KINGSTON, JAMAICA (May, 2017): With the month of June fast approaching and signaling the end of another school term, the Sandals Foundation is encouraging reading as the perfect past time for the highly anticipated summer holiday. In a continued effort to improve literacy across the Caribbean, the Sandals Foundation is ensuring that schools and libraries, within the 8 islands where they operate, are equipped with top of the line literature to keep minds engaged this summer and beyond.

Through its ongoing partnership with Scholastic Book Fairs, a division of Scholastic Inc. - the world’s largest publisher and distributor of children’s books- a donation of 25,000 brand new literature bookshas been distributed across the islands of Antigua, Nassau, Exuma, Barbados, Grenada, Jamaica, St. Lucia and Turks & Caicos. Suitable for children of all ages, the books open the world of possible and motivate a sense of adventure, while some selections teach moral lessons and encourage positive self-development.

For the second consecutive year, Scholastic Book Fairs has teamed up with the Sandals Foundation for the weekly ‘Scholastic Reading Road Trip’ which is operated by Island Routes. This weekly Thursday voluntourism outing affords guests to the Caribbean the opportunity to visit a locally supported school to lend literacy, comprehension as well as vocabulary support and affords guests the personal experience of giving back through education and the love of reading.

With the recognition of improved literacy levels in schools through an active Reading Road Trip program, the Foundation aims to extend the valued partnership beyond schools and into the wider communities by providing books to local libraries. This initiative ensures that a wider cross section of people have the opportunity to become familiar with the joys of reading.

The Sandals Foundation continues to innovate and engage in partnerships that will lend to improvement of literacy for all ages in the Caribbean.