INDIGO LOVE OF READING FOUNDATION TAKES AIM AT ENDING CANADA'S LITERACY CRISIS
September 13 2010 - 10:54AM
PR Newswire (Canada)
TORONTO, Sept. 13 /CNW/ -- New Adopt a School program strives to
put 38,000 books into the hands of Canadian children TORONTO, Sept.
13 /CNW/ - The Indigo Love of Reading Foundation aims to expand its
positive impact on Canada's public school libraries with its second
annual Adopt a School program. From September 12(th) to
October 2(nd), Indigo, Chapters and Coles stores across Canada will
"adopt" public schools in their communities. Through the
generous donations of customers, the fundraising drive hopes to
rejuvenate the libraries at more than 132 public elementary schools
from coast-to-coast through in-store activities and at
loveofreading.org/adoptaschool. Schools will have the
opportunity to refresh their libraries with new books and learning
materials to encourage student literacy with funds raised.
"For a second consecutive year, Canadian booklovers will have the
opportunity to support early literacy in their communities and help
put new books into the hands of children," says Jennifer Gay,
Director, Indigo Love of Reading Foundation. "With 42%
of Canadian adults lacking basic literacy skills, it is critical to
impact childhood literacy by improving public school libraries and
enhancing resources. The passionate support of Canadian booklovers
and our staff in communities across Canada is incredibly
encouraging for our adopted schools." Build Canada's Bookshelves
Canadians from coast-to-coast can help change the lives of children
across the country. For three weeks, Canadians can: 1. Go
online. Visit loveofreading.org/adoptaschool to adopt a school in
their community, donate, follow fundraising successes and share the
school page with friends and family. Canadians can also learn more
about each school and their efforts to improve libraries and
enhance literacy skills. 2. Get in store. Visit their local Indigo,
Chapters or Coles to contribute to local fundraising efforts by
making a donation. With children back in classrooms across the
country, visits to the school library will once again result in
books coming home for children to enjoy. A recent survey by
Ipsos Reid commissioned by the Indigo Love of Reading Foundation
reveals that 60% of parents say their child brings home books from
their school's library at least once a week, but the survey also
reveals that keeping libraries stocked with fresh books to feed
hungry minds is a challenge. With reductions in library
funding, 72% of surveyed parents shared that their school
fundraises to support their library and the majority of Canadian
parents agree that more support is needed for public school
libraries. Meanwhile, teachers and principals spent
approximately $140-million of their own money to buy books and
learning materials for their students this year alone.* The chronic
underfunding of public school libraries and its impact on students
has not gone unnoticed, nor is it something that bake sales and
other school fundraisers will remedy. The majority (84%) of
surveyed parents agreed that the private sector should do more to
help public school libraries. The Indigo Love of Reading
Foundation is listening and, since 2004, has committed grants to
high-needs elementary schools so they can transform their libraries
with the purchase of new books and education resources. Last
year's inaugural Adopt a School fundraising drive had more than 200
Indigo, Chapters, Coles stores raise more than $210,000 to help
rejuvenate the libraries at 150 public elementary schools across
Canada. This year, help Indigo Love of Reading Foundation
make a difference by raising $450,000 for 138 schools from
coast-to-coast. The Indigo Love of Reading Foundation is thankful
to all Canadian book lovers that make a difference in children's
lives. Adding to the excitement, this year Random House of
Canada has jumped on board to make an even bigger impact.
Through the Random House Book Package Reward, new books will be
committed to schools who reach 25% of their fundraising goal. About
the Love of Reading Foundation and Indigo Books & Music Inc.
Indigo Books & Music Inc. founded the Indigo Love of Reading
Foundation in 2004 to address the under resourcing of public
elementary school libraries and the resulting literacy
crisis. Every year the Indigo Love of Reading Foundation
commits $1.5 million to high-needs elementary schools so they can
rebuild their libraries with the purchase of new books and
education resources. To date the Indigo Love of Reading
Foundation has committed more than $9 million to 90 schools
nationally. Indigo is a publicly traded Canadian company listed on
the Toronto Stock Exchange (IDG). As the largest book and specialty
retailer in Canada, Indigo operates in all provinces under
different banners including Indigo Books & Music; Indigo Books,
Gifts, Kids; IndigoSpirit, Chapters, The World's Biggest Bookstore,
and Coles. The online division, www.chapters.indigo.ca, features
books, eBooks, toys, music and DVDs, and hosts the award winning
Indigo Online Community. Chapters and Indigo are rated as the
number one and number two retailers in Canada by the Kubas Major
Market Retail Report, and have been on that list since 2000. For
more information about the Indigo Love of Reading Foundation, visit
www.loveofreading.org. About the Survey These are the findings of
an Ipsos Reid poll conducted between August 11 and 16, 2010, on
behalf of the Indigo Love of Reading Foundation. For this survey, a
sample of 1,007 adults with kids age 4 to 18 from Ipsos' Canadian
online panel was interviewed online. Weighting was then employed to
balance demographics and ensure that the sample's composition
reflects that of the adult population according to Census data and
to provide results intended to approximate the sample universe. A
survey with an unweighted probability sample of this size and a
100% response rate would have an estimated margin of error of
+/-3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what the results
would have been had the entire population of parents in Canada been
polled. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other
sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error, and
measurement error. *Source: 2010 survey by the Canadian Teachers'
Federation pbFor more information about the Indigo Love of Reading
Foundation and the Adopt-a-School program please contact:/b/p
tabletr valign="top"td align="left"Celine
Rouzaudbr/MS&Lbr/416-847-1311 /br/a
href="mailto:celine.rouzaud@mslworldwide.com"celine.rouzaud@mslworldwide.com/a/td
td align="right" /td td valign="top"
align="left"Mary Attardbr/MS&Lbr/416-847-1343 /br/a
href="mailto:natasha.newell-vieira@mslworldwide.com"mary.attard@mslworldwide.com/a /td/tr/table
Copyright
Indigo Books and Music (TSX:IDG)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jun 2024 to Jul 2024
Indigo Books and Music (TSX:IDG)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jul 2023 to Jul 2024