First Book: Access to new books for children in need

News from First Book

September 2011

The Biggest Book Donation in History Disney Donates Eight Million Books to First Book That's big news! When Disney told us they were going to donate eight million brand-new kid’s books, we couldn’t believe it either. Eight million books is a LOT of books. To put it in perspective, First Book distributed eight million books altogether last year, through our Marketplace, our National Book Bank program and our local volunteers around the country. Disney’s incredible donation will let us do a lot more in the year ahead. (Even more exciting, they threw in $500,000 to help us distribute those eight million books). So a big thank you to our friends at Disney – from all of us at First Book and from all of the kids in all of the 27,000 programs in the First Book network! Learn more Country Roads, Take Me Home First Book Goes All Out for West Virginia Kids First Book works with programs across the country, but we have a special place in our hearts for West Virginia. We’ve provided 294,228 brand-new books to children in need across the state, and plan to distribute 14,000 more by the end of the summer, thanks in large part to a federal grant from the Department of Education. In addition, we had the opportunity to join forces with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) this month in West Virginia, providing books and grant money to two amazing schools in Charleston. Learn more More Books to More Kids: First Book's Partners Save the Day TD Bank Steps Up to Support First Book and First Book Canada The TD Charitable Foundation and the TD Bank Group are doing their part to get books to kids in need. The TD Charitable Foundation made a $50,000 donation to First Book, while the TD Bank Group made a similar $50,000 donation to First Book Canada. TD’s generous support went to provide new books for schools and programs in First Book’s network in the United States, and will help First Book Canada reach its goal of distributing over 100,000 new books to Canadian children in need this year. Learn more Sales of New philosophy Product to Benefit First Book Our friends at philosophy are bringing a new product to the shelves this week, sweet dreams shampoo, shower gel & bubble bath, and 100% of net proceeds from all sales go directly to First Book. philosophy’s support is also making one particular book available – “My Life in Pink & Green”, by Lisa Greenwald, the story of a 12-year-old girl who saves her family business through life-changing makeovers. Thanks to philosophy, this popular title is now available on the First Book Marketplace, an online bookstore available exclusively to the 28,000 schools and programs in First Book’s network. Learn more We're pleased to announce some other exciting new partnerships as well: Live Talks Los Angeles is hosting a series of discussions with some amazing authors this fall, like Jane Lynch, Dave Barry and Deepak Chopra. A portion of proceeds from ticket sales go to benefit First Book. Learn more. Cambria Estate Winery has pledged to raise enough funds to donate 10,000 new books to kids at schools and programs in First Book's network, through a text-to-give campaign. Learn more. Throughout the month of September, exclusive shopping site Rue La La will donate 100% of all net profits from Little Rue to children’s causes. Vote for First Book!