Press Release: RIF and Macy’s Book A Brighter Future for Millions of Children

By Bianca Schulze, The Children’s Book Review
Published: June 30, 2009

My favorite children’s literacy organization, Reading is Fundamental (RIF), is closing one door and opening another. Their Read with Kids Challenge, which finishes today, smashed the goal of 5 million minutes of reading time with kids by over double. What an awesome achievement! Now, a new campaign is on the horizon — tomorrow’s horizon. Book A Brighter Future runs from July 1 through August 31, where Macy’s customers can give $3 and receive a coupon for $10 off a $50 in-store purchase at any Macy’s nationwide. Macy’s will be giving 100% of every $3 to RIF. Kudos to Macy’s and to all of you who participate in the RIF’s brilliant crusade’s to raise literacy awareness and get books into the hands of those in need!

RIF Press Release, June 30, 2009:

Haga clic aquí para ver este comunicado de prensa en Español.

WASHINGTON, June 30, 2009 /PRNewswire/ — Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) and Macy’s have teamed up to launch Book A Brighter Future™, a national partnership to raise awareness and support of children’s literacy. The Book A Brighter Future campaign is an annual promotion held at Macy’s stores during the back-to-school season to help raise money for local RIF programs and to provide reading resources to the children who need them most.

This campaign provides an opportunity for Macy’s customers to join the effort and have an impact on literacy in their community. From July 1 through August 31, 2009, Macy’s customers can give $3 and receive a coupon for $10 off a $50 in-store purchase at any Macy’s nationwide. Macy’s will donate 100 percent of every $3 to RIF.

“Giving back to the communities where we work and live is a long-standing priority at Macy’s,” said Terry Lundgren, chairman, president and CEO of Macy’s, Inc. “We are proud that, last year alone, more than a million Macy’s customers participated in Book A Brighter Future helping to raise more than $3 million dollars for children who lack access to books. It is a great way for our customers to support the education of children in their own community while enjoying special savings for their back-to-school shopping at Macy’s.”

For every $3, $1 will support local RIF programs near the Macy’s store; $1 will support RIF’s Multicultural Literacy Campaign; and $1 will help RIF’s ongoing efforts to provide reading resources to millions of underserved children across the country.

“RIF’s vision is a literate America in which children have access to books and discover the joy and value of reading,” said RIF President and CEO, Carol H. Rasco. “Nearly two-thirds of low-income families do not own any books for their children. This campaign with Macy’s allows RIF to provide free books and literacy resources to the children at greatest risk for developing reading difficulties.”

Since 2006, Macy’s and RIF have raised more than $7 million through the in-store promotion, which has had a profound impact on RIF’s mission. Macy’s has helped provide over 3 million books to 1.2 million kids and has donated 750 hardcover multicultural book collections to schools, Head Start centers, and libraries in every state and U.S. territory. Macy’s also supports RIF’s Multicultural Literacy Campaign, a multi-year effort to promote and support early childhood literacy in African American, Hispanic, and American Indian communities—where reading scores are the lowest.

“RIF wants to remind all parents that the simple act of reading aloud to their young children is the single most important thing parents can do to develop a child’s literacy skills,” adds Rasco. “RIF has many resources to help parents and caregivers learn how to develop language skills and a love of learning in children.”

One such resource is RIF’s Leading to Reading/Semillitas de aprendizaje—a free online educational resource geared at infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. The fun and interactive site offers stories, nursery rhymes, and other activities for adults and young children to experience together as they book a brighter future through literacy.

To help Book A Brighter Future for children through literacy, supporters can Tell-A-Friend at http://www.rif.org/brighterfuture. They can share with friends the importance of reading to young children and how they can save at Macy’s on their next purchase when they support the Book A Brighter Future campaign. Supporters who tell a friend will be entered into a sweepstakes where they are eligible to win a $1,000 Macy’s shopping spree from RIF.

To learn more about the Book A Brighter Future campaign, donate, and Tell-A-Friend for a chance to win, visit: http://www.rif.org/brighterfuture.