LEGO Sculpture inspired by kids' pictures and ideas from around the country was designed by Nathan Sawaya and donated to the public library as a piece of public art.

Children from All 50 States Help Bring Creative Materials to New Orleans Schools, Donating More Than 1.6 Million LEGO® Bricks

November 17, 2006 -- ENFIELD, Conn. -- Sharing is one of the first lessons of childhood play, and thousands of children are sharing their LEGO® brick collections this holiday season. Over the past six months, children from all 50 states opened their toy chests to collect LEGO bricks, each a gift for students in New Orleans where schools are still recovering critical classroom materials lost to Hurricane Katrina. LEGO Systems has matched every child's donation, brick for brick, amassing a total of 1,665,200 LEGO bricks for children and teachers to use in New Orleans classrooms.

"LEGO bricks are a classroom favorite, and we will put the donated bricks to great use, for fun as well as for learning," said Karen Ranatza, principal at The Good Shepherd School in New Orleans, one of the schools that will receive a donation.

Buckets of LEGO bricks will be delivered to approximately 40 New Orleans area schools on November 17, helping to provide much needed creative materials for the classroom and giving students an opportunity to learn, imagine and have fun, all while knowing their peers across the country care about their well being. One of the groups to benefit from the donation is KID smART, a non-profit organization that encourages creative thinking through after-school programs held at local public schools. KID smART serves more than 1,700 students at schools throughout New Orleans.

Donations were sent in by thousands of children, as well as by schools, scouting troops and other groups across the country that organized their own drives. Third-grader Dixon Dubow of Raleigh, NC, touched by the images he saw in the news following Hurricane Katrina, became intent on collecting as many LEGO bricks as possible to help. Dubow brought the idea to his Cub Scout Pack, and the group of 100 boys dipped into their personal LEGO collections, solicited local businesses and asked their classmates for donations. Led by Dubow, the Pack was able to collect more than 45,000 LEGO bricks. "It made me really sad because the children didn't have homes anymore. I hope that collecting LEGO bricks will help them so they can feel better," Dubow said.

Also on November 17, a model of an envisioned future New Orleans - developed from the imaginations of children in New Orleans and across the country - will be donated to the city as a work of public art. LEGO Artist Nathan Sawaya was commissioned to create the piece using children's ideas for what they thought would help the city as it rebuilds. The structure will be permanently displayed in the Children's Room at the Main Library of the New Orleans Public Library System.

"Through this donation program, we were touched to see the generosity of the thousands of children who participated by giving something of their own to help kids who needed it more," said Michael McNally, Brand Relations Director at LEGO Systems. "This is a great example of children helping their peers and we're glad to be able to support the effort and help provide classrooms in New Orleans with the creative materials they need."

The New Orleans LEGO brick drive is part of a program called LEGO Builders of Tomorrow, which focuses on encouraging kids to imagine and create a better future for themselves and others. Results of the LEGO brick drive for New Orleans schools and select stories from parents, teachers and children who donated are available online at www.legobuildersoftomorrow.com. The site also offers practical tips to foster unstructured, creative play - drawing, building, storytelling and more - and includes inspirational stories about entrepreneurs, teachers, parents and children who are "builders of tomorrow."

LEGO and the LEGO logo are trademarks of the LEGO Group. © 2006 The LEGO Group.