Washington Reading Corps: Impacts of National Service and the ...

• Supplies and Miscellaneous SupportPrivate sector and community donations have also provided school and office supplies to beused in after-school programs, as well as other supplies for special events such as familyliteracy nights or community service days. In this area there were donations worth $36,671.(This figure includes $21,900 donated by both Boeing and Airbus to buy 73 computers forNeely-O’Brien Elementary in Kent.)• CashNumerous organizations and individuals also made cash contributions for the individualschool programs to purchase literacy materials, food, or incentives as needed. Thesedonations came to a total of $38,311. In addition, Capital One made a contribution of$100,000 to underwrite a statewide conference that brought in nationally known speakersand allowed national service, educational, and business partners of the WRC to gather forcelebration and learning.A close look at the organizations that made these contributions suggests that this support for theWashington Reading Corps has come almost entirely from the local level. There are, however,several notable exceptions—Bank of America donated $25,000 for the program statewide,First Book contributed $300,000 worth of books that were distributed to all Reading Corpsschools, and Capital One made a contribution of $100,000 to underwrite the conferencementioned above. Aside from these major donors, other contributions to schools in 1999-2000came from businesses, organizations, and individuals in the local community.Even more, the majority of these donations (more than two-thirds) came from independent orlocally-owned establishments. Slightly more than a third of all the contributions were from localbranches of national chains such as McDonald’s, Wal-Mart, and Safeway, or from largecorporations such as Boeing. The rest, however, came from small businesses, individual donors,or community groups like the Kiwanis, Rotary Club, or parent teacher organizations.Predictably, the more rural an area is, the more likely it is to have more small businessdonations. Neah Bay Elementary, on the Olympic peninsula, is a good example of this. TheWRC program there had a $30 dollar donation from Wal-Mart, but received the rest of theircontributions from local groups and businesses, such as the Makah Cultural and ResearchCenter, the Makah Tribal Council, Beebe’s Café, and Washburn’s General Store. Likewise,Reading Corps programs in Chelan and Douglas counties in north central Washington (home tomost of the state’s orchards) received many of their donations in the form of apples from localfruit companies.Schools in larger areas also received many contributions from locally-owned businesses orcommunity groups. For example, King County Aquatic Center and the Federal Way Poolprovided swimming passes for WRC students at Sunnycrest Elementary, just south of Seattle.Echo Lake Elementary in Seattle received coupons from a local pizza and pasta restaurant, as28