The Indigo Love of Reading Foundation provides more than $700,000 to high-needs elementary school libraries, benefitting over 100,000 Canadian children

Each year, the Foundation's grassroots Adopt a School fundraiser unites Indigo stores and local communities to raise funds for high-needs elementary school libraries

TORONTO, Nov. 4, 2019 /CNW/ - The Indigo Love of Reading Foundation is thrilled to announce a commitment of $733,000 for books to Canadian high-needs elementary schools as a result of the 2019 Adopt a School program. From September 14 to October 6, the Adopt a School program united the Foundation with Indigo, its customers and their communities to raise funds on behalf of local schools. This year's program supported 182 schools across the country and will impact the lives of over 100,000 Canadian children with the addition of thousands of new books and educational resources for their school libraries.

"It's incredibly special to see how communities rallied together during the Adopt a School program with the shared goal of filling the shelves of their local school libraries," said Rose Lipton, Executive Director of the Love of Reading Foundation.  "We know the power that one book can hold and believe that every child deserves the opportunity to fall in love with reading.  We would like to thank everyone who generously supported this important cause; because of them, over 100,000 Canadian children will have access to new and engaging books."

The Adopt a School program is an annual fundraising campaign that takes place each fall to address the underfunding of public elementary school libraries. During the program, high-needs elementary schools across Canada are adopted by an Indigo, Chapters or Coles store and receive 100% of the funds raised on their behalf at that store. Those funds are used to update their libraries with new books and educational resources that are in desperate need. Schools are eligible for a 30% discount on books at Indigo, Chapters and Coles stores when using program funds.

New this year, in addition to in-store support, Indigo provided a free online registry platform to all adopted schools. Each school selected 50 books that they wanted to add to their school library and added them to a unique book gift registry on indigo.ca. When community supporters purchased these books, Indigo matched the donation with a second copy of each book, doubling the impact for the schools.

Since its inception, the Indigo Love of Reading Foundation has committed over $31 million for books to more than 3,000 school libraries across Canada, impacting over 1 million Canadian children.

To learn more about the Foundation, please visit loveofreading.org

About the Indigo Love of Reading Foundation

Indigo Books & Music Inc. founded the Indigo Love of Reading Foundation in 2004 to address the underfunding of public elementary school libraries. To date, the Foundation has committed over $31 million to more than 3,000 high-needs schools, impacting over 1 million children. The Foundation runs two signature programs each year. In May 2019, the Indigo Love of Reading Foundation Literacy Fund grants committed $1.5 million to 30 high-needs elementary schools that lack the resources to build and maintain healthy school libraries. Additionally, each fall, the Foundation's annual grassroots Adopt a School program unites the Foundation with Indigo, its employees, its customers and their communities to raise funds to support high-needs elementary schools across Canada and put even more books into the hands of children. In October 2019, the Indigo Adopt a School program contributed $0.7M to over 180 schools across Canada. To learn more about the Foundation, visit www.loveofreading.org

SOURCE Indigo Love of Reading Foundation

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