National Nonprofit Little Kids Rock to Honor Chad Smith at Family-Friendly Fundraiser at Facebook HQ

MENLO PARK, CA--(Marketwired - May 16, 2015) - On Saturday, May 16, national nonprofit Little Kids Rock will host its annual Family Jam benefit at Facebook's Menlo Park campus where they will honor Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith for his work to help expand public schoolchildren's access to music education. The family-friendly fundraiser will feature live music from Silicon Valley business leaders, raffles, an auction, games, face-painting, food by the award-winning Facebook culinary team, and the presentation of the "Livin' The Dream Award" to Chad Smith, in memory of Chef Josef Desimone, who tragically passed away in 2013.

"It is such an honor for me to be recognized by an amazing charity like Little Kids Rock for supporting their work to keep music education thriving in our schools," says Smith. "Music has made such a tremendous impact in my life and I am blessed to be able to give that gift back to the next generation of music makers!"

Little Kids Rock is the nation's leading nonprofit provider of music instruction, instruments and curricula to nearly 1,300 public schools in 29 cities where nearly 200,000 students, including approximately 8,500 kids in the Bay Area, receive enhanced music instruction in popular music genres like rock, funk, country, pop, metal, reggae and others. Little Kids Rock's innovative music program is called Modern Band.

"It's our belief that all children deserve the opportunity to unlock their inner music makers," says Little Kids Rock Founder and CEO, David Wish. "It's up to the big people to stand up for little kids' right to rock and that's exactly what will happen on May 16^th!"

The annual event has featured performances by James Hetfield, Sammy Hagar, Matt Sorum, Taboo and others, including local Little Kids Rock students. Local bands Coverflow, Next Play and Scope Creep will provide live music throughout the daytime event. All proceeds will help Little Kids Rock revitalize music education in underserved public schools nationwide.

WHAT: A family-friendly fundraiser featuring live music raffles, an auction, games, face-painting, food by the award-winning Facebook chefs, and the presentation of the "Livin' The Dream Award" to Chad Smith, in memory of Chef Josef Desimone.

WHEN: Saturday, May 16, 2015 (1-5 pm).

WHERE: Facebook HQ (1 Hacker Way, Menlo Park, CA 90425).

Media are invited to attend. Please contact keith@littlekidsrock.org or 201-264-9520.

ABOUT LITTLE KIDS ROCK
Little Kids Rock is a national nonprofit that is dedicated to unlocking children's inner music makers by revitalizing music education in public schools. The organization partners with school districts to train public school teachers to run its innovative Modern Band curriculum and donates all of the accompanying instruments and resources necessary to teach popular music in a way that empowers students to experience instant achievement. Little Kids Rock started as a schoolteacher's vision to give his students access to music education while diminishing budgets for the arts made that more and more difficult to do. What began as a single after-school guitar class has since exploded into a national movement that is bringing free, weekly music lessons to nearly 200,000 public school children due to the efforts of more than 1,500 teachers in 29 cities nationwide. To date, Little Kids Rock has served over 400,000 students. More info at www.littlekidsrock.org