Jan 24, 2011

CHA Partners With Charities to Benefit L.A. School Children

Elmwood Park, NJ – The Craft & Hobby Association (CHA) is proud to announce they are partnering with two world-class kids organizations, Kids In Need Foundation (KINF) and LA’s BEST, to benefit school children during the CHA 2011 Winter Conference & Trade Show, January 29 -February 1, 2011 at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, CA.

KINF will be the benefactor of CHA’s Silent Auction that takes place at the Show from January 29th – January 31st. Show attendees will be able to bid on sports memorabilia and finished craft projects created by leading designers. Items in the past have included signed contributions from Twilight movies, Taylor Swift, Rat Pack, Lance Armstrong, etc. The KINF will also manage the ‘product harvesting’ at the end of the Show where exhibitors can donate their unused products and samples for the schoolchildren. In 2010 CHA members at the Winter Conference contributed over $50,000 in product donations to the Kids in Need Foundation.

The more than 7,000 Show attendees are also being asked to donate school supplies for the LA-area school children. There will be a donation bin in the lobby for collection of school supplies. The Show organizer is asking every attendee to bring in one unopened item/package from the Core items list (Crayons, Glue Sticks, Markers, Paper, Pencils, and Pens). This is CHA’s way of getting the attendees involved in a program that they have been running with the exhibitors for several years.

Additionally, CHA is partnering with LA’s BEST, an after school enrichment program to host Kids Craft Day in Los Angeles for about 200 students at Hoover Elementary School on January 31st from 3:00 – 5:00 p.m. CHA’s Celebrity Craft Ambassador and Member of LA’s BEST Board of Governors, Candy Spelling, and Terri O, CHA spokesperson, will host this special kids craft day.

LA’s BEST
LA’s BEST is an after-school enrichment program run by the Mayor’s office in conjunction with the Los Angeles Unified School District. In support of this effort, CHA has asked its member companies to donate 200 each of plastic headbands, ribbons, adhesives, foamie visors, peel-n-stick embellishments, kids-themed and Spanish language scrapbook paper. For more information contact media@craftandhobby.org.

Kids In Need Foundation
CHA has partnered with the Kids in Need Foundation for many years supporting its efforts to provide school supplies to at-risk school children across the country. This year CHA will continue this partnership by collecting donated school supplies in drop-boxes located in the lobby of the Los Angeles Convention Center, hosting a silent auction on the Show floor during the event, and allowing the Kids in Need Foundation to collect any unwanted booth samples from exhibitors following the Show. For more information about the Kids in Need Foundation go to www.kinf.org.

About the Craft & Hobby Association
The Craft & Hobby Association is an international not-for-profit trade association consisting of thousands of member companies engaged in the design, manufacture, distribution and retail sales of products in the $28 billion craft and hobby industry. For more information about CHA or its award-winning Conferences and Trade Shows visit www.craftandhobby.org.