New York, NY and Philadelphia, PA - September 23, 2008 - PBS
KIDS Sprout, the first 24-hour preschool destination available on
TV, on demand and online for kids ages 2-5 and their parents and
caregivers, has partnered with the Pajama Program, a nationwide
not-for profit organization, to launch "The Great Sprout Tuck-In,"
a prosocial initiative that extends Sprout's "Good Night" mission
and encourages families to share in the spirit of giving through
PSAs appropriate for adult and preschool audiences, nighttime
programming and a donation-match program.
Launching November 24, "The Great Sprout Tuck-In" includes a
series of PSAs designed by Sprout's award-winning creative team
featuring Nina from The Good Night Show and the Pajanimals, four
soft and cuddly puppet characters from the new series produced by
The Jim Henson Company and 4Kids Productions, which will begin
airing exclusively on Sprout this November. The PSAs will
introduce the campaign and communicate the importance of the spirit
of giving in a child's life. Viewers will be directed to
SproutOnline.com for more details and information on how to
donate.
As the Pajama Program's national media partner, Sprout will help
raise awareness for this joint initiative and also match donations
of new pajamas and new books for up to 100,000 children in need
during the first year of the campaign. "The Great Sprout
Tuck-In" microsite at SproutOnline.com will feature streaming video
of the PSAs, links to the Pajama Program's monetary donation site,
information about Sprout's matching commitment, instructions on how
to send new pajamas and new books, expert advice on how to get
preschoolers involved in giving to those in need, and ideas on how
to host your own Pajama Drive.
"We are so excited to launch this initiative with such a trusted
and well-known national brand," said Genevieve Piturro, founder of
the Pajama Program. "There are over a half million children
in the foster care system, many of whom have never owned a pair of
pajamas and who don't know the comforts of a mother or father
tucking them into a cozy bed and reading them a bedtime
story. It is our mission to deliver a warm pair of pajamas
and a book to these children who are going to sleep cold, afraid
and lonely, and we are confident that 'The Great Sprout Tuck-In'
will help us achieve that goal."
"'The Great Sprout Tuck-In' was designed to celebrate Sprout's
core values of learning, growing and inspiring ideas for
preschoolers and their families to share together," said Sandy Wax,
president of Sprout. "We are honored to partner with the
Pajama Program on this worthwhile initiative because we share the
same values and believe that every child deserves a good
night. Genevieve has done such amazing work with the Pajama
Program and we hope to take it to the next level with 'The Great
Sprout Tuck-In.'"
Although the PSAs will not begin airing until November 24, a
temporary microsite at SproutOnline.com is available for those
wishing to donate money and/or new pajamas and new books now, as
October 1 begins a critical time for children in need. As
defined by the Pajama Program, this "Danger Season" for children in
need begins on October 1 and lasts throughout March 31. It is
the time when it starts to get cold outside and hundreds of
thousands of children in America are without warm pajamas at
night. The holidays will come and go, but Danger Season
remains for these children who go to sleep cold, afraid and
lonely.
Go to SproutOnline.com now to donate, because every child
deserves a good night.
About Sprout®
PBS KIDS Sprout, the first 24-hour preschool destination available
on TV, on demand and online for kids ages 2-5 and their parents and
caregivers, was created as a partnership among Comcast Corporation,
HIT Entertainment, PBS and Sesame Workshop. Since debuting
its video on demand (VOD) service in April 2005, Sprout has become
the #1 On Demand service for younger children, generating over 450
million orders. The 24-hour digital channel, which launched
in September 2005 along with the website (SproutOnline.com), is the
only channel that follows the day of child from breakfast to
bedtime with its distinctive programming. Currently, Sprout
is available in 43 million unique households.
The network's program lineup of gold-standard, curriculum-based
children's shows includes: Sesame Street®, Bob the Builder™,
Barney & Friends™, Thomas & Friends™, Angelina Ballerina™,
Caillou®, The Berenstain Bears™, Jay Jay the Jet Plane®,
Teletubbies™, Dragon Tales™, Pingu™, Make Way For Noddy™, The
Hoobs™, Fifi and the Flowertots™ and more. For additional
information on Sprout programs or schedules, visit the
website. To find out where Sprout is available in your area,
call 1.866.9.SPROUT.
About The Pajama Program
Founded in 2001 by Genevieve Piturro and her friends and family,
the Pajama Program has since grown into a nationwide 501(c)3
not-for-profit organization with 72 local chapters in 44 states
that have distributed over 200,000 pairs of pajamas and close to
100,000 books to children in need. Hundreds of thousands of
children have been abandoned or placed into the foster care system
and most are deprived of any love at all. The new pajamas and
new books collected by the Pajama Program go directly to children
in need all over the country, as well as those in foster care who
are waiting and hoping to be adopted, many of whom do not know the
comforts of a mother or father tucking them into a cozy bed and
reading them a bedtime story.
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FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Jenni Glenn
PBS KIDS Sprout
215-286-2703
jenni_glenn@sproutonline.com
Genevieve Piturro
The Pajama Program
212-716-9757
gen@pajamaprogram.org