KEEN is a nonprofit, 501 (c)(3) volunteer organization

KEEN LA Los Angeles

601 S. Figueroa St, Suite 2500, Los Angeles, CA 90017
(213)892-2935 | info@keenlosangeles.org
www.keenlosangeles.org
KEEN’s Federal ID # 52-1767631

Los Angeles Community Unites for Children with Special Needs

KEEN LA Benefit to raise funds for free, non-competitive play for children with disabilities

LOS ANGELES, October 8, 2009 - Kids Enjoy Exercise Now with the support of top sponsors,
Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP, Joe Moller Events and other local sponsors, will be raising funds to ensure
that children with special needs in Los Angeles County are provided with free recreational programs. The ben-
efit will take place at the Bel Air Bay Club in Pacific Palisades on Sunday November 1st, 2009 at 5 p.m.

In attendance will be 200 of Kids Enjoy Exercise Now, Los Angeles’s sponsors such as Sonnenschein Nath &
Rosenthal LLP, Joe Moller Events, KEEN CFOS, Miss California Latina, State Farm Insurance, ABC Supply, as well
as local celebrity guests volunteers, parents of Kids Enjoy Exercise Now, Los Angeles athletes, and the Kids Enjoy
Exercise Now, Los Angeles Board of Directors.

The event will include a hosted bar, hors d’oeuvres, professional salsa dancing lessons, and a silent auction. The
main event is the highly competitive Kids Enjoy Exercise Now, Los Angeles Trivia game. Teams of ten race each
other across an interactive game board, and answer questions related to Kids Enjoy Exercise Now, Los Angeles,
current events, pop culture, etc, to earn a chance to move closer to the finish line. They can also pay to have
extra opportunities to answer questions correctly or wreak havoc on another team, such as paying to have
them sent back a few steps. Waiting across the finish line is a prize, such as a spa treatment or gift certificates.

Tickets are $100 and can be purchased online at http://www.keenlosangeles.org. All funds raised will
ensure that Kids Enjoy Exercise Now, Los Angeles continues to provide recreational programs free of charge to
children with special needs throughout the following year.

About Kids Enjoy Exercise Now, Los Angeles

Kids Enjoy Exercise Now, Los Angeles is a national, nonprofit volunteer-led organization that provides one-to-one
recreational opportunities for children and young adults with mental and physical disabilities at no cost to their
families and caregivers.

About Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP

With 800 lawyers in 13 offices in the U.S. and Europe, and a global reach throughout the Americas, Asia, Africa
and the Middle East, Sonnenschein serves the legal needs of the world’s best known and most admired busi-
nesses, nonprofits and individuals. Chairman of Sonnenschein Nath, Elliott I. Portnoy, founded Kids Enjoy Exercise
Now while completing his doctorate at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar in 1992.

About Joe Moller Events

Joe Moller serves on the Kids Enjoy Exercise Now, Los Angeles Board Events and Fundraising Chair. His event
planning company is responsible for the production of events such as the 2009 Starz Hollywood Film Festival
After Party, as well as the 2009 Special Olympics Global Law Enforcement Torch Run, (as well as) the 2007 Jose
Cuervo Platino Launch.

About Bel Air Bay Club

The Bel-Air Bay Club spans a total of 14 acres, including a venue situated on picturesque bluffs overlooking the
ocean. The club’s developer, Alphonzo Bell, designed the Upper Clubhouse to offer an unsurpassed view of
Santa Monica Bay and Catalina Island, with the Pacific Coast Highway completely hidden from view by the
landscape. Visitors have commented that the Bel-Air Bay Club provides one of the finest views in the world.

###
KEEN is a nonprofit, 501 (c)(3) volunteer organization
KEEN LA Los Angeles
601 S. Figueroa St, Suite 2500, Los Angeles, CA 90017
(213)892-2935 | info@keenlosangeles.org
www.keenlosangeles.org
KEEN’s Federal ID # 52-1767631
KEEN is a nonprofit, 501 (c)(3) volunteer organization
KEEN LA Los Angeles
601 S. Figueroa St, Suite 2500, Los Angeles, CA 90017
(213)892-2935 | info@keenlosangeles.org
www.keenlosangeles.org
KEEN’s Federal ID # 52-1767631

How Can You Help?!

Our objective is to share the details of the Kids Enjoy Exercise Now, Los Angeles Benefit with
the Los Angeles community in hopes of increasing attendance. By informing your friends
and networks about our event, you are helping KEEN LA to live another year of fostering the
self-esteem, confidence, skills and talents of its athletes through non-competitive activities.

Email: info@keenlosangeles.org
Easiest form of communication! Let’s start our relationship NOW! Send us an
email, Subject line, “Helping KEEN LA Benefit” and we’ll send you an email
about the benefit that you can send to your mailing list

Phone: (213) 892-2935

Let’s talk! Ask for Leah. Nothing beats good old Q&A and conversation. Let’s
get you on site, come visit our office, attend a session, interview our parents/vol-

Website: www.keenlosangeles.org
Buy YOUR ticket to the benefit! Learn more about our organization, our sponsors,
volunteer training, our athletes’ disabilities, and our national affiliates.

Facebook: www.facebook.com/keenla
Become our fan. View pictures, videos, and articles. Click “Share!” to spread our
cause with your friends on Facebook.

Twitter: www.twitter.com/keenla
Follow us on twitter. Tweet about the benefit. Retweet our links to benefit news
and pictures. Tell your followers they are invited to our event. Because they are!

Youtube: www.youtube.com/keenlosangeles
Enjoy our new youtube channel. Embed a video to your site. Email them to loved
ones because watching a child play always brings a smile to some one’s face.

Blog: www.keenlablog.blogspot.com
Our blog is not much, but yours is so PLEASE! Throw up a post about our cause, our
kids, and more importantly our event! Keywords: disabilities, autism, free, sports,
Los Angeles, KEEN, programs, nonprofit, down syndrome, volunteers.

KEEN’s Federal ID # 52-1767631

KEEN is a nonprofit, 501 (c)(3) volunteer organization
KEEN LA Los Angeles
601 S. Figueroa St, Suite 2500, Los Angeles, CA 90017
(213)892-2935 | info@keenlosangeles.org
www.keenlosangeles.org
KEEN’s Federal ID # 52-1767631

KEEN LA Mission Statement

KEEN’s mission is to foster the self-esteem, con-
fidence, skills and talents of its athletes through
non-competitive activities. By pairing each ath-
lete one-to-one with a trained volunteer coach,
KEEN helps young people facing even the most
significant challenges meet their individual goals.
The programs provide the athletes with exercise,
opportunities for friendship, and the sense of be-
longing to a group; the parents or caregivers with
much needed respite and resources; and hun-
dreds of volunteers with increased understanding
about the needs of people with disabilities.

KEEN is able to effectively serve one of the most under-served populations in

Los Angeles. KEEN LA provides one-to-one coaching for every athlete in the program, al-
lowing KEEN to provide activities for children with even the most profound disabilities. Each
“athlete” has his or her own volunteer “coach” at all KEEN activities (sometimes more than
one per athlete). By providing individualized attention, KEEN LA is able to accept all chil-
dren, irrespective of the nature or severity of their disability or the extent of their needs.

KEEN LA fulfills a need for children that cannot join city or school sports leagues.
Many children with disabilities are overweight or obese because there is a lack of recreation-
al activities or sports programs that cater to their needs. KEEN LA provides athletes with these
essential exercise opportunities. In addition, we partner with Children’s Hospital of Los Ange-
les to provide parents with free educational seminars on healthy nutrition for children.

KEEN LA programs are offered completely free of charge to all participants.

Recognizing that limited resources are available to many families of children with disabilities,
the KEEN LA board and volunteers are committed to keep the programs free of charge.

KEEN LA programs are run and managed by committed volunteers,

thereby eliminating costly overhead and empowering a corps of extraordinary volunteers.
KEEN LA volunteers are Los Angeles area professionals, families and students who are com-
mitted to KEEN LA and its athletes, who spend thousands of hours planning, developing and
running the different KEEN LA programs. The athletes themselves, who make KEEN LA vol-
unteers feel needed and irreplaceable. KEEN LA has a unique organizational model — it is
able to increase the number of athletes served without increasing its expenses because it
relies on volunteers for so much.
KEEN is a nonprofit, 501 (c)(3) volunteer organization
KEEN LA Los Angeles
601 S. Figueroa St, Suite 2500, Los Angeles, CA 90017
(213)892-2935 | info@keenlosangeles.org
www.keenlosangeles.org
KEEN’s Federal ID # 52-1767631

KEEN Participant Testimonials

“KEEN LA gives children with disabilities the friendship they so desire
but can’t obtain on their own.”
“Other recreational programs say, ‘anybody can partici-
pate,’ but that’s simply not true. At KEEN LA, that statement
is 100% true and for more than 3 years there has never
been a time when both of my children weren’t happy to
be there. At KEEN LA, they can be themselves and be ac-
cepted.”

“ KEEN is the best part of my son’s weekend. And, while he’s

having fun there, I can spend time with my other children or
just enjoy some time to myself.“

“ When my children grew up and left home, my life seemed empty. At first, I was ner-
vous about volunteering at KEEN, but gave it a try. Now I absolutely love it!”

One of K.E.E.N.’s first athletes was Josh Brynes, a sports-minded young

man with mental retardation who stopped growing taller when he
reached 4’11.” As his contemporaries grew, the height difference alone
made life on the playing field at school discouraging and competitions
unequal. Josh started K.E.E.N. when he was 14 years old and found, at
K.E.E.N., everyone is on the same team. Coaches focus on helping ath-
letes have fun playing and exercising individually and with others, rather
than correctly throwing or kicking a ball or even following all the rules to a game. There are
no standards to meet, pressures to achieve, rivals to beat. It’s a place where jocks like Josh
can keep their competitive edge, as long as they do what he does—find the opponent
within and always win.

Not everyone has Josh’s athletic interests or his capacity for rigorous
exercise, though. Caitlin Kelly, for one, can’t compete or easily play in a
game. And that’s just fine with K.E.E.N. and Caitlin. Like any 18 year old,
Caitlin’s main wishes are to act cool, hang out with friends, and assert
some independence from family. In fact, that’s probably how she’d be
spending most of her free time if it weren’t for Rett syndrome, a neurologi-
cal disorder robbing her of her motor abilities. At K.E.E.N., Caitlin gets all of
these wants fulfilled. Besides having her buddies all around her, she has a coach who is dedi-
cated just to her while her family members are off doing their own thing. Caitlin can’t talk,
but she communicates her feelings about K.E.E.N. very well. She says: “These days are mine!”
KEEN is a nonprofit, 501 (c)(3) volunteer organization

KEEN (Kids Enjoy Exercise Now) is a non-profit volunteer orga-

nization that provides FREE sports and recreational activities to
children with disabilities. At each KEEN session, a participating
athlete (child) is paired with a coach (volunteer) for a vari-
ety of age-appropriate recreational activities. No experience
necessary to volunteer – just a desire to help others!

KEEN programs are open, unstructured and flexible.

With the help of volunteer coaches, KEEN athletes
can participate in a variety of non-competitive
activities, including soccer, basketball, swimming,
bowling, gymnastics and various other adaptive
activities.

KEEN LA Se
twice a mosions:
s
September nth
27 th
*Nov 8th, D , October 11th/25th,
January 10 ecember 6
th/24th, Feb th/20th,
ruary 7th/21
11:00 am–1
2 st
:30 pm
Athletes: P
lease arrive
between 1
*Nov 1st: KE 0:45 am–11
EN Benefit,
Bel Air Bay :00 am
Club in Pac
ific Palisade
s*

All KEEN LA Sessions will be held at the Elysian Park Therapeutic Recreation Center,
929 Academy Road, Los Angeles, 90012.
New athletes are welcome to attend.
Please contact Leah Weiner, Executive Director of KEEN LA
213-892-2935 or email info@keenlosangeles.org.