PR Success Story Reach Out and Read Virginia Week Looking for a great way to pull your statewide Coalition together and raise awareness, dollars, and books for your Sites? Reach Out and Read-Virginia developed an innovative event concept that may be just as successful for other Coalitions! In March, ROR-Virginia celebrated "Reach Out and Read Virginia Week," kicking off on March 2nd, the birthday of an old friend of children and literacy, Dr. Seuss. The week coincided with National Book Week and ended on March 7th. Since every celebration starts with an invitation, ROR-VA engaged local organizations, which included corporations, schools, hospitals, and civic groups, in the regions where ROR thrives, by inviting them to hold gently-used and new book drives. Branded book boxes were designed and created which highlighted Reach Out and Read Virginia and included pictures, the ROR-VA logo, program cost, and contact information—essentially a portable advertisement for ROR. Like many larger state Coalitions, certain communities have adopted ROR more readily than others, and the goal was to work together to raise awareness statewide. An early collaboration with Books A Million (BAM) anchored the project. The Richmond-based BAM Special Events Coordinator’s contagious enthusiasm carried it statewide and recruited over a dozen stores. ROR-VA also contacted the local clinics in close proximity to the stores in their area and asked them to represent ROR, accept the books and arrange for a photo opportunity for both the store and ROR. The BAM program replicates the Barnes & Noble book drive, in that customers will be invited to buy a new book for the program. To add to the week, state officials, corporate leaders, donors, and volunteers have been invited to read in ROR-VA local clinics throughout the week, creating several additional media events. Altogether, more than 30 book drives took place throughout the state, which together raised more than 10,000 books and $2,000 for ROR-VA! The book drives also helped to generate both newspaper articles and television coverage, including a live interview on the noon news on Channel 6! Participating organizations promoted the project and event information on their websites and mutually, ROR-VA placed the groups as partners and ambassadors in their newsletter, website, and blog. During the week, the thousands of books were collected, distributed, and sorted by volunteers (Girl Scouts, women’s groups, and retired educators). In some cases, the volunteers even delivered them to the clinics. Some groups opted to extend their book drives to include a read-a-thon fundraiser, and others have offered to make ROR a named beneficiary of future fundraisers. All in all, relationships and partnerships have been developed that will help provide opportunity to move ROR-VA towards future sustainability. If you are interested in more information about ROR-VA week, there is a book drive guide with flyers and press release templates available on www.rorva.org and a book box template available by contacting Sue Rockwell.   Return