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Pitney Bowes Volunteers Celebrate and Support Literacy Programs for the Coronita Elementary RIF Program

Monday 24. August 2009 - Children receive free books during Reading Is Fundamental family literacy event in Corona

Volunteers from Pitney Bowes and more than 800 children and their families participated in a “Share the Message: READ!” family literacy event at the Coronita Elementary Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) program in Corona, Calif., on August 20, 2009.

RIF program coordinator Shannon Adams and 20 Pitney Bowes volunteers assisted children and parents at this communications-themed event, which included books and activity stations focused on communications technology, communicating through the arts, great communicators, language, and animal communication.

The children read a book and participated in the related activity, ranging from making animal masks to playing memory games. Parents also received suggestions of additional activities to do at home. Once the children and their parents visited the activity stations and collected stamps in their “passport” along the way, they selected a paperback title at the book station to keep and help build their home libraries.

“RIF admires the strong tradition of Pitney Bowes employee involvement in education programs,” said Carol H. Rasco, president and CEO of RIF. “The employees who volunteered at Coronita Elementary helped further RIF’s mission by emphasizing to young children the joy of reading through a fun-filled event.”

“At Pitney Bowes, we strongly believe that literacy and education are the building blocks of life,” said Juanita James, chief marketing and communications officer, Pitney Bowes. “Through our support of job training initiatives and programs that help close the achievement gap, we help build stronger communities and strengthen the workforce of tomorrow.”

Pitney Bowes also provided Coronita Elementary RIF program with a communications-themed lending library and related Story Sampler — a book-based thematic guide to reading designed to engage children in the book experience. Each Story Sampler includes hands-on, cross-curricular activities for books linked by a common theme.