METLIFE AND BELIEVE IN TOMORROW™ CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION TEAM UP TO GIVE CRITICALLY ILL CHILDREN THE RIDE OF A LIFETIME IN AIRSHIPS SNOOPY ONE AND TWO
NEW YORK, July 28, 2010
MetLife, Inc. (NYSE: MET) and the Believe In Tomorrow Children’s Foundation (www.believeintomorrow.org), are teaming up to give critically ill children the ride of a lifetime, in the MetLife airships, Snoopy One and Snoopy Two. MetLife will provide Believe In Tomorrow children with the chance to visit and take rides in the company’s blimps, giving them rare birds-eye-views from over 1,000 feet in the air.
Believe In Tomorrow Children’s Foundation is a national leader in providing exceptional hospital and respite housing for critically ill children and their families. The Foundation’s Hands On Adventure program offers children battling life threatening illnesses unique experiences, like getting up close and personal with the Professional Bull Riders, Inc. (PBR) or on the speedway with the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA).
“Thanks to MetLife, we are thrilled to offer children in our program such an extraordinary Hands on Adventure,” said Brian Morrison, founder and CEO of Believe In Tomorrow. “We are focused on growing our respite housing initiative throughout the United States and with the attention that Snoopy One and Snoopy Two generate, we hope this will help us secure funding and support for that expansion.”
“It’s just as thrilling for us to provide these rides as it is for the kids who get to go on them,” said Richard Hong, vice president, Global Brand and Marketing Services at MetLife.
The MetLife blimp program originated in 1987 and includes airships Snoopy One and Snoopy Two. Combined, the blimps travel approximately 120,000 miles a year throughout the United States providing aerial coverage of over 80 events each year. Along with covering numerous National Football League (NFL) games, MetLife is the official aerial coverage provider of the Professional Golfers Association (PGA) TOUR.
About Believe In Tomorrow National Children’s Foundation
Believe In Tomorrow National Children’s Foundation provides long term hospital and respite housing for families with critically ill children and is the exclusive provider of hospital housing for the world renowned Johns Hopkins Children’s Center.
The Foundation also has five respite properties along the Atlantic Ocean and in the mountains of Western Maryland and North Carolina, that families with critically ill children can utilize free of charge to get away from the trauma of confronting a child’s life threatening illness and relax in a soothing environment.
Two of the foundation’s respite properties, the Believe In Tomorrow House on the Bay in Ocean City, Maryland and the Believe In Tomorrow House at Pinnacle Falls, near Asheville, North Carolina, prioritize military families with critically ill children.
About MetLife
MetLife, Inc. is a leading provider of insurance, employee benefits and financial services with operations throughout the United States and the Latin America, Europe, Middle East and India and Asia Pacific regions. Through its subsidiaries and affiliates, MetLife, Inc. reaches more than 70 million customers around the world and MetLife is the largest life insurer in the United States (based on life insurance in-force). The MetLife companies offer life insurance, annuities, auto and home insurance, retail banking and other financial services to individuals, as well as group insurance and retirement & savings products and services to corporations and other institutions. For more information, visit www.metlife.com.