6th Starbucks Joy Drive Aids Hospitalized Children

Starbucks Coffee Company invites customers to join our partners (employees) in lifting the spirits of seriously ill children through the Starbucks Holiday Angels Joy Drive. Now through December 25, Starbucks stores across the United States will collect new, unwrapped books and toys for distribution to hospitalized children served by the Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation.

“Our partners and customers are looking for ways to give back, especially during the holiday season,” Sherry Thurmon, Starbucks regional spokesperson, said. “We are thrilled to team up with the Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation for a sixth consecutive year and give our customers and partners the opportunity to make a positive impact on local children.”

“This program is so exciting for Starlight Starbright,” Jenny Isaacson, Starlight Starbright vice president of marketing and development, said. “By teaming up with Starbucks, we will be able to reach out to thousands more children this holiday season. Every donated toy and book will bring a smile to the face of a sick child.”

As in years past, Starbucks will collect new, unwrapped toys as well as books to support Starbucks’ ongoing commitment to literacy and foster the joy of reading early in children’s lives. Part of what makes the Starbucks Holiday Angels Joy Drive so special is that it helps families whenever their children are hospitalized, not just during the holidays. Toys and books collected throughout the holiday season will be used by Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation chapters and their affiliate hospitals as gifts for hospitalized children throughout the year.

Customers are invited to drop off new, unwrapped books and toys at local Starbucks stores. Recommended gifts include books, board games, puzzles, hand held games (including batteries), craft kits, building toys, DVDs, CDs and infant items. Customers who wish to make a financial donation can visit www.starlight.org.

Since the Holiday Angels Joy Drive inception in 1999, more than two million gifts have been distributed to hospitalized children. During the 2004 holiday season, more than 99,000 books and toys were collected from the New York metropolitan area. This year, Starbucks hopes to collect more than 750,000 toys and books for distribution to children served by the Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation. Each year, community support of the Holiday Angels Joy Drive has enabled Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation to distribute toys and books, helping to brighten the lives of seriously ill children and their families during the holiday season and beyond.

Books and toys donated in Queens will benefit seriously ill children living in the following hospitals:

• St. Mary's Hospital for Children

• St. Mary's Rehab (Ossining)

• Elmhurst Hospital Center

• New York Hospital Medical Center of Queens

• Jamaica Hospital Medical Center

• Queens Hospital Center.

Starlight Starbright Children's Foundation is a nonprofit organization that transforms the lives of seriously ill children and their families through imaginative programs that educate, uplift their spirits, foster a sense of community, and help alleviate the pain and fear of prolonged illness.

Starlight Starbright offers an impressive array of in-hospital, outpatient, school and home-based programs and services that touch the lives of more than 180,000 children and families each month. To learn more about the organization, visit www.starlight.org.

Starbucks Corporation is the leading retailer, roaster and brand of specialty coffee in the world, with more than 10,000 retail locations in North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and the Pacific Rim. The company is committed to offering the highest quality coffee and the Starbucks Experience while conducting its business in ways that produce social, environmental and economic benefits for communities in which it does business. In addition to its retail operations, the company produces and sells bottled Frappuccino® coffee drinks, Starbucks DoubleShot® espresso drink and a line of superpremium ice creams through its joint venture partnerships. The company’s brand portfolio provides a wide variety of consumer products--innovative superpremium Tazo® teas and exceptional compact discs from Starbucks Hear Music™ enhance the Starbucks Experience through best-of-class products. The Seattle's Best Coffee® and Torrefazione Italia® coffee brands enable Starbucks to appeal to a broader consumer base by offering an alternative variety of coffee flavor profiles.