Saturday, July 12, 2008

The Coast Guard Handshake Tour

I’m a big fan of First Book. For those of you who don’t know what First Book is here is an explanation from the First Book official website:

What is First Book?

"First Book is a nonprofit organization with a single mission: to give children from low-income families the opportunity to read and own their first new books. The primary goal of First Book is to work with existing literacy programs to distribute new books to children who, for economic reasons, have little or no access to books."

So, now that you know, here’s a little bit of what’s going on right now:

From First Book’s blog:

“[Recently], First Book announced the Summer Reading Handshake Tour with the U.S. Coast Guard. Throughout the summer, First Book and the USCG Tall Ship Eagle will set sail for reading as the Eagle visits six West Coast ports of call, delivering new books to children in need. Starting July 5, visitors to the ship who shake hands with the Coasties generate a brand new book for a child in need. Can’t make it to the West Coast? Extend a virtual handshake by visiting www.firstbook.org/uscg. Follow the voyage and click daily to help generate brand new books to create young readers and tomorrow’s leaders."

Where will the Eagle visit?

According to the schedule published by the Coast Guard Academy the remaining ports of call for the "tour" include:

San Francisco, CA July 23-28
Los Angeles, CA August 1-4
San Diego, CA August 8-11
Los Angeles, CA August 15-18
San Diego, CA August 20-25



3 comments:

Flo said...

YAY what a great program, I'll have to visit the ship while they're in San Francisco! Thank you for notifying us about this :D

Amber said...

That's awesome!

downtownkatieb said...

Thanks for helping spread the word about the 2008 Handshake Tour! First Book is proud to be the signature charity of the USCG and to support all the men and women (and their families) who are working to keep us safe.

People can click daily to offer a handshake of tribute. Each click means a new book donated to a child who needs one.