In these tough economic times, it’s nice to hear something other than bad news. So here’s our third annual roundup of publishers doing good. We hope it warms your heart and inspires you in the New Year—here’s to 2009!
Each summer, Robin Straus of the Robin Straus Agency volunteers at Circle of Tapawingo, a weeklong camp in Maine for girls who have experienced the death of a parent. “I’m a bunk counselor who heads canoeing (a great chance for the girls to talk) and the camper campfire, where I work with the girls on speeches about what they’ve learned from the Circle experience,” Straus says. “Being a volunteer is physically and emotionally exhausting but incredibly moving, and the volunteers are certainly part of what makes this week so special.” Last year, her assistant volunteered for the first time, and now she’s hooked too.
Judy Sjo-Gaber, Director of Special Markets and Corporate Sales at Bloomberg LP, volunteers for Everybody Wins! through Bloomberg’s program. Every week, she (along with sixty other volunteers from Bloomberg) reads with a student at Ella Baker Elementary School on 67th Street. “Kids know the program as ‘Power Lunch’ and spend 45 minutes after they’ve eaten a quick lunch reading with their partner,” Sjo-Gaber says. “The goal is for the adult to simply support the child’s interest in reading by enjoying reading with him or her, and specifically not to do any teaching or coaching.”
We wrote about Scott Manning’s work with the Books for a Better Life Awards last year. The annual awards, celebrating self-help books, raise money for the New York City chapter of the Multiple Sclerosis Society. Each year an Executive Committee made up primarily of publishing executives contributes their efforts to the awards, and this year Scott points to the role of Michael Kazan of Verso Advertising. “Each year, his company donates considerable time and effort to the creation of a series of ads that run in Publishers Weekly, requesting submissions and announcing the finalists and winners,” says Scott. “They also create the PowerPoint presentation that dresses up the awards ceremony itself and highlights all of the finalists and honorees.” At this year’s awards, Gayle King of O Magazine will induct Dr. Mehmet Oz and Dr. Michael Roizen, coauthors of the You books, into the Hall of Fame. And David Black of the David Black Literary Agency will induct Bob Miller of HarperStudio into the Hall of Fame. For more information, visit http://nyn.nationalmssociety.org.
This year, for the second year in a row, the Boulder Book Store partnered with Impact on Education and the Border Valley School District to donate $200,000 worth of children’s books to Boulder County Schools. Teachers came to the massive giveaway, held in a Border Valley School District warehouse on November 21 and 22, to take as many books as they could carry for their classrooms and libraries. The Boulder Book Store hopes to continue the event next year. Impact on Education, a partnership for Border County Schools, is at www.impactoneducation.org.
Author David Baldacci started the Wish You Well Foundation, which funds family literacy programs throughout the U.S. Wish You Well’s website also lists ways to volunteer and get involved. Baldacci also has an offshoot organization, Feeding Body & Mind, which his publisher, Hachette, helped launch, that collects new and used books to be distributed to the recipients of the Feeding America food drives. Fans at Baldacci’s book signings are invited to contribute new and used books to the organizations.
Steve Bedney, former President of the Bookbinders Guild of New York, is spearheading efforts to help rebuild the New Orleans Public Library System. Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent flood destroyed eight of the library’s twelve branches. Today, the main library and five branches are open again, on a limited schedule, and there are also six temporary branches. Bedney is leading the Bookbinders Guild’s efforts to donate books to the temporary libraries, and due to staff shortages, some Bookbinders Guild members may also travel to New Orleans to help catalog and organize the books. Books and cash donations may be sent to Ronald Biava (Rebuild Campaign Consultant), Bookbinders Campaign, New Orleans Public Library Foundation, 219 Loyola Ave., New Orleans, LA 70112. Checks should be made out to the New Orleans Public Library Foundation. Further details will be posted at www.bookbindersguild.org.
Scholastic’s ClassroomsCare program donates books to kids in need. Judy Newman, President of Scholastic Book Clubs, created the program in 2000 (and since then, over 8 million books have been donated). “What I like most about [the program] is that kids can actually feel like they are empowered to make a difference,” Judy says. “When students in a classroom read 100 books, they activate a donation of books to needy children all across the country. Each and every student who reads in this program can feel as if they are personally contributing to a donation of up to one million books!” Betsy Howie, the current manager of ClassroomCares, traveled to Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, arguably the poorest place in the U.S., to deliver books last year. This year, for the first time, teachers can pick the charity where the books will be donated; participating charities include First Book and Reach Out and Read (where Newman is a board member).
Also at Scholastic, Editorial Director David Levithan runs an internal program called Scholastic Reads! Participating employees go to New York City public schools to read to students. One employee volunteer, corporate communications publicist Tyler Reed, explains, “We bring books to give to each student to take home for their own personal libraries, and give copies to the teacher as well to add to their classroom connections.”
Finally, Carol Sakoian, a VP of Scholastic International, sits on the board of Room to Read, which builds schools and libraries in the developing world. Sakoian created the My Arabic Library book series, which is sold to countries all over the Middle East and North Africa. Her work with Room to Read has much the same mission: to help every child get the chance to read and learn.
