Fort Wayne & NE Indiana News

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SensoryCritters.com to Celebrate Small Business Saturday with Santa Visit for Special Needs Families

Fort Wayne, Ind.SensoryCritters.com is hosting its second annual Small Business Saturday celebration on Saturday, November 30, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., at its retail store, located in the Second Steps Autism Resource Community Center, 4118 North Clinton Street in Fort Wayne. Highlight of this free event will be Santa Claus and his elf Mary, who will be welcoming all of the guests, particularly the families with special needs.

The event is designed to provide an opportunity for families with individuals having special needs to be able to visit with Santa Claus in a safe and friendly environment. ³Santa and his elf Mary love our families with special needs and have patience and compassion for ALL ages,² said Lisa Compton, president of SensoryCritters.com. ³If the mall Santa is not for your family due to the noise and the crowds that may create stress and confusion for individuals with special needs, please bring your family to see our Santa.²

She said goodie bags will be provided to the first 40 children attending the event, and photographs with Santa will be available for those wishing to capture the special holiday moment. In addition to Santa, the event will feature discounted pricing on all of the store¹s merchandise, including therapeutic weighted products manufactured by SensoryCritters.com here in Fort Wayne, and a large selection of specialized educational and therapeutic products from other manufacturers.

Although there is no cost to attend this event, SensoryCritters.com is accepting donations that will go toward its mitten tree initiative to purchase meals and gifts for special-needs families. Canned goods, boxes of stuffing and other non-perishable items, including laundry and dish soaps, will be collected and placed under the mitten tree for distribution to designated special-needs families that have been chosen by
SensoryCritters.com. All of the items will be delivered to the families the weekend of December 20-21, according to Compton. For more information on the Small Business Saturday celebration, visit the SensoryCritters.com Facebook page .

Since 2006, Compton has been a client of the Northeast Indiana Small Business Development Center, working with the NE-ISBDC team of professional business advisors to grow her businesses, which also include Second Steps, LLC. She has received guidance in all phases of business and marketing management for both SensoryCritters.com, which is owned by her husband, Bob Compton, and her newer firm, Second Steps, LLC, which offers applied behavioral analysis therapy to children with autism and other special needs at the Seconds Steps facility.

For more information on SensoryCritters.com or Second Steps, LLC, visit the firms¹ respective websites, www.SensoryCritters.com
, www.SensoryCraver.com
, or www.SecondStepsLLC.com
, or call 260-373-1050. To learn more about the services of the ISBDC, call 260-481-0500 or visit www.isbdc.org .