Hundreds of Thousands of Kids to Benefit from Borders Book Drive

Throughout the entire month of August, Borders is conducting a company-wide, community-based book drive, which is expected to provide hundreds of thousands of books to children in need across the nation. Nearly 1,000 Borders and Waldenbooks stores have each chosen a charity in their community to benefit from the book drive. The staff at each participating store encourages customers to purchase new books that the store then donates directly to the selected charity.

Borders has thousands of titles to choose from, including classic titles such as "Goodnight Gorilla," "Pat the Bunny," "Where the Wild Things Are," "Goodnight Moon," the "Little Bear" series, "Harold and the Purple Crayon" and the "Junie B. Jones" series.

Some of the organizations that Borders and Waldenbooks stores have chosen to receive book donations include:

-- Reach Out and Read, a national non-profit organization that promotes early literacy by making books a routine part of pediatric care, will receive book donations from nearly 120 Borders and Waldenbooks stores.

-- Boys and Girls Clubs, which offer a safe place to learn and grow - all while having fun, will receive book donations from nearly 70 Borders and Waldenbooks stores.

-- Ronald McDonald House Charities will benefit from nearly 20 Borders and Waldenbooks store book donations in support of their efforts to provide a home away from home for families of seriously ill children receiving treatment at nearby hospitals.

Last year, more than 363,870 books were given to dozens of non-profit organizations through the Borders book drive. According to Rob Gruen, executive vice president of marketing and merchandising for Borders Group, the retailer has set its sights high this year. "We are planning to make this our biggest book drive ever," he said. "More of our stores are participating this year and they are doing some truly creative things to get our customers motivated to help a record number of charities, and as a result, a record number of kids. Our customers are extremely generous and we thank them for their enthusiastic support of this community-based effort. With the start of the new school year, this is a great time to purchase new books to promote reading to children of all ages."