Festa Parties Top Fundraising Team in 2013 CHICAGO Dance Marathon

CHICAGO, IL, March 07, 2013 (Press-News.org) Festa Parties, a Chicago-based event planning company known for its festive pub crawl events including TBOX, The Twelve Bars of Xmas in Wrigleyville, completed its sponsorship and participation in the CHICAGO Dance Marathon for the third year in a row, winning this year's Top Team Fundraising Award. The event took place on March 2, 2013 from 8AM to 9:06PM, benefiting Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago. Festa Parties has been planning and organizing great Chicago party events since its first TBOX back in 1996.

With the growth of TBOX, Christopher Festa, Owner and Founder of Festa Parties, wanted to use this opportunity to formally partner with a local charity and help give to the Chicagoland community. Festa Parties became a Bronze Sponsor of the CHICAGO Dance Marathon in 2011, and then a Silver Sponsor in 2012 and 2013. The CHICAGO Dance Marathon is a 13.1-hour-long charity event during which participants can dance and hear the inspiring stories of patient families from the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago. The hospital, formerly Children's Memorial Hospital, is a new state-of-the-art hospital located in downtown Chicago on the campus of its academic partner, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Lurie Children's is ranked as one of the nation's top children's hospitals by U.S.News & World Report. The hospital relies on philanthropic support to care for the children and their families. The funds raised from this event will be donated to the Lurie Children's Hospital.

Over the years, Festa Parties and volunteers from the CHICAGO Dance Marathon have worked together in spreading the word of this charity. CDM volunteers have served as hosts at several Festa Parties events including TBOX and BeadQuest, where they've had the opportunity to distribute literature and fun stickers to the crowd to raise awareness for the benefit. "It has really been wonderful working with the people from the CHICAGO Dance Marathon over the past three years", said Christopher Festa, "Unlike some other groups we approached, the CDM people immediately 'got' the idea of TBOX and they have many of the type of young, fun, 'wire to wire' demographic we attract to our events. TBOX just so happens to also start at 8AM, and also go over 13 hours, so it really seemed fated for our two events to work together!"

This year, Festa Parties had a team of 15 Royal Court Members (VIPs of Festa Parties events) and friends participating in the Dance Marathon. This is the largest group the team has had to date, increasing from five members in 2011, and seven members in 2012. The enthusiastic group danced, participated in trivia and other games, as well as interacted with families and children throughout the day. Festa Parties team member, Kira Elliott, stated, "I've been looking forward to dancing for 13 hours all week. I find dancing really freeing. When my sister did the Dance Marathon last year, I got really excited about it. It's been really fulfilling to be able to do something I love and benefit a really good cause."

For some of the other Festa Parties team members, the importance of dancing in the marathon touched home. Jessica Harrison, a returning participant, shared, "Last year was my first year. I did it as a way to give back to the community. This past year, my nephew had to go to the hospital to have surgery, so I now have a personal connection to the hospital, which makes this event even more special." Cindy Studebaker took a bus six hours from Michigan to be on the Festa Parties team. Studebaker commented, "Charity work has always been rewarding to me and I wanted to help out the children and support the Festa Parties team. Seeing these families make me very thankful that I have a healthy child and didn't have to face the issues that these families face."

During the CHICAGO Dance Marathon, families spoke on stage and shared their stories of how the Lurie Children's Hospital has helped them. In addition, each participating team was assigned a child to dance for during the day. At a designated time, the team members had the opportunity to spend some personal time with the child and family. The Festa Parties team was able to spend time with the Page family, and their daughter Harlow. Harlow was diagnosed with a brain tumor in her abdomen when she was only four months old. After speaking with several doctors, the Page family was referred to the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago. The medical staff was able to help save Harlow's life. Jamie Page, Harlow's mother, expressed her gratitude, "Lurie Children's Hospital is an amazing resource for the children of the Chicago area and because of them our daughter Harlow has a bright future ahead of her. Lurie's not only treated Harlow's cancer but they also took care of our family. The doctor's and nurses became a second family to us during Harlow's treatment. They made us active participants in her care and were willing and able to do anything they could to make sure that they were not just treating her cancer but also trying to keep her childhood as normal as possible while going through such a hard time. The staff at Lurie's were not just her doctor's and nurse's, but our friends and confidants in a time when we really needed support. There was a time where we thought Harlow may not make it to her first birthday but we're now approaching her fifth and I truly don't know if that would have been possible with any other hospital. We could not be more grateful to all that Lurie's Childrens Hospital has done for our family." For Festa Parties team participant, Christina Miller, stories like Harlow's is why she dances year after year, "It is such an inspiration to listen to the family stories and feed off their positive attitude. This is my third year and I am going to continue coming back for years to come."

At the conclusion of the event, the Festa Parties team was awarded with the prize for Top Fundraising Team, generating a total of $26,623.61 to be donated to the worthy cause. These funds will be able to cover several large expenses such as an infant warming bed in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and one year of Caring Touch, a hands-on therapy intervention offered to children in palliative care to reduce their level of distress, tension and discomfort. Festa Parties plans to continue supporting this great cause for many years to come.

Besides the CHICAGO Dance Marathon, Festa Parties has been continuously contributing to other worthy charitable causes in the Chicagoland community, including Mercy Home for Boys and Girls, Lakeview Pantry and School Street Playlot. In addition to cash and food donations, they have also donated thousands of dollars in clothing in partnership with Festa's other company, Great To Be Here T-Shirts. "It's very satisfying in our business to be able to add value not only for our customers, but by contributing to good causes as well that can really use and appreciate our help. It's also really gratifying to know that so many of our friends and customers are as enthusiastic and passionate about charity as they are about partying!"

Festa Parties is looking forward to continuing producing the lively and popular events like TBOX, BeadQuest, and Cover Your Bases and contribute extensively to the local charities and community organizations. Festa's upcoming events include its St. Patrick's / Lucky Charms Edition "BYOC" Cereal Donation Party at Irish Oak on Thursday, March 7th, benefiting Lakeview Pantry, and the next pub crawl, Cover Your Bases 2013, the 5th Annual Baseball-Themed event on April 27th, 2013 in Wrigleyville.

Festa Parties is a Chicago-based company founded by Christopher Festa that produces creative and popular nightlife and cultural events including TBOX, BeadQuest, and Cover Your Bases, which include popular Chicago establishments in neighborhoods such as Lakeview and Wicker Park. These include John Barleycorn, Moe's Cantina, Irish Oak, Red Ivy, Stretch, Fatpour, Rockwood Place, Fifty/50, Boundary, Sluggers, DS Tequila, Casey Moran's, Full Shilling, Trace, Murphy's Bleachers, Rebel, and many others. Festa Parties also contributes extensively to local charities and community organizations including Chicago Dance Marathon, School Street Playlot, Mercy Home for Boys and Girls, and Lakeview Pantry.

For further information, please visit: http://www.festaparties.com