FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM JULY 25, 2019 • KIDS & EDUCATION • THE QUEENS COURIER 31
kids & education
Photo Courtesy of Queens Public Library
JetBlue kicks off literacy initiative with Queens Public Library
BY BILL PARRY
bparry@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Queens Public Library and Long Island
City-based JetBlue kicked off a new reading
literacy initiative with a special story
time featuring award-winning children’s
author David Ezra Stein of Kew Gardens
at Central Library in Jamaica for children
ages 3 to 5.
JetBlue this summer has joined forces
with QPL and other NYC nonprofi ts to
place free book vending machines in areas
across the fi ve boroughs where young
readers have limited options to purchase
age-appropriate books.
QPL president and CEO Dennis M.
Walcott joined several JetBlue executives,
Queens Borough President Melinda Katz,
Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer and
Assemblywoman Alicia Hyndman celebrated
the launch of the airline’s popular
“Soar with Reading” literacy program.
“While we welcome everyone to come
to one of our libraries and take out books
and other materials for free, we are excited
to provide opportunities for children and
adults to have their own libraries at home,”
Walcott said. “We are grateful to JetBlue for
choosing Queens Public Library as one of
its Soar with Reading program partners in
New York City and for helping us ensure
that kids continue to build their reading
skills during the summer months.”
JetBlue has placed its innovative
machines at six sites throughout the
fi ve boroughs with two in Queens, one
at Central Library and the other in the
Rockaways. Since its installation at the
library on July 11, the machine has dispensed
more than 4,000 books. All six
machines will be restocked every two
weeks with new titles for children and
adults in both English and Spanish.
Publishing partners include
HarperCollins, Little Bee Books, Lil’
Libros, Scholastic, Candlewick Press,
Penguin Random House, Hachette Books
and Barefoot Books.
JetBlue has donated more than $3.5
million in books to kids who need them
most.
“We’re excited to bring our Soar with
Reading program to our hometown this
summer. Th anks to partners such as
Queens Public Library, we’re making an
impact right in our own backyard and
sparking a lifelong love or reading for
our youngest neighbors,” JetBlue Director
of Corporate Social Responsibility Icema
Gibbs said. “It was important for us to
focus this summer’s eff orts on the city
and boroughs that made us who we are.
Queens is our home. We hope our free
book vending machines in Jamaica and
the Rockaways will help improve book
access in areas that need it most. E not
only work here, we live here too.”
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