Ethan Allen's 2000 Chairs That Care Program Raises $45,000 for the Children's Museum of Manhattan -CMOM-; Celebrity Designed Chairs on Exhibit through Labor Day.

Business Editors

DANBURY, CT--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 16, 2000

Ethan Allen (NYSE:ETH) and the Children's Museum of Manhattan (CMOM) kicked-off their 2nd Annual "Chairs that Care" program during the Museum's sold out fundraising event in New York City on May 7. The one-of-a-kind creations raised $45,000 to support the Museum's outreach programs aimed at providing creative educational experiences to under-served families.

Through a special fundraising design project called "Chairs that Care," some of America's most talented personalities "took a seat" to help New York's disadvantaged families by applying their creativity to a pint-sized Ethan Allen chair.

Robert DeNiro, Disney's Winnie The Pooh, designer Oscar de la Renta, tennis star Andre Agassi, David Arquette and Courtney Cox Arquette, handbag designer Judith Leiber, artist/author Maira Kalman, designer Kate Spade, Sesame Street's Elmo, Martha Stewart, Mr. Fred Rogers (from Mister Rogers' Neighborhood), James Earl Jones (as the voice of Darth Vader), Barbie(R), Giorgio Armani, the cast of NBC NEWS' Today and Weekend Today (Katie, Matt, Al, Ann and Soledad O'Brien), and creator of Phat Farm clothing Russell Simmons, have hand-decorated a kid-sized upholstered chair. Each one-of-a-kind signed "masterpiece" was auctioned off during the 2000 Family Benefit, a fundraising event co-hosted by the Children's Museum of Manhattan and the WB11 Care for Kids Fund, a fund of the Robert R. McCormick Tribune Foundation. The event took place on Sunday, May 7th at New York's Jacob Javits Convention Center.

This year, a team of Ethan Allen designers also decided to get in on the creativity. Instead of its traditional role of building the furniture, the international furnishings company designed their own "mini-masterpiece," raising $2,600 for the Museum. The highest bid was $5,100 on Martha Stewart's bugs bonanza - this pint-sized chair was covered with creepy crawlies and other animal life.

The celebrity chairs will be on exhibit at the Children's Museum of Manhattan, located in the Tisch Building at 212 West 83rd Street in New York City, from now through Labor Day.

"Family has always been at the heart of Ethan Allen's business. The importance of strong family relationships permeates our plants and our retail stores, where family members help bring consumers furnishings that warm their homes and memories," said Ethan Allen Chairman and CEO Farooq Kathwari. "And it's because of Ethan Allen's strong commitment to family that we especially value our partnership with CMOM. Their outreach programs provide an excellent opportunity to bring families closer together through educational experience."

"Last year's `Chairs that Care' program was an overwhelming success, enabling the Museum to expand its literacy programs. We are delighted to continue this program with Ethan Allen this year," said CMOM director Andrew Ackerman.

As part of its fundraising efforts for the past 14 years, CMOM has hosted a family benefit that offers more than 1,000 New Yorkers a fun-filled day of activities and entertainment. This year's event raised more than $875,000 for the Museum's educational and outreach programs -$45,000 of that amount was from the auction of the "Chairs that Care".

Themed "Dreams", this year's benefit included fun family activities related to dreaming. Ethan Allen displayed furnishings for the workspace, including bookshelves, desks and workstations from its E.A. Kids by Ethan Allen furniture collection. Kids created their own dream journal and listened to some of their favorite bedtime stories read by children's book authors.

Ethan Allen introduced its E.A. Kids line in June of 1999. A 4-color, 58-page Kids Mini Treasury is available through local retailers. Like Ethan Allen's adult-sized Treasury, Mini Treasury provides photography of inspirational room settings for all ages plus all of the product-specific details parents need to furnish their youngster's rooms.

For more information regarding the "Chairs that Care" or the company's E.A. Kids collection, log onto www.ethanallen.com. For a Mini Treasury, call 800/228-9229.

The Children's Museum of Manhattan's mission is to inspire children and their families to learn about themselves and our culturally diverse world through a unique environment of interactive exhibitions and programs. CMOM helps children to learn in varied ways and at an individual pace, stimulates their imaginations and encourages exploration, creativity and application of knowledge in fun and challenging new ways.

Ethan Allen is an international home furnishings company with 3 saw mills and 21 manufacturing facilities in the United States. There are more than 300 Ethan Allen stores located in North and South America, the Middle East and Asia.