Corporate Sponsors - Friendly Ice Cream Corporation

This winter, the Friendly Ice Cream Corporation proudly supported Easter Seals Camp Friendly’s through its annual Cones for Kids Campaign! From January 5- February 13, 2009, Friendly’s Restaurants offered Valentine Cards as a thank you gift to restaurant guests who made a donation to Easter Seals. The Valentine Cards were redeemable at Friendly’s for 5 free Kids Cones and $5 off any $25 purchase.

Donations collected from the campaign support Easter Seals Camp Friendly’s Programs in all Friendly’s markets. Every time you and your family visit Friendly’s during the campaign, you can help support essential disability camp programs in your community.

Easter Seals New York Campers enjoy time at camp with friends

One former Camper, turned Camp Counselor, from Easter Seals New Hampshire explains, “As a person with a disability I get ‘special’ treatment everyday but from the second I get to camp I get to see what ‘normal’ feels like. I like having people rely on me, because it’s usually me relying on others. When you have a disability, you are trying to stand out without having people stare at what makes you different. When you are at Camp everyone notices you for being yourself.”

The Friendly Ice Cream Corporation has supported Easter Seals since 1981 with over $25 million through Cones for Kids. With the help of generous consumers, 26 Easter Seals affiliate organizations have benefited from this powerful campaign created by Friendly’s Restaurants up and down the East Coast.

To find a Friendly’s restaurant near you visit http://www.friendlys.com/.

Easter Seals Connecticut campers get ready for swimming

At Easter Seals Camp Hemlocks in Hebron, Conn., Andy, a busy teen who plays in the school band and diligently works on his sleight-of-hand card tricks, is able to enjoy camp activities with other kids who use wheelchairs -- and don't think twice about his spinal muscular atrophy.

Andy's motorized chair zooms through the woods on paved pathways that lead him to a boating and fishing dock, a nature center, campfire sing-alongs, a party pavilion, an indoor pool, a challenge course and Friendly's climbing tower. The tower is a challenge course element made possible through the support of Friendly's and the Cones for Kids campaign. Campers of all abilities climb the tower and achieve a new level of independence. Easter Seals Camp Hemlocks and support from Friendly's have enabled Andy to develop special abilities and make lasting friendships while enjoying his independence.

FRIENDS WHO CARE®
Friendly’s has funded the redesign and update of Easter Seals’ award winning disability awareness curriculum FRIENDS WHO CARE®. FRIENDS WHO CARE® is designed to help children better understand what it means and how it feels to be a young person with a disability. Easter Seals thanks Friendly’s for their tremendous support in making this possible.