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More than 300,000 Children's Books Reach Children in Need

Posted on: Thursday, 22 January 2009, 10:16 CST

eBay Foundation and First Book Celebrate with Reading Parties in Three Cities

WASHINGTON, Jan. 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- eBay Foundation and First Book, a nonprofit providing new books to children in need, are holding reading parties in three cities to celebrate the distribution of more than 300,000 Random House Children's Books nationwide. eBay Foundation GIVE Teams, made up of employees in eBay's offices in Austin, Texas, Omaha, Neb. and Los Angeles, will join local children to read with them and present them with their brand new books. Each site will receive 500 new books for the children they serve, made possible as part of a grant of more than $300,000 from eBay Foundation.

First and second-graders' faces will light up when they receive brand new Random House Children's books while employees from eBay share the joy of reading. The reading parties will be held at the following locations and times:

Monday, January 26

12:30 p.m.

Rodriquez Elementary School

4400 Franklin Park Drive

Austin, Texas 78744

Tuesday, January 27

10:00 a.m.

Martin L. King Elementary School

3706 Maple Street

Omaha, Neb. 68111

Thursday, January 29

9:00 a.m.

Broadway Elementary School

1015 Lincoln Blvd.

Venice, Calif. 90291

"We salute eBay Foundation for their tremendous support of the fight to end illiteracy," said Kyle Zimmer, president of First Book. "Thanks to the extraordinary commitment of the eBay Foundation, these children will experience the profound magic of books, and will have the chance to become readers for life."

First Book produces tangible, measurable results in the fight to end illiteracy by placing books into the hands of children who have none. Studies show that within months of receiving new books from First Book, children's interest in reading nearly triples. (Louis Harris Impact Assessments, 1999 and 2003)

"We're proud to partner with First Book to help children discover the joy of reading," said Bill Barmeier, chairman of eBay Foundation and VP of Global Citizenship at eBay Inc. "This continues eBay Foundation's long-standing tradition of connecting eBay employees with terrific causes in their local communities. We're grateful to the eBay employees who have made this possible through their time and dedication."

About First Book

First Book provides new books to children in need, addressing one of the most important factors affecting literacy - access to books. An innovative leader in social enterprise, First Book has distributed more than 60 million free and low cost books in thousands of communities. First Book now has offices in the U.S. and Canada. For more information about the nonprofit First Book please visit www.firstbook.org or call 866-393-1222.

Random House Children's Books

Random House Children's Books is the world's largest English-language children's trade book publisher, creating books for toddlers through young adult readers, in all formats, from board books to activity books to picture books and novels. The company's website, www.randomhouse.com/kids offers an array of materials and activities free of charge for children, teens, parents and educators.

About eBay Inc.

Founded in 1995, eBay Inc. connects hundreds of millions of people around the world every day, empowering them to explore new opportunities and innovate together. eBay Inc. does this by providing the Internet platforms of choice for global commerce, payments and communications. Since its inception, eBay Inc. has expanded to include some of the strongest brands in the world, including eBay, PayPal, Skype, StubHub, Shopping.com, and others. eBay Inc. is headquartered in San Jose, California.

About eBay Foundation

In 1998, with a donation of pre-IPO stock, eBay created a charitable fund known as eBay Foundation. Since its creation, eBay Foundation has made more than $17 million in grants and has consistently been recognized as one of the Bay area's top corporate foundations. Employee programs are an integral part of eBay Foundation's work and provide a variety of ways for eBay Inc. employees around the world to make a difference in their local communities. Each eBay office globally is empowered to form its own GIVE Team to assess local needs and recommend nonprofits for the foundation to support through grants. GIVE Teams also promote and engage employees in volunteer activities.

SOURCE First Book

Source: PR Newswire

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