Elf Foundation Dedicates Movie Theater At Cleveland Rainbow Babies Hospital

A-V Services, ControlWorks, Runco International, Crestron, M & K, Stewart Filmscreen, and UltraLink Donate to Elf’s 46th ‘Room of Magic’

April 12, 2006

On a magical afternoon in spring, a very special group of kids got together to experience the thrills and adventure of their very own private entertainment theater. What is so unique about this magical theater, this Room of Magic, is that it was created inside of Cleveland Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital for the express purpose of providing a sense of relief and fun-filled diversion for kids in what is often a tedious and traumatic environment for the sick children who are stuck in the hospital for treatment. Thanks to the Elf Foundation, a non-profit organization that creates Room of Magic theaters across America, local Cleveland managing partners A-V Services and ControlWorks LLC, and a star-studded roster of generous consumer electronics manufacturers, this magical space for the kids and their families has become a reality. The new Room of Magic Theater at Cleveland Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital marks the completion of the Elf Foundation’s 46th children’s entertainment theater since the foundation’s July 2001 inception. “When Tim Campbell of A-V Services approached the foundation to offer his design and installation services pro bono for a theater at Rainbow Babies, we jumped at the chance to work with what is one of the country’s leading children’s medical facilities,” said Doug Weinstein, president of the Elf Foundation. “We knew we would want to create something special and immediately reached out to our top corporate sponsors to enlist their support for the project.” Working with the full support of Rainbow Babies’ Ms. Meri Armour, Sr. Vice-President of Women’s, Children’s, and Cancer Services, the hospital offered a large conference room space for remodel and installation of a state-of-the-art movie theater. The theater will allow kids to watch their favorite DVD’s, nature films, and educational material all in a friendly kid-centric environment that will take them away from the often-sterilized atmosphere of a hospital setting. Imagine the relief at doing something so normal as kicking back and getting to experience a movie night with family and friends, popcorn on the side ‘thank you very much!’ “This has been one of the most rewarding projects I’ve ever been involved in,” said Tim Campbell, principal of Lakewood, Ohio-based A-V Services, who acted as the general managing partner for the project. “The hospital personnel were terrific to work with, our friends at ControlWorks and GuiFX lent their support to the project, and Elf’s corporate sponsors came through with some great gear that is going to make a lot of little kids extremely happy. We’ve all rallied around the vision of the Elf Foundation and have a sense of pride at our accomplishment.” The theater was created inside of an existing, yet underutilized, conference room and has a seating capacity of over 40 kids. The hospital invested over $25,000 in order to give the space a makeover that would have a bright, fun feel for the kids. The Elf Foundation assisted in underwriting the $75,000 theater with tremendous support from some of their keys corporate sponsors. Included in the Room of Magic is a Hi-Definition DLP projector from acclaimed video display manufacturer, Runco International. The projector shoots a wide-screen hi-def picture onto an acoustically perforated filmscreen manufactured and donated by the Stewart Filmscreen Corporation, a leader in high performance screen technology. Legacy Audio and M & K Sound supplied speakers for the surround sound configuration. Lutron donated the room’s lighting control system, and the automation that runs everything with a simple push of a touch-screen panel was generously provided by Crestron. UltraLink donated the wiring and cabling needs that connect all the dots and accommodates all of the hi-def signals going from Point A to Point B. ControlWorks LLC of Cleveland, provided an enormous amount of pro bono man-hours to handle the Crestron system programming and on-site system support, and GuiFX of West Palm Beach, Florida donated the user interface template for the Crestron touch panels. The final result is a magical theater that sounds and looks great, with high definition video and surround sound performance to excite and thrill the target audience at Rainbow Babies. The culmination of hundreds of man-hours and generous corporate donations has resulted in a grand theater experience that will stimulate, educate and entertain countless sick children for years to come. It is a testament to all involved in this theater project that Cleveland Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital has decided to permanently refer to the theater as their “Room of Magic”. As a final tribute to the Elf Foundation’s partners and their sense of giving back to communities, the acclaimed artist Dean J. Baer of Washington, D.C. created an impressionist painting he entitled, “Room of Magic”. The painting was purchased at auction by Stewart Filmscreen’s Don and Debbie Stewart, who in turn donated the work of art to Rainbow Babies. It now resides inside their “Room of Magic” theater and will be on permanent display. About The Elf Foundation The Elf Foundation was founded in July of 2001, with the express mission of creating private entertainment theaters – ‘Rooms of Magic’ - for children’s hospitals, shelters for abused children, autism centers, and children’s disability shelters across the country. Operating as a 501 (c) 3 non-profit charity, the foundation acts as a catalyst within the consumer electronics industry and in local communities to advance their mission of bringing the magic of music and film to special kids and families in a time of need. To date, the Elf Foundation has opened over 45 ‘Room of Magic’ theaters in North America. For more information visit www.elfSystems.org

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