Chad Pennington’s 1st and 10 Foundation Gives a Gift to Help Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation’s Seriously Ill Children and Their Families

(LOS ANGELES) – Chad and Robin Pennington’s 1st and 10 Foundation and the Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation have teamed up to help young hospital patients deal with anxiety, loneliness and apprehension that often accompany serious illness and injury. Keeping in line with its mission to build stronger communities throughout West Virginia, Tennessee and the New York Metropolitan area, 1st and 10 is making a generous gift to Starlight Starbright that will place Fun Centers (mobile entertainment units for pediatric patients) in these hospitals:

• St. Mary's Medical Center (Huntington, WV), 2 Fun Centers
• Cabell Huntington Hospital (Huntington, WV), 2 Fun Centers
• Charleston Area Medical Center, Women and Children's Hospital (Charleston, WV), 2 Fun Centers
• East Tennessee Children's Hospital (Knoxville, TN), 1 Fun Center
• Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (New York, NY), 1 Fun Center

"We are very excited to help Starlight Starbright place Fun Centers in hospitals in communities that are near and dear to my family," said Chad Pennington, starting quarterback for the NY Jets and co-founder of 1st and 10. "It's a special feeling to know that the units will be used to help put smiles on the faces of these children and make their hospital stays a little bit brighter."

A Fun Center is a mobile entertainment unit that includes a Nintendo gaming system, a DVD player, and a flat screen monitor. The ease with which Fun Centers roll right up to the side of young patients’ beds or anywhere in a hospital setting makes them perfect for hospitalized children in numerous situations: anticipating surgery, during long outpatient clinic treatments, waiting in the emergency room or fighting loneliness after visiting hours have ended.

“Fun Centers uniquely counter the isolation and fear often experienced by sick children in the hospital,” said Paula Van Ness, CEO of the Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation. “The Fun Center is a welcome guest when other visitors aren’t around. Playing a video game or watching a movie helps pass the time more quickly and distracts young patients from their pain.”

One mother, Paula Veltre, describes what a Fun Center meant to her as a parent of a hospitalized child: “The nurses brought in the Starlight Starbright Fun Center for my son, and it kept him busy for the two days he was there. He felt so special. He took his treatments better, so he could get back to watching a movie or playing a game. It made his time in the hospital a lot less stressful. I think this is the best thing that could have helped him forget all his fears.”

About 1st and 10 Foundation
Chad and Robin Pennington created the 1st and 10 Foundation in 2003 with the mission to build stronger communities by funding programs and institutions that seek to improve quality of life throughout West Virginia, Tennessee and the New York Metropolitan area.

In addition to its grant program, the Foundation offers support in many others ways, including: Share Our Soles, which provides new footwear to children in need; the Super Sunday program, which provides season tickets to NY Jets games to students who meet their own individual performance goals; Super Saturday, which provides season tickets to Marshall Football home game to students; the Bobby Hampton Race for a Cure, which raises money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

In 2006, the Foundation distributed more than $200,000 in funds to communities in West Virginia, Tennessee and New York.

Grant application requests can be sent to: 1st and 10 Foundation, PO Box 42, Syosset, NY 11791, or via email at director@1stand10foundation.com. For more information, please call, 631-384-3667.

About Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation
When a child or teenager has a serious medical condition, everyone in the family is affected. For more than two decades, Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation has dedicated itself to helping seriously ill children and their families cope with their pain, fear and isolation through entertainment, education and family activities. Starlight Starbright’s programs have been proven to distract children from their pain, help them better understand and manage their illnesses, and connect families facing similar challenges so that no one feels alone. Serving more than 180,000 children each month, Starlight Starbright’s array of outpatient, hospital-based and Web offerings provide ongoing support for children and families — before, during and after medical treatment. To learn more visit www.starlight.org.

Supporters can use PayPal’s Text to Give program to donate $10 to Starlight Starbright today by texting STAR10 to 78787!