LEGO Gives $100 Million to 'Sesame Street' to Help Refugee Kids

'Tis the season for giving and that certainly includes charitable causes. The LEGO Foundation, which was founded in 1986, is giving a sizable donation to Sesame Workshop, the non-profit organization behind Sesame Street.

The LEGO Foundation announced last week that it would be donating $100 to Sesame Workshop with the purpose of bringing "the power of learning through play to children affected by the Rohingya and Syrian refugee crises."

The new program is dedicated to providing "critical new insights into effective models of learning through play for children affected by crisis." According to the foundation's statement, their priority is helping "the world's most vulnerable children."

"Learning through play" is their main goal for children, especially those in need. Their statement points out that the global refugee crisis is "staggering," and its forcing millions of children to spent a "significant part of their childhoods without access to adequate early childhood development opportunities."

"This partnership marks the first step of the LEGO Foundation's commitment to work within the humanitarian field to support children's holistic development that incorporates learning through play," says Thomas Kirk Kristiansen, Chairman of the LEGO Foundation Board. He goes on to say that he hopes the LEGO Foundation will "inspire other funders, humanitarian actors, world leaders and governments" to make early childhood development for children in humanitarian crises a priority.

Sesame Workshop, formally Children's Television Workshop, was founded in 1968 and has continued to provide support to children for 50 years. Sesame Street premiered only one year later, making it their first and most well-known educational program.

Since both organizations have main goals of empowering and educating kids, its no surprise to learn that one would lend a helping hand to the other.

Sesame Street was also in the news this week for adding their first homeless character, Lily, a bright pink puppet with red multicolored hair who recently revealed that she no longer had home.

To learn more about Sesame Workshop, click here. To learn more about The LEGO Foundation, click here.

The LEGO Movie: The Second Part is scheduled to hit theaters on February 8. 2019, and you can watch new episodes of Sesame Street every Saturday morning at 9/8c on HBO.