For Immediate Release:              

Chicago-based Caboodles Gives Back in 2010
Empowering girls to embrace their individuality

CHICAGO (December 8, 2010) - Since 1987 Caboodles has been a trusted friend to young girls and women everywhere, and continues to promote the importance of self-expression and individuality through their fun, whimsical product line.  In an effort to instill confidence and give back to those less fortunate, the Chicago-based company donated thousands of products and has made generous monetary donations to several youth focused local and national charities over the past year.  The organizations include; Step Up Women's Network, Boys & Girls Clubs of Chicago, Hope Hospital in Oak Lawn, Illinois, Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago, and one of their biggest endeavors to date- the generous donation of $50,000 to the Today Show’s Holiday Toy and Gift Drive.

Caboodles “batted their eyelashes” on The Today Show as the organization donated a total of $50,000 and an arsenal of their signature cosmetic cases to The Today Show’s Holiday Gift Drive.  The Today’s Show’s Natalie Morales graciously accepted the donation in the form of a check presented by Caboodle’s Director of Marketing, Jesse Simpkins, outside New York's 30 Rockefeller Plaza on December 3, 2010. Additionally, 1000 Caboodles were distributed just in time for the holidays to five youth organizations around North America; Camp Heartland, Diocese of Saint Augustine, Lower Eastside Service Center, Inc., Operation Santa Claus, and Texas Head Start Association.

Teen girls in LA, Chicago, and New York participating in Step-Up’s teen programming copped Caboodles of their own – and in some cases a scholarship. In spring 2010, four girls involved with the programs in these three cities were selected to receive $500 scholarships towards their college education. Caboodles also donated product to the girls involved in Step Up Women’s Network teen programming while they were learning to become healthy, confident, college bound and career-minded young ladies.  “Inspiring young girls to be proud of who they are has always been important to us,” says Kathy Hurt, Director of Marketing and Product Development. “We like to think of ourselves as their fun, quirky friend that’s been with them from their first lip gloss to their first college application.” 

In Chicago, the children at Jordan Center Boys and Girl’s Clubs were given a Caboodle and the opportunity to tell on camera what they would keep in their cases.  Selected winners from this fun exercise were given Wal-Mart gift-cards as prizes.  Caboodles additionally donated four Caboodles cases adorned with multiple celebrity autographs including Felicity Huffman, Queen Latifah, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Karina Smirnoff, Patti LaBelle, T.I., Neil Patrick Harris, Molly Ringwald, Caycee Stroh, and more, attained exclusively at the MTV, Emmy and BET Award show gifting suites to be auctioned off as a fundraising item exclusively for the Jordan Center Boys and Girl’s Club of Chicago.

On another local level, pediatric cancer patients at Hope Hospital in Oak Lawn were treated on December 2, 2010 to a treasure trove of their favorite Caboodles swag at the Hope Hospital Holiday Charity Event, while tykes at Chicago’s Children’s Memorial Hospital were given Creative Options boxes for scrap booking items.

###