Tickets Available for Helping Hands: Monkey Helpers for the Disabled's 2011 Festivale

Online, September 17, 2011 (Newswire.com) - Boston, MA: On Saturday, September 24th, Helping Hands: Monkey Helpers for the Disabled will host its annual fundraising event at WGBH Studios in Brighton, MA. Join Helping Hands trainers, staff, recipients, and fellow supporters for a night of music, food, and fun all in support of the Monkey Helper placement program.

For over 31 years, Helping Hands has trained and placed service monkeys free of charge to assist individuals living with physical mobility limitations. Monkeys assist recipients in the home environment, retrieving dropped items, pushing buttons, opening bottles, and repositioning an arm or leg in a wheelchair after muscle spasm. Helping Hands provides each monkey-recipient pair 24/7 staff support for the lifetime of the placement. All funding comes from foundations grants, private donations, and fundraising events like Festivale. Ninety-three cents of every dollar raised directly supports Helping Hands program services.

This year, Festivale attendees will enjoy food from Boston's finest restaurants including Mistral, Sorellina, Teatro, L'Andana, Mooo, Eastern Standard, Basho, Cafeteria, Masa, Konditor Meister, Davio's, The Beehive, Gaslight, Woodward, Rialto and Zocalo. Cocktails will be provided from beverage sponsors Grey Goose and Harpoon, and beautiful flower arrangements have been provided by Winston's Flowers. In addition, there will be a musical entertainment from blues band Blues Brothers the Next Generation, a silent auction, and the premiere screening of a new short film about Helping Hands monkeys and recipients.

At a special VIP reception prior to the event, Helping Hands will announce the recipient of the second annual Charles Evans Trainer Award of Excellence, sponsored by The Charles Evans Foundation and presented to the staff trainer who has met and exceeded the training standards set forth by Helping Hands during the past year.

"We are thrilled to return to WGBH Studios for this year's Festivale event," said Megan Talbert, Executive Director of Helping Hands. "It is a great opportunity for Helping Hands supporters to come out for a fun evening featuring great food and music, as well as to raise funds for our service monkeys that are provided free of charge to recipients. We are so appreciative of our food and beverage sponsors and corporate sponsors like PARTNERS+simons of Boston, which each year help make this a successful event."

Jamie Mammano, Chef/Owner of Mistral and The Columbus Hospitality Group added: "The Columbus Hospitality Group is proud to once again support the efforts of Helping Hands by donating food and providing chefs from our restaurants. This organization is unique to Boston and is doing great work for the community of people living with physical disabilities throughout the country."

Tickets are still available by visiting the Helping Hands Festivale website at http://www.monkeyhelpers.org/events/2011-festivale/ or by calling 617-787-4419.

About Helping Hands: Monkey Helpers for the Disabled, Inc.
Established in 1979, Helping Hands: Monkey Helpers for the Disabled, Inc. is a Boston-based 501(c)3 organization that breeds, raises, and trains capuchin monkeys as service animals for people living with paralysis due to spinal cord injury or disease. Relying primarily on private contributions, Helping Hands provides these specially trained animals and lifetime support free of charge to our recipients.

About The Columbus Hospitality Group:
Chef Jamie Mammano began redefining the Boston restaurant scene in 1997 with the opening of Mistral, a French/Mediterranean bistro in Boston's South End. After expanding, Jamie branded The Columbus Hospitality Group. The company now includes Teatro, a casual Italian influenced neighborhood bistro, Sorellina, serving regional Italian-Mediterranean cuisine, Mooo, XV Beacon hotel's modern steakhouse, and the latest addition, L'Andana, a new concept in Tuscan dining, located in Burlington, MA on Route 3A North.

About PARTNERS+simons:
PARTNERS+simons is a brand communications firm that generates unambiguous business outcomes for clients in the health, financial services, and technology sectors. The firm's deep domain expertise, coupled with strategy, creative, technology, and channel planning services, helps companies acquire, retain and grow customers. To learn more about the agency's expertise in health care, financial services, and technology marketing, visit www.partnersandsimons.com.