Our favorite give-back moments from 2019

Giving back is a year-round practice at Scholastic. With help from a list of incredible partners, and dedicated employees, Scholastic is proud to donate a million books each year and create a number of opportunities that inspire a lifelong love of reading in children around the world. As the company approaches 100 years of making quality, affordable books available to children, we thought we’d highlight some of the many ways Scholastic has shared the gift of reading.

Here are our favorite give-back moments from 2019!

Clifford Book Corps

This past year, the newly-launched Clifford Book Corps program acknowledged employee volunteer work with book donations to non-profit organizations of their choice. The books were provided by the Scholastic Possible Fund, which donates quality children’s books to non-profit partner organizations that share the company’s mission to improve global literacy and put books into the hands of children.

The following 10 organizations were selected by employees to receive books:

• Dayna’s Pink Wishes
• Education Like Me
• Fellas and Fiction
• Helen’s Hope Chest
• Hello Neighbor
• Hetrick-Martin Institute
• Lantern Community Services
• Montefiore Hospital
• Peaches and Sourcream
• Woodside on the Move

Scholastic Summer Read-a-Palooza

As part of the Scholastic Summer Read-a-Palooza, a free educational and philanthropic program, more than 500,000 children nationwide tracked their summer reading minutes through the program’s online Summer Reading Challenge, along the way unlocking 200,000 copies of new children’s titles to build home libraries for kids without easy book access. The books, donated by Scholastic, were distributed to kids at select United Way locations across the country. Additionally, independent booksellers and libraries extended the impact of the program by hosting Scholastic Summer Read-a-Palooza Give Back book drives, donating over 10,000 new and lightly-used books to local communities across the country. 

Scholastic Book Clubs Patterson Partnership

For the fifth year, bestselling author James Patterson and Scholastic Book Clubs teamed up to award grants totaling $1.25 million to teachers to help them stock their classroom libraries. In 2019, 4,000 teachers from across the country received $250 and bonus points, and 500 new teachers received $500 and bonus points to purchase current, top-quality books for classroom libraries, which are vital sources of books and reading for students. Check out all the winners!

UChicago My Very Own Library

More than 50,000 students got the chance to add 5 free new books to their home library this fall thanks to UChicago My Very Own Library (MVOL)! The ongoing partnership with Scholastic Book Fairs empowers kids to choose their own books, and makes sure that students, in MVOL schools across the country and in the Dominican Republic, don’t leave their school book fairs empty handed! The special MVOL book fairs will continue into the spring of 2020, where students will be able to add another set of free books to their home libraries.

This year, MVOL and Scholastic Book Fairs also celebrated a new partnership with NFL alumni, which will bring former NFL players into classrooms to read aloud to students during the 2019–2020 school year!

Scholastic National Service Organization

Scholastic operations would not be possible without all of the hard work from Scholastic employees, especially those who work at the Scholastic National Service Organization (NSO). In addition to keeping Scholastic running, NSO employees in Jefferson City have built community service into the core of their work. Their local giveback efforts have included handing out produce at a mobile food pantry, volunteering at school carnivals, and of course, donating books and reading aloud to students.