First Book
Giving children from low-income families their first new books.
What We Do
First Book is an award-winning literacy organization with a single mission: to give children from low-income families the opportunity to read and own their first new books. Since 1992, First Book has distributed more than 50 million new books to children participating in community-based mentoring, tutoring, and family literacy programs in thousands of communities nationwide. In the fall of 2005, First Book launched Book Relief, an initiative to bring five million new books to the Gulf Coast region devastated by Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma, and rebuild children's lives one book at a time. By the summer of 2007, Book Relief had provided more than five million brand-new books to children, families, schools, libraries, and literacy programs in communities throughout Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas.
How ClassroomsCare Helps
First Book has distributed ClassroomsCare books to thousands of children in need across the United States, through community programs such as Boys & Girls Clubs, Head Start, Reach Out and Read, YMCA, Big Brothers Big Sisters, food pantries, and parent-teacher associations.
Reach Out and Read®
Making books part of a healthy childhood.
What We Do
Doctors and nurses know that growing up healthy means growing up with books, and Reach Out and Read (ROR) makes it possible for them to give new books to children who otherwise wouldn't have any.
ROR provides more than 4.6 million books a year to doctors and nurses across the United States to give to children at pediatric checkups. Doctors are also urged to talk to parents about the importance of reading aloud to their children.
How ClassroomsCare Helps
The books provided to the ROR program by ClassroomsCare have been given to children in every region of the country, including Alaska and Hawaii. Books may have been given to children in your community; to see where our programs are located and to learn more about Reach Out and Read, visit our website.
The doctors and nurses who give the books to their young patients applaud the efforts of Scholastic Book Clubs and all the teachers and students who participate in ClassroomsCare. They help make it possible for all children to grow up with books in their homes!
Save the Children
Creating lasting change for children in need in the United States and around the world.
What We Do
Save the Children celebrates 75 years of helping children worldwide survive and thrive by improving their health, education, and economic opportunities and-in times of acute crisis-mobilizing rapid life-saving assistance to help children recover from the effects of war, conflict, and natural disasters. It is the leading independent organization creating real and lasting change for children.
The work began in Appalachia in Kentucky in 1932, responding to the needs of families during the Great Depression. Today, Save the Children has programs in more than 50 countries, serving more than 37 million children.
Save the Children's U.S. programs concentrate on literacy and nutrition, benefiting over 20,000 children, age 3 through Grade 8, in areas of persistent rural poverty in 12 states.
How ClassroomsCare Helps
ClassroomsCare is vital to Save the Children's after-school and summer literacy programs in underserved rural schools in the U.S. Books received help stock school libraries and provide children with thousands of new books to take home each yearÉhelping them to become stronger readers.
Hello Friend
Supporting teaching that reaches all children.
What We Do
Hello Friend was established in 1997 by Drs. William H. and Camille O. Cosby, after the tragic death of their son Ennis. It was Ennis' common greeting, "Hello, Friend," that inspired the name of the Foundation, and his vision that all children-regardless of their learning style-be supported in our schools, formed the purpose of the Foundation. The Foundation seeks to set a powerful, progressive agenda for positive changes that address these fundamental problems. The Foundation targets teachers, students, and parents in its programs.
Hello Friend's Classroom Lending Library Project was developed in response to the fact that many of our nation's children have few books in the home; attend schools in which libraries have been closed due to budget cuts; or learn in classroom with insufficient, out of date, or damaged books. Over the past six years, the Foundation has distributed libraries to 7,897 classrooms in 533 cities in 48 states.
How ClassroomsCare Helps
Through the generosity of Scholastic Book Clubs and ClassroomsCare (and numerous volunteers), Hello Friend received nearly one million brand-new, high-quality children's books, which have been packaged and distributed to 7,897 classroom libraries.
Pajama Program Mission + more!
The Pajama Program provides new books and new pajamas to children in need, most of whom are waiting and hoping to be adopted. These children are living in shelters and group homes and too often are shuffled from one temporary home to another. Many of these youngsters have been abused or abandoned, and in many cases, have never enjoyed the simple comfort of having a mother or father tuck them in at bedtime and read to them to encourage an early educational experience. Through the Pajama Program, we are contributing to a warmer, more loving and supportive reading environment for these special children. The Pajama Program (501 c3) was founded in 2001, and to date has provided more than 130,000 pajamas and 90,000 books to children in need nationwide.
Camp Heartland, a national nonprofit organization, believes that all children deserve a warm and welcoming place within our world. Camp Heartland’s mission is to enhance the lives of children impacted by HIV/AIDS through year-round support, advocacy, recreational programs and community AIDS awareness efforts. Founded in 1993 as a summer camp for children affected by HIV/AIDS, Camp Heartland has expanded its reach and impact over the past 14 years. The organization provides a variety of year-round programs for U.S. children living with HIV/AIDS; reaches young people at risk for HIV infection with AIDS awareness initiatives; addresses the worldwide AIDS pandemic through its Global Heartland program; and serves additional marginalized populations through its Heartland Partners program. Accredited by the American Camping Association, the agency owns and operates the Camp Heartland Center, a 94-acre camp facility and retreat center in northern Minnesota. Through programming delivered at the site throughout the year, Camp Heartland provides children and young adults with opportunities to have fun, develop new skills, make friends, and speak openly about their life experiences. In addition, Camp Heartland provides a week of camping in Malibu and two weeks of family camp in New York through our newest camping program The Birch Family Camp.