, 2008, Chattanooga, TN – With the holidays upon us, ‘tis the season to help children and their families experience the true gift of giving with a visit to “Helping Hands” – a brand new exhibit at Creative Discovery Museum in Chattanooga. On display from now through February 1, 2009, the exhibit features a whole host of interactive teaching tools, including “Giving & Me” – an interactive, on-line resource developed by The LEAGUE.

Starring “Ant Phil,” a friendly cartoon ant, Giving & Me (found at http://www.learningtogive.org/students/giving_and_me/) uses video, songs and easy-to-follow, yet thought-provoking activities to teach four philanthropy-themed lessons. These include: Understanding Philanthropy, Philanthropy and Money, Philanthropy and the Community, and Practicing Philanthropy. This resource was developed by Learning to Give, the curriculum division of The LEAGUE.

“Giving & Me was designed to educate children about philanthropy in a way that’s both meaningful and fun,” says Barbara Dillbeck, Director of Curriculum, The LEAGUE. “It’s one of the many interactive features that make Creative Discovery Museum’s new exhibit a must-see part of this holiday season.”

In addition to teaching the value of giving, the “Helping Hands” exhibit enables children and families to:

• Vote on a cause for the Museum to support
• Participate in hands-on activities to help others and the environment
• Create a sculpture that evokes the spirit of giving
• Ride a stationary bike to raise funds for St. Jude Hospital
• View what other children have done to help others
• Donate a toy to a child in need
• Help the Museum collect one million pennies to educate children overseas

“We are fortunate to be located in a community where philanthropy is prevalent,” says Shannon Johnson, Exhibit Development Manager. “When we started discussing ideas for a winter-themed exhibit, philanthropy kept coming up. With Helping Hands, we want to teach children about the importance of giving and that every gift, whether it is your time, talent or treasure, can make a difference.” The exhibit was made possible through funding from Benwood Foundation, Lyndhurst Foundation, United Way of Greater Chattanooga, Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga and Maclellan Foundation.

Creative Discovery Museum is recognized as one of the top children’s museums in the nation. It is a non-profit educational organization dedicated to educational enrichment for children ages 4-months to 12-years-old through interactive, hands-on experiences that foster creative and critical thinking. The Museum focuses on a broad range of areas encompassed by Visual Arts, Performing Arts, Technology and the Sciences. In addition to its exhibits, Creative Discovery Museum provides local residents and visitors with special events, educational programming, teacher resources for the classroom, field trips, after school programming, early childhood education classes, artist residencies, camps, art lessons, science demonstrations, and a branch of the local library. Creative Discovery Museum is a funded agency of Allied Arts and Tennessee Arts Commission.

Created by a consortium of business, education, government, media, non-profit leaders and youth The LEAGUE empowers youth to “get in the game” of serving their community and world. It’s school and web-based and provides all the resources needed for students to learn and give. Joining The LEAGUE is free and simple. Visit www.theleague.org to register, plan events, track points, reward team members, and more. There’s also access to more than 1,300 lesson plans on giving, service and civic engagement for use in K-12 classrooms nationwide.

# # #