The foundation donated nearly 20,000 books to at-risk kids across New Jersey in the span of one week for Dr. Seuss’  Birthday

Red Bank, NJ – March 2, 2012

This year The Bridge of Books Foundation (“BoB”) commemorated Dr. Seuss’ birthday and Read Across America by donating nearly 20,000 books to at-risk children throughout New Jersey.   Bob also carried on a yearly tradition of recruiting over 40 volunteers to read to students in the pre-k through 4^th grades in the Keansburg School District and, new this year,  in six Head Start Centers across Monmouth County.

The National Education Association’s Read Across America campaign targets March 2 – Dr. Seuss’ birthday – as a jumping off point for two weeks of literacy events and awareness. While the aim of Read Across America is to inspire all of us to read, read, read; it takes more than Green Eggs and Ham to get everyone reading.  In order to read, children need to have ongoing access to books.  In today’s economy and with the number of children living in poverty on the rise, there are many underserved children throughout New Jersey who have no such access and, consequently, are falling behind in developing appropriate grade level reading skills. This is where the Bridge of Books Foundation comes in.  Operating as an all-volunteer non-profit organization in New Jersey since 2003, BoB has donated over a quarter of a million books to more than 100 agencies across New Jersey serving at-risk children.  Adding in the donations made over the past week, this number is now closer to 300,000. Whether at home or at school, the Bridge of Books Foundation is there to help our children experience the benefits of literacy.

BoB has been organizing volunteer readers for Keansburg students for the past four years.  Many of these volunteers return again each year to spend a morning  reading with the students.  Diana Coleman Grover, Navesink, returned for her third year.  When asked about her experience, she stated “It’s something I look forward to every year! The children were so excited during the readings…you could literally see their eyes widen and brighten! Knowing their imaginations were at work while you lifted the words off the pages just shows the importance of making sure every child has the opportunity to enjoy books! An amazing experience once again!”  Each student in the pre-k through 4^th grades will have the opportunity to select 2-3 books to take home.

This year, BoB expanded its efforts to recruit volunteer readers for six Acelero Head Start Centers in Monmouth County.  BoB arranged for volunteers to read to nearly 500 pre-k students in Keyport, Neptune, Howell, Red Bank, Asbury and Freehold.  In addition to providing each student with two books, BoB  was also thrilled  to be able to purchase enough copies of It’s a Little Book by Lane Smith to send one home with each student.    Bob was able to make thus purchase because of a grant from The Charles Lafitte Foundation, created by Jeffrey and Suzanne Citron in 1999 to support  innovative and effective ways of helping people help themselves.  Kyra Citron, an 8^th grade student at The Ranney School, was actually on hand at the Freehold Head Start.  Along with her parents and eight classmates, she spent an afternoon reading stories to the children and giving them books to take home   Kyra, who is an avid reader and fan of BoB’s mission was delighted to be part of this year’s Dr. Seuss celebration organized by Bridge of Books.     Of the afternoon, she said “Books have gotten me through happy times and sad times.  No matter what is going on in my life, books have always been one of my best friends.  Every child should be able to read and every child deserves to know the joy and adventure of a good story!”

Of the nearly 20,000 books that were donated to at-risk children across New Jersey, 14,000 came as an overstock donation from North South Publishing at the initiation of Heather Lennon, the Company’s Director of Publishing.  Ms. Lennon, who has been a fan of BoB’s mission, said “NorthSouth Books, an independent publisher of Children’s picture books based in New York, NY is delighted to support Bridge of Books.  Their work is truly inspirational!  NorthSouth Books is very proud to share some of their bestselling titles featuring the Rainbow Fish and the Little Polar Bear with underprivileged and at-risk children in New Jersey.”   These 14,000 books arrived at BoB’s storage unit on a Tuesday and were completely distributed to by the following Thursday – a mere nine days later.  As a direct result of the generosity of NorthSouth, BoB was able to coordinate the opportunity for 14,000 pre-school age children in seven separate counties to go home with a new book in honor of Dr. Seuss’ birthday this year.

Regarding BoB’s efforts this year in connection Dr. Seuss’ Birthday, Ms. Daly commented “As always, it is a great time of year and we are thrilled to have so many new and returning volunteer readers and to get so many books into the hands of so many kids in such a short period of time.  Nine years later, I am still amazed at the level of need for children’s books in New Jersey such that we could turn around 14,000 books in nine days.  What this says to me is that our mission remains vital and that children need access to books 365 days a year.”