First Book Receives Oprah's Angel Network Book Club Award for $250,000 to Support Book Relief for Katrina Victims

First Book Receives Oprah's Angel Network Book Club Award for $250,000 to Support Book Relief for Katrina Victims

Grant Will Send 500,000 Books to Affected Areas

WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- First Book received the largest Oprah's Angel Network Book Club Award for $250,000 to support Book Relief, a publishing industry-wide effort recently launched in response to the terrible devastation of Hurricane Katrina. First Book, an award-winning national literacy organization, is leading the Book Relief initiative, which will place at least five million books into the hands of those affected by the hurricane, as well as into schools and libraries as they are rebuilt. Book Relief is the nation's largest and most comprehensive book distribution relief program and includes publishers large and small, such as HarperCollins Publishers, Disney, Townsend Press, Random House, Scholastic, American Girl, Reader's Digest, Simon & Schuster and Houghton Mifflin. To date, Book Relief has received commitments for more than four million books from these and other publishers, and additional commitments are expected.

The Oprah's Angel Network Book Club Award contribution marks the kick-off of a public call to action to get books to the affected region and those who have been displaced. Members of the general public can also "sponsor" books for just $0.50 per book. Everyone who sponsors one or more books may write a personal message on a specially designed bookmark, which will be shipped with the books when they are distributed. Donations can be made and the bookmarks can be downloaded at http://www.bookrelief.org/.

To accomplish this ambitious relief effort, First Book is relying on the First Book National Book Bank, the only centralized nonprofit distribution network that is capable of an undertaking of this size. Immediately following the hurricane, First Book, in cooperation with its national partners and affiliates, began identifying children who had been moved to safety and were ready to accept books. More than 100,000 books have already been shipped through the First Book National Book Bank to Houston TX, Mississippi, and other affected areas. This immediate mission is the first stage of Book Relief. Additional phases of the campaign will serve preschools, after-school programs, libraries, and schools that are embracing the displaced children. Later efforts will include educational institutions and programs as they are repaired and rebuilt.

"As children and families displaced by Hurricane Katrina settle into new communities, we are reminded of all they have lost," said Kyle Zimmer, President of First Book. "Oprah's Angel Network's generous donation to Book Relief offers First Book the chance to welcome children into new homes and classrooms with books that will give them power and knowledge to help persevere during difficult times."

To make a donation or for more information, log on to http://www.bookrelief.org/ or http://www.firstbook.org/.

About First Book

First Book is a national nonprofit organization that gives children in need the opportunity to read and own their first new books. In neighborhoods across the country, First Book Advisory Boards unite leaders from all sectors of the community to identify the most effective community-based literacy programs reaching children living at or below the poverty line and provide them with First Book grants of free books and educational materials. The First Book National Book Bank, a subsidiary program of First Book, is the first and only centralized system that enables publishers to donate books and educational materials online to reach millions of children who need them the most. First Book has distributed more than 35 million new books to children in need in hundreds of communities nationwide. To learn more about First Book, please visit http://www.firstbook.org/.

Source: First Book

CONTACT: Eugenia Hull, of First Book, +1-202-393-1222, ehull@FirstBook.org

Web site: http://www.firstbook.org/ http://www.bookrelief.org/

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