A!Public!Relations!Campaign!

 A Public Relations Campaign for Whitney Jinks Jessica Neville Alicia Adlerz Account Executive Jr. Account Executive Team Member Savannah Kirk Lauren Steffes Team Member Team Member Table of Contents
Situation Statement………………………………….3-­‐4 SWOT Analysis…………………………………..…….5 Current Industry Trends…………………….……6 Competitor Organizations……………….……….6-­‐7 Target Audiences……………………………….……7 Goals and Timetable/Budget…………….……..8-­‐11 Implementation………………………………...……12-­‐13 Evaluation……………….……………………………..14-­‐17 Appendix………………………………………………..18 2 Situation Statement
Books for Keeps began in May 2009 when one child longed for a book to read over the summer. This one child inspired Melaney Smith to collect books for the child and her entire second grade class. A year later, Smith decided to turn her efforts into an organization and founded Books for Keeps to provide books for all students in Athens-­‐
Clarke County. The goal is to stop the “summer slide” that occurs when children are out of school for a couple months and often lose reading development. The program aims to provide each student in the participating schools with 12 books for the summer. In 2011 the organization was able to deliver 17,487 books to four schools and 1,600 students. For 2012, Books for Keeps adopted two new elementary schools and met the need 27,000 books. This year the need to combat the summer slide in 2013 has increased to 40,000 books, and Books for Keeps is planning to expand to an elementary school in Atlanta and one in rural Georgia. To reach this goal Books for Keeps must increase its public awareness and collect both increased funds and book donations. Survey Findings An informal, email-­‐based survey asked media specialists in Athens-­‐Clarke County which books were most popular among their students. Books about athletes and graphic novels were among the most popular. Their responses allowed us to identify the following targets for our Twitter campaign targeting opinion leaders who may help us to raise the most popular books that are outside of the Books for Keeps budget. Athletes •
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Robert Griffin III (RG3) DeSean Jackson Trent Richardson Adrian Peterson Cam Newton Julio Jones •
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Kobe Bryant Shaquille O'Neal Lebron Jame Aaron Murray AJ Green Rajon Rondo Rontavious Wooten Celebrities •
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Tauheed Epps (2 Chainz) Nicki Minaj Katy Perry Willow Smith Jaden Smith Beyonce Charise Mericle Harper James Dean Geronimo Stilton Michael Buckley •
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Jay Z Justin Bieber One Direction Selena Gomez Chris Rock •
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Eric Litwin Charles Ogden Sienna Mercer Victoria Kann Authors Another survey was sent to board members of Books for Keeps in order to obtain biographical information about them and to ask them about connections they may have with other organizations in Athens and any schools or societies of 3 which they are alumni. We found that board members have connections to the following organizations: • The University of Georgia • Phi Mu Fraternity • The University of Delaware • Alpha Omicron Pi Fraternity • Catholic Center at UGA • Kappa Kappa Gamma Fraternity • St. Joe’s • Athens Nurses’ Clinic • Athens Literacy Council • Temple University • The University of Iowa • The University of Minnesota • The University of Florida • The University of Missouri • Arizona State University • The University of Pennsylvania • Roanoke College • Athens Luncheon Optimist Club • LEAD Athens • Samaritan Counseling Center • Junior Achievement • Athens Mothers Center • Junior League of Athens 4 SWOT Analysis
Strengths •
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Books for Keeps has a great and very well-­‐connected board of directors that is able to pitch the organization and its goals to other civic and social organizations in the Athens area. Books for Keeps has a wide reach on Facebook and uses it as its primary means of communication to its supporters. Books for Keeps is a Clinton Global Initiative organization, giving it increased credibility to its publics and media outlets. Books for Keeps has a broad donor and volunteer base that extends beyond Georgia into South Carolina, Pennsylvania and even the United Kingdom. The blog and Facebook are usually consistently updated. Weaknesses •
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The only website Books for Keeps currently has is its blog. Books for Keeps’ Twitter account is not managed or utilized to its full potential. Books for Keeps has no full-­‐time employees, including its executive director. It is entirely volunteer-­‐based, and all of the core volunteers have full-­‐time day jobs. Opportunities • Expanding to an elementary school in Atlanta opens up a new circle of larger media outlets that may be interested in pitches about Books for Keeps. • New board members are generating connections with various Athens organizations, including All State, city book clubs, churches and the Junior League. We can target the local and national newsletters of these organizations with our news releases. • Many student organizations and classes have begun taking on Books for Keeps projects, such as book drives. This allows for increased presence on UGA’s campus and the potential for a new pool of volunteers. Threats • Athens has one of the largest numbers of nonprofit organizations among all Georgia counties, meaning Books for Keeps competes with dozens of worthy nonprofits for funds, volunteers, support and other resources. • Books for Keeps’ operating schedule conflicts with the schedule of Fire and Flavor, the warehouse that has donated its space to the organization. As a result, the majority of the books must be gathered and sorted by February, putting a time crunch on most of the organization’s activities. • Many of the most popular children’s books are out of the book budget. 5 Current Industry Trends
Within the nonprofit organization industry in Athens and other cities around the southeast, many new organizations are focusing on the literacy of young students living in impoverished areas. These organizations have realized that a large majority of the students in these areas do not have access to books and are not inspired to read outside of the classroom. According to recent research, this has caused them to fall behind in learning, and their desire to learn is far behind that of the children that do have access to books at home. Some organizations aim to help these students by mentoring them, and others find the best way to help is simply by providing books for the children. Either way, the organizations have adapted some similar strategies in bringing about change. First of all, many of them have started using digital media to help convey their message and purpose. Video testimonials and photo slideshows are posted on many of the websites explaining the vision and goals of the organizations. Secondly, all of the organizations seem to use at least one of the following tactics: fundraising events, raffles, percentage nights, and book drives. These tactics function as methods of raising awareness as well as ways to raise money. The final trend seen throughout these organizations is to collaborate with other local nonprofits and churches that have a similar commitment to bettering their communities. This can be an effective way of raising awareness and increasing involvement. Competitor Organizations
Some organizations with similar missions include Athens Tutuorial Programs, Inc., The Clarke County Mentor Program, Children’s First, and Book ‘Em. These organizations all focus their efforts on inspiring students to learn. Athens Tutorial Programs, Inc. does a great job of collaborating with other organizations. It lists all of its collaborative partners on its website, so that people who visit the site can know about the other organizations invested in the program, as well as where they can go to get involved. The website also clearly states its mission and vision statements, and it outlines specifically how volunteers can get involved. The Clarke County Mentor Program is a very well known organization in the Athens community and specifically in the UGA community. Students of the University have participated in this program for years and that has contributed to much of its success. This organization has used a raffle and fundraising events, such as a breakfast and a carnival, as ways to garner interest and support. Its website has a slideshow of pictures, and it clearly outlines its goals with ways volunteers can help it achieve those goals. Children’s First is a nonprofit that, while it does not aim to help children with reading, does use some unique and effective tactics to accomplish its goal to place children in safe homes. Its website is one of the most impressive and comprehensive nonprofit websites encountered during the research process. It has board member spotlights, a news and events section, a volunteer spotlight, messages straight from the director, pictures and stories displaying the results of its efforts, video and photo slideshows, and a blog where 6 volunteers can post about their experiences with the organization. These tactics work together to create a cohesive message supporting its values and mission. Book ‘Em in Nashville, TN is an organization with almost the same mission and purpose as Books For Keeps. On its website, it describes its organization as one that is “focusing on two core areas: the collection and distribution of books to children and teens in lower-­‐income families who might not otherwise have books of their own; and providing volunteer readers to local preschools and elementary schools.” It has had percentage nights at local restaurants, and by grouping them together under the name “Dine Out for Book ‘Em,” the organization made this simple fundraising effort into a special event. It has book drives at local businesses and special events in the area. It clearly outlines how people can help—either by donating books, giving money or volunteering to read to students. The organization also has its wish list for books set up through Amazon.com, so that people can easily order the books that the students want. It also planned a costume party at a neighborhood pizza place called Mafiaoza’s . The event offered food and drinks for the price of $25 per person, and attendees were encouraged to dress up as mobsters. Target Audiences
Our strategies will be aimed at UGA students and organizations because they are a central part of the Athens population and have the ability to make a difference in philanthropic work. We will also target potential donors in the local community for sources of funds and books. Civic organizations in the Athens and Atlanta area will be targeted to help with book drives and fundraising. 7 Plan
Goal 1: Increase and improve online presence • O1: To increase visits to BooksforKeeps.org for all audiences by 20 percent by April 2013. o Strategy 1: Using the blog as a basis, develop a template to turn the BooksforKeeps.org URL into a separate website. o Strategy 2: Include the website on all promotional and fundraising materials. o Strategy 3: Generate an “About the Board” section for the website with biographies of the board members of Books for Keeps. These bios can also be used for grant writing. o Strategy 4: Link to the blog in at least 40 percent of all tweets. •
O2: To increase the number of followers on Twitter by 100% (increase to 170 followers) by April 2013. o Strategy 1: Tweet relevant content, including links to the blog, at least once per day. o Strategy 2: Follow and interact with similar nonprofit organizations in Athens, encouraging dialog with them and their audiences. o Strategy 3: Tweet at opinion leaders in Athens (UGA athletes, in particular). Link to the blog and other information about Books for Keeps to increase the likelihood of a retweet, mention or conversation. Goal 2: Build and maintain Books for Keeps' volunteer and donor bases •
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O1: To increase the number of core volunteers by 50 percent by May 2013. o Strategy 1: Develop a bookmark to pass out during presentations and speeches (instead of the business card used by the executive director now). o Strategy 2: Develop a tabletop display with information about Books for Keeps to be used during presentations and speeches. o Strategy 3: Send emails over various UGA student Listservs (including, but not limited to, Greek, CSO, College of Education) about volunteering for the distribution day in May and hosting book drives for Books for Keeps. O2: To reach out to volunteers and donors at least once a month by May 2013. o Strategy 1: Design a newsletter template using Mail Chimp. o Strategy 2: Send thank-­‐you notes and letters of appreciation to donors and volunteers. O3: To reach out to at least one organization with which each board member has a connection. 8 o
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Strategy 1: Send news releases about Books for Keeps events to the in-­‐house publications of organizations that board members are connected with. Strategy 2: Write and send profiles of board members to organizations and groups of which they are alumni. O4: To increase media coverage of Books for Keeps by 15 percent from last year by May 2013. o Strategy 1: Send out three feature releases to news outlets in Athens in the weeks before Distribution Day to generate interest. o Strategy 2: Before any events (book drives, etc.) send out news releases to at least five media outlets in Athens. Goal 3: Increase the number of books and funds raised •
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O1: To increase the number of books donated by 33 percent from last year by March 2013. o Strategy 1: Host at least two Books for Keeps nights with local businesses in which customers who bring in a title on the wish list receive a discount. o Strategy 2: Reach out to at least three UGA organizations to host book drives for Books for Keeps. O2: To raise at least $20,000 in funds donated by February 2013. o Strategy 1: Host a percentage night for Books for Keeps at local businesses. o Strategy 2: Promote donation online via the PayPal service by mentioning it in blog posts, tweets, printed materials and e-­‐newsletters. 9 Timetable and Budget
Date November Strategy Create bookmark Cost 0 Design MailChimp newsletter 0 Social media push to gain followers and reach out to publishers, celebrities and authors, to be continued throughout the campaign 0 Reach out to campus and civic organizations that can provide help with book drives and promote awareness 0 Begin designing the website 0 Begin Twitter posting schedule, to be continued throughout the campaign 0 December Hold one percentage night $25.42 (Costs for 50 fliers and 10 tabletop displays) Create Facebook event for percentage night one week in advance 0 Complete “About the Board” biographies 0 Print bookmarks (Costs for 300 bookmarks) $92.56 Create tabletop display (Cost for printing) $10 January Create Facebook event for book sale 0 Write and send three releases about book sale 0 February Reach out to local businesses and organizations about 0 participating in Book Drive Month Write and send news release 0 March Send welcome emails to participants in Book Drive Month 0 10 Send thank you’s to all businesses who participated and all who donated (Costs for thank you notes, envelopes, and postage) $25 April Send out news releases about the distribution day to local media 0 Evaluation 0 Total Expenses: $152.98 All funds will come from Books for Keeps’ general operations account. 11 Implementation
Our team was fortunate enough, and Books for Keeps’ need was great enough, that we were able to begin our work early in the fall semester. Our work focused mostly on four key areas: online presence, events, community relations and business relations. The first tactics related to improving Books for Keeps’ online presence. We designed a website from scratch using the web builder Wix and including links to Facebook and Twitter. The website is slated to go live at some point during 2013. We created a social media calendar for the organization’s Twitter and each took turns running the account for a week. We made sure to tweet about events, book drives and other articles related to Books for Keeps’ work. We also built relationships with local nonprofits and national nonprofits dealing with literacy efforts to engage them in conversation and to monitor the competition. We also included links to the Facebook page and blog to increase traffic to these two pages, as well. We will have members live-­‐tweet pictures and updates from at least one of this year’s Distribution Days, which take place April 29 to May 10 at the schools. We also created a template for an e-­‐newsletter to send to volunteers, donors and other people interested in the organization. In order to reach out to the local community and beyond, we created several media lists for media outlets in Athens and throughout the state that we have pitched to. We also created a bookmark that board members can pass out instead of business cards when appearing in public for Books for Keeps. The main assignment we worked on last semester was the Christmas Campaign, which was the organization’s last push to raise enough funds to cover the remaining 40 classes in need for the May book distribution. For this campaign, we created the certificate that was mailed out to donors who contributed to this campaign. We also organized a kickoff night for the campaign at the Beechwood Chick-­‐fil-­‐a. We created fliers and tabletop displays for the percentage night. We each volunteered and spoke to customers about the campaign, increasing awareness of the organization in the community. We raised $150 that night and got even more value out of the awareness raised. The organization exceeded its goal in funds raised overall. Most of our work this spring has focused on helping to plan Book Drive Month, which will took during the month of March. We helped the board of directors reach out to local businesses and organizations, including several UGA organizations, about hosting a book drive. Forty-­‐one local businesses, schools, nonprofits, civic associations and UGA organizations participated in Book Drive Month. We wrote a news release and pitched it to several local media. It gained placement in the Athens Banner-­‐Herald. Another release was written focusing on Allstate Insurance’s involvement in Book Drive Month at the request of one of the members of the board of directors. We developed a flier to encourage businesses to participate and another for the participants to pass out to their customers/members. We also reached out to local restaurants and businesses asking for donations of gift cards to use as prizes to reward the organization that collects the most books. Yoforia, Barberitos, Dunkin Donuts, Mirko Pasta, the Georgia Theatre, the 40 Watt, Barnes & Noble, Off Campus Bookstore and Ciné all donated gift cards, merchandise or tickets. Our last task was to write and send thank-­‐you notes and certificates of participation to all participants and donors. 12 Other work this spring has included writing a news release for a January book sale, which gained placement in the Athens Banner-­‐Herald and reaching out to Georgia Magazine to cover the executive director in its alumni section, which the magazine agreed to do. We have also maintained our presence on Twitter. Our remaining major projects are getting an Atlanta news crew out to Athens to cover the May book distribution, writing regular news releases in the weeks leading up to the book distribution, attending the Distribution Days and taking on any other tasks and projects we can to help out the board of directors. 13 Evaluation
Goal 1: Did we increase and improve online presence? •
O1: Did we increase visits to BooksforKeeps.org by 20 percent by April 2013? o Yes. According to Google Analytics, the number of visitors to the website in September 2012 was 462. The number of visitors in March was 646, a 39.83 percent increase. January, when Books for Keeps participated in the book sale in conjunction with Tripp Halstead’s family, 886 people visited the website. o S1: Did we develop a template to turn the Books for Keeps URL into a website? Yes, we created a template that was turned into the web master for her approval and modification. o S2: Did we make sure to include the website URL on all promotional and fundraising materials? Yes, we made sure include the website URL on all promotional and fundraising materials. o S3: Did we write an “About the Board” section for the website with biographies of the board members of Books for Keeps? Yes, we sent out a questionnaire to all board members and then wrote biographies of all members. o S4: Did we link to the blog in at least 40 percent of all tweets? Yes; 63.24 percent of our tweets had a link to the blog or the Facebook page. We were unable to control the Facebook page. •
O2: Did we increase the number of followers on Twitter by 100% (increase to 170 followers) by May 2013? o Yes. When we took over the Books for Keeps Twitter account, it had 85 followers. As of April 8, 2013, it has 183 followers, a 115.29 percent increase. o S1: Did we tweet relevant content, including links to the blog and new website, at least once per day? Yes, we each were assigned to Twitter a week at a time. Each team member used links to the blog and Facebook in their content to create additional traffic to those sites. o S2: Did we follow and interact with similar nonprofit organizations in Athens, encouraging dialog with them and their audiences? Yes, we interacted with similar nonprofit organization in Athens through Twitter. o S3: Did we tweet at opinion leaders in Athens (UGA athletes, in particular) and post links to the blog and other information about 14 Books for Keeps to increase the likelihood of a retweet, mention or conversation? Yes, we tweeted at numerous UGA athletes and opinion leaders in the Athens area, as well as authors, athletes and organizations nationwide. Goal 2: Did we build and maintain Books for Keeps' volunteer and donor bases?
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O1: Did we increase the number of core volunteers by 50 percent by May 2013? o No, the core group of volunteers remains the board of directors, which stayed the same in size as last year’s board of directors. o S1: Did we develop a bookmark to pass out during presentations and speeches (instead of the business card used by the executive director now). Yes, we developed a bookmark and did research on best pricing for printing. o S2: Did we develop a tabletop display with information about Books for Keeps to be used during presentations and speeches? Yes, we developed a tabletop display that was used at fundraising events to display the “Books for Keeps” mission. o S3: Did we send emails over various UGA student Listservs (including, but not limited to, Greek, CSO, College of Education) about volunteering for the distribution day in May and hosting book drives for Books for Keeps? Yes, we reached out to multiple student Listservs for Book Drive Month and got posted on the CSO, College of Education, and multiple Greek organization Listservs. We will also be reaching out to these organizations before the May book distribution about volunteer opportunities. •
O2: Did we reach out to volunteers and donors at least once a month by May 2013? o S1: Did we develop a newsletter template using Mail Chimp? Yes, our team developed a newsletter template, which our client will begin to use monthly. However, she has not begun to use the newsletter yet. o S2: Did we send thank-­‐you notes and letters of appreciation to donors and volunteers?
Yes, after Book Drive Month, we sent out 41 thank-­‐you notes and certificates to the participants and thank-­‐you notes to the businesses that donated prizes. •
O3: Did we reach out to at least one organization to which each board member has a connection? 15 o
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Yes, we worked on building relationships with the board of directors and providing them with different means of capitalizing on those connections. S1: Did we send news releases about Books for Keeps events to the in-­‐
house publications of organizations with which the board members are connected. Yes, we reached out to Georgia Magazine, the UGA Alumni publication, with a pitch about Melaney that the editor is following up on. Board members also leveraged their organization connections, such as churches, to gain Book Drive Month participants. S2: Did we write and send profiles of board members to organizations and groups of which they are alumni? Yes, we had each board member complete a questionnaire that we used to write a bio for each one. We reached out to organizations and groups of which they are alumni with little response except for Georgia Magazine which is still working on a profile for Melaney. O4: Did we increase media coverage of Books for Keeps by 15 percent from last year by May 2013? o This objective will need to be evaluated after the Distribution Days are over. We have gained placement in the Athens Banner-­‐Herald, Oconee Patch, and Athens Patch of two of our news releases about Books for Keeps’ events. o S1: Did we send out three feature releases to news outlets in Athens before Distribution Day? We will work on this strategy in the coming weeks.
o S2: Did we send out news releases to media outlets in Athens before any events (percentage nights, book drives, etc.)? Yes; before our Chick-­‐fil-­‐a percentage night (and the kickoff for the Christmas campaign), before the January book sale and before book drive month started, we sent out press releases to various media. The book sale and book drive releases both gained placement in the Athens Banner-­‐
Herald. We will send out more releases as distribution day, in late April/early May, gets closer. Goal 3: Did we increase the number of books and funds raised? •
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O1: Did we increase the number of books donated from last year by March 2013? o We were unable to obtain concrete numbers of books and funds raised this year compared with last year because our client is still in the process of getting those numbers together. The executive director did tell us that in April of last year, Books for Keeps did not have the 24,000 books it needed for the May distributions. This year, the 24,000 goal was met in December. Eighteen pallets of books have already been donated since then, books that will go towards the 2014 distributions.
o S: Did we host at least ten Books for Keeps book drives? 16 Yes. During Book Drive Month in March, 41 businesses and organizations held book drives for Books for Keeps. The count of books raised in March as of April 8, 2013 is 9,534. •
O2: Did we raise at least $20,000 in funds donated by February 2013?
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As previously explained, we cannot answer this question with concrete numbers, but Books for Keeps raised the rest of the money it needed for the 2013 distribution by December 2012. S1: Did we host a percentage night for Books for Keeps? Yes, we hosted one percentage night for Books for Keeps in November at Chick-­‐fil-­‐A and raised $152. S2: Did we promote donation online via the PayPal service by mentioning it in blog posts, tweets, printed materials and e-­‐
newsletters? Yes, we promoted donation online via the PayPal service by mentioning it in blog posts, tweets, printed materials and e-­‐newsletters. Online donations were also promoted through the Christmas Campaign where individuals could sponsor a child for $25 or an entire class for $480. This campaign was very successful and raised $21,125 by December 31st. 17 Appendix
1. Screen shots of website template 2. Bookmark 3. Institute for Leadership Advancement book drive release 4. Christmas campaign flier 5. Christmas campaign certificate 6. Christmas campaign table toppers 7. Christmas campaign release 8. CheckIt book sale release 9. Release coverage in ABH 10. CheckIt book sale Facebook flier 11. Book drive month participation flier 12. Book drive month public flier 13. Book drive month release 14. Release coverage in ABH 15. Allstate release 18 Website Home Page Internal Page 19 Internal Page 20 Bookmark Front /
Back 21 Release: Nov. 12, 2012 TERRY COLLEGE’S INSTITUTE FOR LEADERSHIP ADVANCEMENT HOSTS BOOK DRIVE FOR BOOKS FOR KEEPS During the month of November, one of the classes in Terry College’s Institute for Leadership Advancement (ILA) will conduct a charity drive to raise books for the local nonprofit Books for Keeps, which works to give children from low-­‐income homes in Athens books to read over the summer. Throughout the month, students will have a variety of ways to donate gently-­‐used children’s books and adult books—which can be sold on Amazon and the funds used to buy children’s books. The Subway at Five Points will have a Books for Keeps bin for donations until Dec. 3, as will Sweet Pepper’s Deli downtown. Several student organizations have also pledged to donate to the organization. Andrew Bruner, one of the project managers in the ILA class, encourages students to go home and try to collect books over Thanksgiving that they may not need anymore. “I think Books for Keeps is a great organization because it gives kids the chance to read, and it lets them experience the pride of ownership, resulting in a noticeable improvement in academics. It's a win-­‐win,” Bruner said. Books for Keeps is a nonprofit charity founded in 2009 in Athens that gives donated books to local students to take home over the summer. It operates with the goal of stopping the “summer slide” that occurs when children are out of school for two to three months 22 Page 2-­‐ ILA hosts book drive for Books for Keeps during the summer, which is when they lose educational development. Books for Keeps currently serves more than 3,000 children in grades kindergarten to 12 in seven schools in Clarke County and plans to expand throughout the state of Georgia by 2013. The Institute of Leadership Advancement (ILA) is a program in the Terry College of Business that works to cultivate leaders both in and out of the classroom. With corporate partners including Google, Coca-­‐Cola and Georgia Power, ILA operates under the values of responsibility, stewardship, excellence, integrity and purpose. The program is open to students of all majors at the University of Georgia. # Media Contact: Whitney Jinks Account Executive-­‐Books for Keeps Creative Consultants Email: [email protected] Phone: 770-­‐316-­‐2887 23 24 25 Children without books to read can
suffer from “summer slide” and a huge
achievement gap…
Our solution? Give them books.
We currently have 18,000 books—
enough to provide books to
3 Athens schools.
We are raising funds to purchase
10,000 more books to cover 2 more
Athens schools.
How can you help?
Cost to cover 1 child: $25
Cost to cover 1 class: $480
Cost to cover 1 grade: $1,700
Cost to cover 1 school: $10,300
26 Release: 26, 2012 Nov. BOOKS FOR KEEPS LAUNCHES CAMPAIGN TO SPONSOR 745 CHILDREN IN 5 WEEKS 745 more students. That is how close Books for Keeps is to providing 12 books to every child attending five Athens elementary schools, for the second year in a row. “Books for Keeps committed to the Clinton Global Initiative that we’d provide 12 books to every child attending a Clarke County School District elementary school where 90% or more of students qualify for free or reduced-­‐price lunches,” says founder Melaney Smith. “More importantly, we made this commitment to the students themselves, when we distributed 24,000 books at five Athens schools in May of 2012. They are counting on us to come back in 2013.” Chick-­‐fil-­‐A on Barnett Shoals Road is hosting a percentage night on Tuesday Nov. 27 from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. to help Books for Keeps reach its goal. Board member Whitney Goodstone, a native Athenian, said, “The Chick-­‐fil-­‐A percentage night will kick off our holiday campaign. We must raise the funds to sponsor the remaining 745 children by Dec. 31, and we’ll be on-­‐site at Chick-­‐fil-­‐A to speak with anyone who is interested in helping.” $25 will provide 12 books–and a tote bag for transport–for 1 child. $480 will sponsor an entire class, and Books for Keeps will publish the story of any group or business sponsoring a class on its Web site. -­‐more-­‐ 27 Page 2-­‐ Books for Keeps Launches Campaign Says Smith: “Our supporters are getting creative. A tennis team in Atlanta is holding a round-­‐robin tournament to raise the funds to sponsor a class. A group of high school girlfriends is pooling their funds and submitting the story of their friendship for Books for Keeps to publish. Dr. Dean Firschein and Allergy Partners of Georgia quickly jumped in to sponsor the first class. We have 35 classes left, with 745 students, and we must raise the funds for those books by Dec. 31.” Donors who wish to give the gift of reading to Athens children can sponsor a child for $25 or a class for $480. The organization also provides holiday gift certificates in any amount, as well as memorial gift letters in remembrance of loved ones. For more information and to donate, visit www.booksforkeeps.org. # About Books for Keeps: Books for Keeps started as one woman’s effort to help a child
who loved to read but had no books at home. It grew into a grassroots movement to end
summer slide in Athens by ensuring children have access to books during summer, and
is now a 501(c)(3) public charity. Books for Keeps distributes books to Clarke County
School District students ranging from pre-K through 12th grade. The elementary school
program is based on a University of Florida study that found giving economicallydisadvantaged elementary school children 12 high-interest books each at the beginning
of summer had an impact on reading achievement statistically similar to attending
summer school.
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CheckItBooks Presents
A Book Sale Benefitting
and
Tripp
Halstead
Thursday, January 24thMonday, January 28th
Thursday
4-7 p.m.
Book sale preview
$5 Entry, $2 Hardbacks and $1 Paperbacks
Friday
10 a.m.-6 p.m.
$3 Hardbacks, $2 Paperbacks
Saturday
10 a.m.-6 p.m.
$2 Hardbacks, $1 Paperbacks
Monday
4-7 p.m.
Bag Day!
Fill up a bag of books for $5 total.
Free bag of books to educators with work ID.
Located at the warehouse behind the Dollar
Store at 770 Danielsville Road, a half-mile
beyond the 10 Loop
**Cash or Check Only, Please!**
32 Visit www.BooksforKeeps.org for more
information about Books for Keeps and
www.facebook.com/TrippHalsteadUpdates to
keep up with Tripp and his family!
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