Toys for Tots launches literacy initiative

After 60 years of delivering holiday joy to millions of children, the Toys for Tots Foundation has announced its first year-round initiative, the Toys for Tots Literacy Program. The new initiative will provide free books to disadvantaged children across the United States.

The national network of The UPS Store and Mail Boxes Etc. franchisees will serve as exclusive sponsors of the initiative. Throughout March, participating The UPS Store and Mail Boxes Etc. locations will collect $1 donations for its Buck a Book program, where every dollar donated will place a book into the hands of a economically disadvantaged child in that local community. Stores will continue additional fundraising activities throughout the year. To kick-off the program, MBE, franchisor of The UPS Store and Mail Boxes Etc. brands, is donating $125,000, which will distribute 125,000 books to children in need.

To help support this initiative, Scholastic, the world’s largest publisher and distributor of children’s books, will offer a selection of children’s titles to the Toys for Tots Literacy Program at a special, discounted nonprofit rate. As a long-standing partner of Toys for Tots, Scholastic will help the Toys for Tots Literacy Program select age-appropriate books that will not only teach a child how to read but instill a passion for learning.

For further information, visit the Toys for Tots website.