Big Lots Announces Fall National Fundraising Campaign Benefitting Nationwide Children's Hospital

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Sep 23, 2019, 09:05 ET

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Sept. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Big Lots announced today the launch of its fall point-of-sale campaign, "Give Big for Kids" that will benefit Nationwide Children's Hospital. Now through October 27, Big Lots customers can donate $1, $2, $5, or more at checkout. One hundred percent of the dollars raised supports lifesaving research and care at the hospital.

This past spring, Big Lots concluded its seventh point-of-sale fundraising campaign on behalf of Nationwide Children's. A total of $2.6 million was raised in more than 1,400 stores that employ over 35,000 Big Lots associates. Over the past four years, the dedicated Big Lots team has raised nearly $20 million through point-of-sale operations.

"Our mission to help children is continuing," said Bruce Thorn, president and CEO of Big Lots. "We're proud to partner with Nationwide Children's and the lifesaving work they do every day. Together with our generous customers and dedicated store teams, we're making a big difference for a better life, and we're looking forward to another successful campaign."

In 2016, Big Lots and the Big Lots Foundation joined Nationwide Children's in addressing childhood behavioral health and mental illness when they announced a $50 million transformational gift to the hospital to construct the Big Lots Behavioral Health Pavilion at Nationwide Children's Hospital. Scheduled to open in March 2020, the Pavilion will be a freestanding facility fully dedicated to children and adolescents with behavioral health conditions. It will be the largest behavioral health treatment and research center dedicated to children and adolescents on a pediatric medical campus in the U.S.

"On behalf of the patients, families and staff at Nationwide Children's Hospital, I want to thank Big Lots and their committed group of associates and loyal customers who support the hospital's vision of delivering the best health care for children everywhere," said Steve Testa, president, Nationwide Children's Hospital Foundation. "We could not be more grateful for their continued and instrumental partnership."

For the past two years, the Big Lots Foundation has supported the hospital's Butterfly Run, a family fitness event created to help bring awareness to childhood behavioral and mental health. This year, the Butterfly Run presented by the Big Lots Foundation took place on September 14 at Alum Creek Park North in Westerville, Ohio, and attracted nearly 800 participants. For more information on the Butterfly Run, visit butterflyrun.org.

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 discount retailer operating approximately 1,400 stores in 47 states with product assortments in the merchandise categories of Furniture, Seasonal, Soft Home, Food, Consumables, Hard Home, and Electronics, Toys & Accessories. Our mission is to help people Live BIG and Save LOTS. We strive to be the BIG difference for a better life by delivering unmatched value to our customers through surprise and delight, being a "best places to work" culture for our associates, rewarding our shareholders with consistent growth and top tier returns, and doing good in our communities as we do well.

About Nationwide Children's Hospital
Named to the Top 10 Honor Roll on U.S. News & World Report's 2019-20 list of "Best Children's Hospitals," Nationwide Children's Hospital is one of America's largest not-for-profit freestanding pediatric health care 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 more than 13,000 providing state-of-the-art pediatric care during more than 1.5 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 Abigail Wexner 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.

SOURCE Big Lots, Inc.