PSA: A plea for literacy

This has been making the email and blog rounds but I thought I’d share this here as well. Beth Tindall (of CincinnatiMedia and many, many author websites fame) is working with the Literacy Network of Greater Cincinnati on their biggest fundraiser — which at the moment, is severely short on books that can be awarded as prizes. If anyone wishes to donate books, please read the press release below for more information and do so by March 1.

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Thursday, March 16, 2006 at The Cincinnati Museum Center
Literacy Network of Greater Cincinnati
16th Annual Scripps Spelling Bee for Literacy

Donations of books are needed to be given away at the Spelling Bee as prizes for contestants, sponsors, audience members and volunteers. We will look for groupings of books (for example: historical mystery authors, autographed books published in 2005, a complete set of books by a particular author, etc….) that we can bundle for prizes, in addition to giving away individual books as door prizes.

Spelling Bee participants are from corporate teams (most of the local media outlets have a Bee team), as well as companies like P&G, Chiquita, General Electric, and University of Cincinnati. The Spelling Bee is one of the largest fundraisers for the Literacy Network of Greater Cincinnati.

The Literacy Network acts as an umbrella agency for over 60 sites in Greater Cincinnati where adults may go to improve their basic education and literacy skills.  The Network provides free Adult and Children’s Basic Reading Classes for people with profound reading disabilities and a Tutor Training program for volunteers interested in working with adults. Also, the Literacy Network offers the Cincinnati Reads program, which recruits and trains reading tutors to work one-on-one with K-4th grade students in the Cincinnati Public Schools.

Additional books not given away at the Spelling Bee will be used as Appreciation gifts for the volunteer tutors. Contacts are being made with local bookstores for additional book donations to be arranged year-round.

Local mystery author Jeffrey Marks and mystery author website specialist Beth Tindall of CincinnatiMedia are arranging autographed book donations from within the national mystery community. Donated books will have a label on the inside of the book which state “Book donated by the author.”

Books for the Spelling Bee prizes should be sent before March 1st, 2006. Books are appreciated and welcomed other times of year, though! To donate, send books (autographed or not, fiction/nonfiction, adult/YA/juvenile, ones you’ve written or ones you’ve read!) to:

LITERACY NETWORK
ATTN: KIM
635 WEST SEVENTH STREET, SUITE 103
CINCINNATI, OH 45203