Bartending Showdown aids Little Friends

Two Naperville community leaders are set to show off their bartending skills in a competition that ultimately will offer holiday help for families who have a loved one with a developmental disability.

In the Celebrity Bartending Showdown, Dan Casey and Ray Kinney each will lead a hand-picked team of volunteer barkeepers in a fundraiser that opens Little Friends' annual Giving Trees Program.

Team Casey and Team Kinney will man the taps from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday Nov. 16, at The Third Floor by Two Brothers, 16 W. Jefferson Ave., Naperville.

Little Friends, based in Naperville, offers an array of services for children and adults with autism and other developmental disabilities. Proceeds from the bartending showdown and the Giving Trees Program will provide assistance to client families during the holiday season.

"The harsh reality for families that support a loved one with autism or another developmental disability is that they will spend $17,000 more per child every year than they would if they had a typical child.

"The lifetime cost for a child with autism is between $1.4 million and $2.4 million. Our families are often emotionally and financially exhausted," Little Friends President Kristi Athas Landorf said.

"Yet when asked what help they need, their requests are not grand or complicated. They would like to have a holiday meal for their family; they would like to put some presents under the tree. In a typical year, we have six or seven families that need more-than-usual assistance. This year we have 19 families in crisis."

Little Friends added the fundraiser this year when staff members realized the number of families needing assistance had more than doubled, said Renee Miklosik, director of special events and volunteers.

"Phase One, so to speak, is to ensure that these 19 families have food for the Thanksgiving holiday and the long weekend it's accompanied by," Miklosik said.

"We hope our friends and supporters will join us for this unique event. Dan and Ray have been such great advocates of our mission, and they were excited to have the opportunity to 'best' the other, especially when their efforts will benefit our clients and their families."

Admission is free; Little Friends will benefit from tips collected by the celebrity bartenders. Little Friends also will collect donations of gift cards to local grocery stores and superstores (Casey's Foods, Jewel, Meijer, Wal-Mart and Target) to be distributed to clients and families.

To donate online, visit littlefriendsgivingtree.com/giving-tree/. For information, visit littlefriendsinc.org.