United Through Reading

United Through Reading is a non-profit public benefit organization. The goal of this organization is to unite families who are physically separated by giving them the ability to record themselves on DVD reading books to their children. The DVDs are sent to the children and the child can then see mom or dad or a grandparent reading a favorite story to them. This program is used primarily for military families with a parent who is currently deployed. They also have a program for grandparents. Many grandparents live more that 100 miles from their grandchildren. This gives them the ability to connect with their far away grandchildren.

I found out about this program when I purchased Kellogg's cereal at Target. Kellogg's currently has a promotion running in which you purchase two Kellogg's cereals with a special token on the box. You mail the tokens in for a free book. You can also purchase additional books for $5.00 each. The $5.00 is a donation to United Through Reading. There were no shipping or handling charges included, so it truly was a FREE book. When the book arrived, I got a letter from Kellogg's telling me about United Through Reading and a $1.00 off coupon for another book to be purchased at Target. Both Target and Kellogg's are sponsors of and contributors to United Through Reading. 80% of all proceeds that United Through Reading collects goes back to support their program.

You can find out more information about this program at http://www.unitedthroughreading.org/ or on Target's website at www.target.com/community.