On Saturday, March 7th, prior to her performance at the American Airlines Arena, Britney Spears made a personal visit to the pediatric patients at Miami Children’s Hospital. Miami was the third stop on Britney’s highly successful 27-city national tour, entitled “Circus.”

After her visit with the children, Britney presented a check in the amount of one hundred thousand dollars, to Michael Christensen, Co-Founder of the not-for-profit Big Apple Circus and Founder of the Big Apple Circus Clown CareSM program, which is recognized world-wide as the leader and expert in the field of “clown doctoring.”

“In addition to her incredible talent, Ms. Spears is extraordinarily generous,” said Michael Christensen, “ her concern for children is exemplified by her generous donation to the Clown CareSM program, for which we are extremely grateful. Gifts like those from Britney will help us continue to bring joy and laughter to hospitalized children across the country.”

Clown CareSM, a nationwide community outreach program of the Big Apple Circus, was established in 1986 and has been in operation at Miami Children's Hospital since 2000. For four hours a day, five days a week, year-round, more than 90 Clown Care Clown Doctors, specially selected and trained to work in the sensitive hospital environment, make an estimated 280,000 one-on-one bedside visits in eighteen leading pediatric facilities in Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Miami, New Haven, New Jersey, New York City, and Washington, DC.

Miami Children's Hospital® was founded in 1950 by Variety Clubs International and is South Florida’s only licensed specialty hospital exclusively for children, with more than 650 attending physicians and over 130 pediatric sub-specialists. The 289-bed hospital is renowned for excellence in all aspects of pediatric medicine with several specialty programs ranked among the best in the nation in 2008 by U.S.News & World Report.