NORMAN, OKLA. – (March 19, 2009) – Four-year-old Gianna has a new playhouse in her backyard. But it’s not just any playhouse. Gianna is dwarfed by the two-story yellow structure that features gingerbread trim, a front porch, 14 windows across the front of the house and flower boxes filled with real flowers. Inside, furniture, curtains, dishes and toys work together to make the house a dream-come-true for the home’s excited owner.

“The playhouse is adorable – something fit for a queen,” said Vicki Feola, whose employer, Akron, Ohio-based Famous Enterprises, helped make Gianna’s wish for a castle-like playhouse come true. Each year, the Luxaire^® distributor participates in a number of fundraising projects that benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation® of America and deliver the magic of a wish to children diagnosed with life-threatening medical conditions.

“In September we host an expo trade show that includes a raffle,” Feola explained. “We typically raise enough money from the sale of raffle tickets to fund the granting of one wish through the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Greater Ohio, Kentucky & Indiana.“

Famous Enterprises has helped fund additional wishes with the proceeds from an annual golf outing in July and donations the company makes to the Make-A-Wish^® Foundation in lieu of Christmas gifts to vendors and customers.

“In all, we’ve granted 14 wishes to children who live in the communities where we do business,” Feola noted proudly. “And our hope is to increase that number every year.”

After a wish has been granted, the people at Famous Enterprises typically invite the child and his or her family to join their employees at their corporate office in Akron for lunch or a late-afternoon reception of cake and punch. According to Director of Marketing Tom Krejci, it’s an opportunity to see pictures related to the wish, hear the stories of the child and his or her family, and help associates at Famous Enterprises put a face to each wish.

“Each time our associates have a chance to meet any of these fantastic young people and their families, it turns into an inspiring moment – just to see the strength that each family and each child bring to their unique situation,” said Krejci. “Those meetings give us the drive to go on and do something else for another child and another family – to make another wish come true.”

Even associates who do not meet a Wish child know about the program, thanks to the Make-A-Wish Hall of Fame. This special wall at the company’s distribution center in Sebring, Ohio, displays photographs of the 14 children whose wishes have been granted with the help of Famous Enterprises.

“Without organizations like Famous Enterprises, we would not be able to do what we do,” said Kelly Kleinschmidt, executive director of Make-A-Wish Foundation of Greater Ohio, Kentucky & Indiana, Northeast Ohio Region. “We rely on the generosity of corporations like Luxaire and their employees to help us raise the necessary funds to grant wishes and bring joy to children in our community – children like Gianna who dream about playhouses.”

Krejci is quick to point out that it’s not just the child who experiences joy when a wish is granted. “We all feel good when we’re able to bring a smile to a child’s face,” he said, “especially when that child lives in our community. That’s what makes this program special. We can take the partnership Luxaire has with the Make-A-Wish Foundation at the national level and personalize it by working with our local chapter to benefit local families.”

Luxaire recently signed its third three-year contract with the Make-A-Wish Foundation of America. This extends the partnership with the nation’s largest wish-granting organization into 2011 and commits $675,000 in contributions over three years.

Luxaire first embarked on a partnership with the Make-A-Wish Foundation in 2001, agreeing to donate a portion of every sale of a Luxaire product toward its minimum annual contribution of $250,000. Since that time, Luxaire has donated more than $1.75 million to the organization, enough to grant the wishes of more than 250 children diagnosed with life-threatening medical conditions.

The Luxaire network of distributors and dealers also works with Make-A-Wish chapters to organize a variety of fundraising activities, including raffles, golf outings and events affiliated with minor league baseball, Central Hockey League and Arena Football League teams. Using money raised by these and other fundraising activities, Luxaire has directly sponsored the wishes of more than 80 children in dealer markets.

Luxaire encourages homeowners to participate in the program by donating all or a portion of product rebates to their local Make-A-Wish chapter during spring and summer promotions of Luxaire brand products. A number of redesigned marketing materials will continue to support the program and raise consumer awareness.

The Make-A-Wish Foundation grants the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy. It is the largest wish-granting charity in the nation, with 66 chapters in the United States and its territories. With the help of generous donors and more than 25,000 volunteers, the Make-A-Wish Foundation grants a wish every 40 minutes and has granted more than 173,000 heartfelt wishes since 1980. For more information about the Make-A-Wish Foundation, visit www.wish.org.

Luxaire products from Johnson Controls, Inc., include high-performance residential central air-conditioners, heat pumps, furnaces and accessories and light-commercial, packaged heating and cooling systems marketed through a network of distributors and delivered to home- and building-owners through independent Luxaire heating and air conditioning dealers. For more information about Luxaire, visit www.luxairebelievesinme.com or call 877-958-9247.


Johnson Controls

Johnson Controls (NYSE: JCI) is the global leader that brings ingenuity to the places where people live, work and travel. By integrating technologies, products and services, we create smart environments that redefine the relationships between people and their surroundings. Our team of 140,000 employees creates a more comfortable, safe and sustainable world through our products and services for more than 200 million vehicles, 12 million homes and one million commercial buildings. Our commitment to sustainability drives our environmental stewardship, good corporate citizenship in our workplaces and communities, and the products and services we provide to customers. For additional information, please visit http://www.johnsoncontrols.com/.

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Please Direct Reader Inquiries to:
Walt Jacobe
Luxaire Brand Manager
Johnson Controls
5005 York Drive
Norman, OK 73069