December 12, 2006

Experient Classic Raises $7,000 To Provide Meals For ‘At Risk’ Children

Twinsburg, OH – Experient, the source for integrated meeting and event solutions, hosted its eighth annual Classic reception Nov. 30 at the Hyatt Regency Denver at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver. The event was organized by members of the Denver office of Experient and raised more than $7,000 for the Denver Rustler’s Kid’s Café, a program created by the Food Bank of the Rockies that is specifically designed to provide meals for at risk children in the metro Denver area.

In the seven years since the Classic - a formal night of networking, fun and fundraising - was established, Experient has donated more than $50,000 to the Kid’s Café.

“Putting together this event was a natural step for us,” said Gary Schirmacher, Experient senior vice president. “Early in 1999, we realized that many of us (in the Denver office) were already volunteering (at the Café) and wanted to think of something we could do that would get more people involved and spread the word about the need for this kind of service in our area. The Classic allows us to do that while having a lot of fun at the same time.”

According to Jeanne Downes, director of the Kid’s Café, 1 in 4 homeless persons in the Denver metro area are children, and 20 percent of the area’s children live in poverty. Many of them benefit from this program, which provided more than 107,000 nutritious meals to children last year.

“The atmosphere in which we serve the meals is an especially unique part of this program,” said Downes. “They are served in conjunction with tutoring, gang intervention, mentoring, and leadership programs. The availability of food enhances these programs’ effectiveness and helps cut down on disciplinary issues at the sites. Numerous studies have shown a direct correlation between nutritious meals and increased academic performance in children.”

For more information on the Denver Rustler’s Kid’s Café program, visit www.foodbankrockies.org/kidcafe1.cfm.