Big Lots' 'Give Big For Kids' Campaign Raises $3.6 Million To Support Nationwide Children's Hospital

Customers Continue to Make a BIG Difference for Sick Children

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Dec 13, 2016, 11:30 ET

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Dec. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Big Lots, Inc. (NYSE: BIG) announced today that its 2016 "Give Big for Kids" campaign raised $3.6 million for lifesaving pediatric research and care at Nationwide Children's Hospital, a $1.4 million increase over last year's campaign donation to the hospital of $2.2 million.

The six-week-long campaign offered customers and associates the opportunity to donate in-store and online to support Nationwide Children's, which is based in Columbus, Ohio, but cares for patients from all 50 U.S. States and 41 countries. Funds raised will help benefit state-of-the-art facilities, revolutionary research and available lifesaving treatments.

The campaign also included shopping sprees for hospital patient champions representing Big Lots in seven markets across the country, including California, Florida, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee and Texas. Patient champions are children who are being treated or have been treated at Nationwide Children's and this year's Big Lots patient champions had an opportunity to shop at their local Big Lots store for gifts to send back to patients at Nationwide Children's to enjoy.

In addition to spearheading the Give Big for Kids campaign, on August 31, 2016, Big Lots together with the Big Lots Foundation announced a $50 million transformational gift to Nationwide Children's Hospital. This gift will support the construction of the Big Lots Behavioral Health Pavilion. The 250,000-square-foot pavilion on the hospital's main campus will foster collaboration with Nationwide Children's research teams, as well as community partner agencies to help care for children and teens with mental illness and behavioral health conditions.

"On behalf of Big Lots, I want to express sincere thanks to our customers and associates and their generosity for making a tremendous difference in the lives of the many patients at Nationwide Children's Hospital through their kind donations," said David Campisi Big Lots CEO and President. "Our patient champions continue to inspire the Big Lots community, and we are so thrilled to have exceeded our goal of $3 million for this year's Give Big for Kids program. We look forward to continuing our support for the hospital through similar donation programs in the future and our commitment to the Behavioral Health expansion."

To learn more about Big Lots, speak with a company representative or arrange a store visit, contact the Big Lots media hotline at 877-251-0243 or visit BigLotsMedia.com.

About Big Lots, Inc.
Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, Big Lots, Inc. (NYSE: BIG) is a unique, non-traditional, discount retailer operating 1,445 Big Lots stores in 47 states with product assortments in the merchandise categories of Food, Consumables, Furniture, Seasonal, Soft Home, Hard Home, and Electronics & Accessories. Our vision is to be recognized for providing an outstanding 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 2016-17 list of "America's Best Children's Hospitals," Nationwide Children's Hospital is America's largest not-for-profit freestanding pediatric healthcare system 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 11,000 providing state-of-the-art pediatric care during more than 1.2 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. Nationwide Children's remains true to the original mission since its founding in 1892 of providing care regardless of a family's ability to pay. More information is available at NationwideChildrens.org.

SOURCE Big Lots, Inc.