MDA BRINGS BACK KIDS’ CARNIVALS

TUCSON, Ariz., July 21, 2004 — Many adults fondly remember holding backyard carnivals for “Jerry’s kids” when they were children. The homemade games, booths and shows not only were a lot of fun, but raised money to help children with muscular dystrophy.

The Muscular Dystrophy Association is pleased to announce that, after a long hiatus, its backyard carnival program is back. Once promoted on locally produced children’s television shows, the new MDA Carnival program takes advantage of the modern route to children’s hearts: the Internet.

Organized under the theme “It’s Cool to Care,” the new program offers MDA Carnival kits which can be found at www.mdacarnivals.com or by calling (800) 572-1717 to request the free kit in CD-ROM or printed form.

Kits include everything from instructions on how to build a booth or create a carnival game, to publicity materials, safety tips, printable signs and other carnival paraphernalia.
Although the carnival program was hugely popular with parents and children in the 1960s and 1970s, it was discontinued in the 1980s.

“To this day we still get calls asking us about putting on a carnival,” MDA President & CEO Robert Ross says. “Times may have changed, but parents still want to teach their children the valuable lesson of helping others.”

MDA is a voluntary health agency working to defeat more than 40 neuromuscular diseases through programs of worldwide research, health and support services, and professional and public health education. The Association's programs are funded almost entirely by individual private contributors.