March 14, 2010
HOME > About Us > Announcements
AIT to Handle Fulfillment for Jumpstart’s Read for the Record National Reading Campaign for Third Year
August 2009
Pearson Foundation Grant Provides Funds to Support Early Reading Program in Low-Income Communities
For the third year, AIT will handle fulfillment services for Jumpstart’s Read for the Record, a national campaign to encourage hundreds of thousands of children and adults around the world to read the same book on the same day—this year on October 8th. The 2009 Read for the Record book is The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle.
Pearson Foundation, a partner of Jumpstart and underwriter of the official Read for the Record campaign book, has once again chosen AIT to handle fulfillment and distribution of the books. The Foundation will match online donations made during Jumpstart’s Campaign by giving copies of The Very Hungry Caterpillar to special young people as a free gift. The Foundation is the nonprofit arm of Pearson Education, an educational publisher of Pre-K–12 materials. One of AIT’s core services is that of fulfillment and distribution for education.
“We’re very excited to be a part of this worthy cause again this year,” said AIT’s Executive Director, Chuck Wilson. “It’s a wonderful opportunity to work with such a fine organization as the Pearson Foundation to support this early childhood reading initiative. We were pleased to see the growth in books shipped last year and we’re expecting even larger numbers this year. It’s gratifying to know that so many children and adults are reading together because of this work.”
In response to studies that have shown that one-third of American children enter kindergarten developmentally behind their peers and without the skills necessary to succeed at grade level, Jumpstart focuses on intervening early in the lives of at-risk children through intensive early education programs. Currently, preschool children from more than 60 low-income communities in 20 states are served by Jumpstart programs that help them develop language, literacy, and social skills in preparation for kindergarten. In 2006, the Read for the Record Campaign raised more than half a million dollars to support Jumpstart’s early education work in low-income communities. In 2008, Read for the Record broke their own world record as nearly 700,000 readers shared the classic children’s tale, Corduroy. For more information about getting involved, visit www.readfortherecord.org.