IT'S YOUR BUSINESS: Business news releases Friday, Nov. 13, 2009

Shopping for a cause

With the holidays right around the corner, Learning Express Toys is helping make the Children’s Museum of Naples season bright with Shopping for a Cause.

From Nov. 16-22, the neighborhood toy store of Naples will donate 20 percent of sales to C’mon, or The Children’s Museum of Naples. All that is necessary is to print the “I support C’mon” coupon available at www.cmon.org and present it when checking out.

Learning Express Toys, specializing in unique and educational toys for children of all ages, is located 2460 Vanderbilt Beach Road, Suite 400. For store information, visit www.naples.learningexpress-toys.com.

The Children’s Museum of Naples will be Collier County’s first learning environment devoted exclusively to child’s play, the serious business of discovery that helps children attain hallmark milestones on the journey into adulthood. Construction is under way on a two-acre site in North Collier Regional Park, on Livingston Road south of Immokalee Road. The completed facility will be a LEED-certified green building, fully accessible to all children regardless of their physical or learning abilities.

Scheduled to open in the fall of 2010, C’mon will provide a well-rounded universe of 13 exhibits and programs that will lead children and their families on a journey from the swamps of the Everglades to the outer reaches of the galaxy and from an experience at a working farm to a day at the beach. To learn more, visit www.cmon.org.

- Contributed by Learning Express Toys

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Pearson named to national advisory council

William M. Pearson, Esq., a shareholder of Grant, Fridkin, Pearson, Athan & Crown, P.A. in Naples, has been selected to serve as a volunteer member of the American Cancer Society’s new Nationwide Gift Planning Advisory Council, which commenced during the third quarter of calendar year 2009. The Council will be an active source of expert planned giving and estate planning consultation, will assist in the development of promotional strategies, and will serve as a resource for the Society’s marketplace introduction to potential donors.

Pearson will serve a staggered two- or three-year advisory council term and will join other executives from across the nation. Council members will provide guidance in estate planning law, tax, investment and wealth management, real estate, insurance, and personal financial planning and marketing – all to help increase the quality and quantity of planned gifts to the Society and to further its vision of a world with less cancer and more birthdays.

“We are grateful that Bill will be contributing his time and experience to this nationwide advisory initiative. his involvement will be a key to the growth of planned gifts to the Society and to the continued delivery on our mission of saving lives, by helping people stay well, by helping them get well, by finding cures and by fighting back,” said Don Webster, CEO American Cancer Society’s Florida Division.

Individuals whose estates include generous gifts to the American Cancer Society are linking their legacies with a commitment to making monumental differences in the lives of people throughout local communities, across the nation and around the world. From aiding the numerous vital programs and services that support those facing a cancer diagnosis, to life-changing research and medical discovery, to advocacy for access to quality health care for everyone, planned gifts are helping to ensure that the American Cancer Society delivers every day on its mission of saving lives.

According to Bill, “It’s an honor and a privilege to work with a prestigious group of advisors from around the country to work on strategies to raise funds for such a good cause.”

The American Cancer Society combines an unyielding passion with nearly a century of experience to save lives and end suffering from cancer. As a global grass-roots force of more than three million volunteers, we fight for every birthday threatened by every cancer in every community. We save lives by helping people stay well by preventing cancer or detecting it early; by helping people get well by being there for them during and after a cancer diagnosis; by finding cures through investment in groundbreaking discovery; and by fighting back by rallying lawmakers to pass laws to defeat cancer and by rallying communities worldwide to join the fight. As the nation’s largest non-governmental investor in cancer research, contributing about $3.4 billion, we turn what we know about cancer into what we do. As a result, more than 11 million people in America who have had cancer and countless more who have avoided it will be celebrating birthdays this year. To learn more about us or to get help, call us anytime, day or night, at 1-800-227-2345 or visit cancer.org.

- Contributed by Grant, Fridkin, Pearson, Athan & Crown, P.A.

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Ciccarelli earns designation

Paul F. Ciccarelli, vice president of Ciccarelli Advisory Services, Inc. has earned the Chartered Financial Consultant professional designation from The American College, Bryn Mawr, Pa.

Candidates for the ChFC designation must complete a minimum of eight courses and 16 hours of supervised examinations. They must also fulfill stringent experience and ethics requirements.

As financial planning’s highest standard, the ChFC program prepares professionals to meet the advanced financial needs of individuals, professionals and small –business owners. ChFC’s can identify and establish specific goals and then formulate, implement and monitor a comprehensive plan to achieve those goals. Individuals who earn a ChFC have the expertise necessary to provide advice on a broad range of financial topics including financial planning, wealth accumulation and estate planning, income taxation, life and health insurance, business taxation and planning, investment and retirement planning.

In addition to over 25 years of financial planning experience, Paul’s background includes teaching classes on investment management, advanced estate and charitable gift planning techniques, and IRA distribution planning. Paul has also taught continuing education programs for members of the Florida Board of Accounting and the Florida Bar Association. Paul is also active in the community and presently serves on the Endowment Board for the YMCA of the Palms.

For more information about this designation or Ciccarelli Advisory Services, Inc., call 239-262-6577, e-mail Paul@CAS-NaplesFL.com or visit www.CASMoneyMatters.com.

- Contributed by Ciccarelli Advisory Services Inc.

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After all, it’s your business.

So we have added this feature to naplesnews.com called It’s Your Business.

Have news about your business to share with Southwest Florida? Send it to business@naplesnews.com and to our Business and Government Content Editor Dave Osborn at djosborn@naplesnews.com. We’ll post these on the Business page at naplesnews.com every day and will publish these as space allows in the daily Business section and Business Monday in the Naples Daily News. Start watching online daily for these postings!