Across the globe, Kodak’s Print for Good campaign supports communities with book drives, book donations and the printing of school materials to help increase literacy. Because of the tremendous efforts of Kodak employees, print customers and local literacy partners, in its first full year the program placed approximately 30,000 books and school materials in the hands of thousands of children in communities throughout Europe, the United States, Asia and the Middle East. In 2017, Kodak teams supported programs that included local literacy initiatives and partnerships stretching from Kodak’s headquarters in Rochester, New York to rural communities in India and Haiti. Here are some of them:
Croxley Park, U.K. Kodak employees in the U.K. donated over 500 books to the JMI School & Nursery and the Peace Hospice in Watford, while also hosting a book signing with children’s book illustrator Ben Cort of the popular ‘Aliens Love Underpants’ series.
Rochester, New York. Working with the Urban League of Rochester and the Scott Spino Foundation, Kodak donated over 2,500 books that have found their way into the hands of children in the Rochester metro area.
Nilmat, India. Kodak employees in partnership with Youth For People, distributed over 5,000 notebooks to 1,000 children to promote increased literacy in this tribal region on the outskirts of Mumbai.
Memphis, Tennessee. In collaboration with Books from Birth, Kodak donated 1,000 children’s books from the author, designer and the host of Kodak’s Press On Video Series, Tad Carpenter. The books are now finding their way onto the shelves of families participating in two different programs designed to encourage early childhood literacy – LENA Start and Reach out and Read.
Port Au Prince, Haiti. Kodak teamed up with Hearthstone Village, a non-profit organization based in Ukiah Valley, Califronia, to provide funding to the Reveil Martinal Orphanage to help build a burgeoning library in support of the ongoing literacy needs of the 26 girls who live in the orphanage in Port-Au Prince.
Madrid, Spain. Kodak worked with its customer, Cayofosa, to supply 1,500 copies of ‘Cuentos para contar en 1 minuto’ to non-profit Gallardo Fundacion Melior – which is distributing the books to enhance the reading skills of economically disadvantaged children in the community.
Petah Tikva, Israel. Kodak’s Israel team partnered with local customer Emanuel Print to publish over 1,000 booklets that were donated to children in need during the 2017 Passover holiday. Kodak worked with non-profit La’Sova, an organization focused on providing food to high-needs communities. The booklets were added to holiday food packages for distribution.
These activities are just a few of the many programs Kodak has supported around the world in 2017 to foster improved literacy outcomes. “At Kodak, we feel that literacy is a venue for us to talk about the value of print in a very tangible way, while partnering with some of our most important customers to address a vital issue that touches communities across the globe,” said Brad Kruchten, President of the Print Systems Division at Kodak. “Literacy not only enriches an individual’s life, but it creates opportunities for people to develop skills that will help them provide for themselves and their families, while also enhancing the economic vitality of the communities around them. We’re proud to be able to play a part in helping to improve literacy outcomes around the world.”
“Kodak’s Print for Good initiative is an overall effort to drive the print industry in a socially conscious and environmentally friendly way,” the company added. “Kodak also supports the development and use of more sustainable print processes, as printers begin to migrate toward process-free plates, vegetable-based inks, alcohol-based solvents, recycled or sustainably-harvested paper, printing plates made of fully-recyclable aluminum, and other means of operating more sustainably.”
Kodak’s Print for Good Campaign impacting literacy around the world
