Big Lots Raises $3.2 Million Dollars During "Serve Families, Give BIG" Campaign for Nationwide Children's Hospital

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Oct 30, 2018, 10:20 ET

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Oct. 30, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Big Lots announced today the completion of the company's sixth point-of-sale fundraising campaign benefitting Nationwide Children's Hospital. The "Serve Families. Give Big" campaign included all 1,416 Big Lots stores and over 35,000 Big Lots associates working to collect over $3.2 million dollars in customer donations.

"Our team of dedicated associates and Big Lots' customers from all over the country responded generously with donations to make a difference in the lives of families and children across the country. In just over three years, our teams have raised over $17 million dollars through our point of sale campaigns with 100% of all proceeds raised going directly to Nationwide Children's Hospital." stated Tim Johnson, Chief Administrative Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Big Lots.

"Big Lots and their customers from all over the country continue to demonstrate their kindness following another successful campaign," said Steve Testa, President, Nationwide Children's Hospital Foundation. "This generosity will impact all the patients and families who will walk through Nationwide Children's Hospital's doors for years to come."

In addition to its financial commitments and support, Big Lots has partnered with Nationwide Children's Hospital to create the Butterfly Run. The goal of the family-fitness event is to end the stigma often associated with childhood mental illness, as well as raise funds for much needed child and adolescent behavioral health research. Two Butterfly Runs have already taken place, including one in Columbus, Ohio, during the summer and another in Charlotte, N.C., earlier this fall. The third and final Butterfly Run of 2018, will occur in the Phoenix/Tempe area on Nov. 3.

In 2016, Big Lots and the Big Lots Foundation announced a $50 million transformational gift to Nationwide Children's to construct the Nationwide Children's Hospital Big Lots Behavioral Health Pavilion. Scheduled to open in Spring 2020, the Pavilion will be a freestanding facility fully dedicated to children and adolescents with behavioral health conditions and will be the largest behavioral health treatment and research center on a pediatric medical campus in the United States.

About Big Lots, Inc.

Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, Big Lots, Inc. (NYSE: BIG) is a community retailer operating more than 1,400 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 2018-19 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 1.4 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.

SOURCE Big Lots, Inc.