Books Donation for the Soar with Reading Program

The library donation initiative is a part of Soar with Reading, a joint project launched this summer by JetBlue and PBS KIDS.

Soar with Reading aims to keep children reading throughout the summer, harnessing a combination of in-flight and online literacy resources, community reading events and a partnership with First Book, a nonprofit organization that provides new books to children in need.

For every reader who registered on SoarwithReading.com this summer, JetBlue made a book donation to a child through First Book, totaling 10,000 books.

A similar Read to Succeed initiative through a website equips teachers and parents with the tools they need to instill students with a passion for reading.

The site offers classroom and at-home resources provided by Discovery Education, which focuses on extending that passion beyond the classroom. (Read: Read to Succeed Program for K-6 Students)

Meanwhile, JetBlue and Random House Children’s Books granted the Dundee Township Public Library in East Dundee, Illinois $10,000 in books through its Soar with Reading program nationwide contest in which readers nominated their local libraries.

Those that nominated a library were also entered to win a family vacation to the Atlantis Paradise Island Resort in Nassau Bahamas from JetBlue Getaways. More than 115,000 entries were received through the sweepstakes portion of the program, representing libraries in all 50 states.

In the picture above: Icema Gibbs, Director for CSR at JetBlue, center, presents Dundee Township Public Library with the grand prize of the Soar with Reading sweepstakes, $10,000 worth of Random House Children’s Books, in East Dundee, IL., Wednesday, November 9, 2011. Pictured are, from left, Richard Corbett, Dundee Library Trustee; Sharon Phiippart, Senior Director for PBS KIDS Marketing & Communications; Marge Skold, Library Board President; Icema Gibbs; Monica Cordeiro, GM for JetBlue at O’Hare; Maria Bagshaw, Trustee; Roxane Bennett, Library Director.