Look To The Stars News: Meredith Vieira

Vote For This Year's Read For The Record Charity Campaign Book

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 15:30:00 -0000

Last year, Jumpstart's Read for the Record 2009 campaign officially set a new record for the world’s largest shared reading experience – on Oct. 8th, adults across the globe read Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar to 2,019,752 children! And now the charity wants you to choose the official campaign book for 2010.

Last year’s campaign featured a host of celebrities, including Justin Bieber (pictured), Nelly Furtado, Meredith Vieira, Lo Bosworth, Mary-Louise Parker, Tiki Barber, Vince Vaughn and many more.

Choose one of the following children’s book titles – Blueberries for Sal, Make Way for Ducklings, Peter’s Chair, and The Snowy Day – and it could become the official campaign book for 2010. Voting closes on February 28. The book that receives the most votes will be announced in March and will become the centerpiece of Jumpstart’s fifth annual record-breaking campaign!

To vote, click here.

Jumpstart Sets New Charity Record For Reading

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 12:00:00 -0000

Jumpstart's Read for the Record 2009 campaign officially set a new record for the world’s largest shared reading experience. On Oct. 8th, adults across the globe read Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar to 2,019,752 children! This year’s campaign shattered the previous record of 688,000, set by Jumpstart’s Read for the Record 2008.

Presented in partnership with sponsor and founding partner Pearson, Jumpstart’s Read for the Record is a celebration of reading and community service created to raise awareness about how important reading with young children is to developing crucial early language and literacy skills for success in school and in life. This year’s campaign donated more than 275,000 books and raised more than $1.4 million to support Jumpstart’s year-long work with preschool children. Donations are still being accepted at www.readfortherecord.org/donate.

Congress officially declared October 8, 2009 as Jumpstart’s Read for the Record Day and celebrities, governors, first ladies, members of Congress, mayors, and business, philanthropic and community leaders joined the campaign in major cities including Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C.

The record-breaking day’s events kicked off on NBC’s TODAY Show with hosts Matt Lauer and Meredith Vieira, Jumpstart President James Cleveland, and Bill Barke, Jumpstart Board Member and CEO, Pearson’s Higher Ed Arts & Sciences Group, as well as celebrity readers including campaign spokesperson Mary-Louise Parker, Tiki Barber, Justin Bieber, Jenna Bush Hager, Giada de Laurentiis, Sonia Manzano, Madison Pettis, Jennifer Stone, Vince Vaughn and The Very Hungry Caterpillar author Eric Carle.

In Los Angeles 100 children were joined by Lo Bosworth of MTV’s The Hills, Actor Henry Winkler, Emily Osment of Disney’s Hannah Montana, and Bill Nye the Science Guy to read. Others at the event included Beth Wray, President, Pearson Learning Teams and Superintendent Dr. Darline Robles, LA County Office of Education.

Look To The Stars attended a special reading in New York by Nelly Furtado. We were also lucky enough to interview Lo Bosworth about her involvement with Jumpstart.

Jumpstart was founded in 1993 at Yale University at the intersection of two national trends: the public need for quality early childhood programs and the emerging national service movement recruiting thousands of college students to community service. During the first year of the program, 15 college students worked one-to-one with 15 preschoolers at New Haven Head Start.

Bruce Springsteen To Rock Autism Concert

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:00:00 -0000

Autism Speaks is proud to announce the next performance in their Concert for Autism series.

This year’s star-studded event will feature comedian Jerry Seinfeld, with a special appearance by “The Boss”, Bruce Springsteen. The evening will be hosted by NBC’s Meet the Press moderator, David Gregory, on November 17, at world famous landmark Carnegie Hall.

The event will benefit the families and individuals who live with autism every day by supporting research, awareness and family services initiatives

Jamie Foxx, Ellen DeGeneres, Tina Fey, Conan O'Brien, Seth Rogen, Martha Stewart, Katie Couric, Meredith Vieira, Glenn Close, Céline Dion, Will Ferrell, Edie Falco, Troy Aikman and Harry Smith are a few of the many committee members supporting this unprecedented, one-of-a-kind event. Serving as the evening’s honorary Co-Chairs are Sir Elton John, Senator Al Franken, Donald and Melania Trump, Ambassador Nassir Abdul Aziz al Nasser and Mrs. Muna Rihani Permanent Representative of the State of Qatar to the United Nations, and Ernie and Liezl Els.

Event sponsorships include entry to a VIP reception prior to the concert, and preferred seating in Carnegie Hall. For inquiries on sponsorships or individual tickets for the 2009 Concert for Autism, please contact us via e-mail at ConcertforAutism@AutismSpeaks.org.

Mary-Louise Parker Joins Read for the Record

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 13:13:00 -0000

Written by Myrlia Purcell

Mary-Louise Parker is joining in for Jumpstart's Read for the Record campaign.

Also pledged to take part is Lo Bosworth from MTV’s The Hills, who will be signing books at American Eagle Outfitters in Hollywood between 1-2 this afternoon, September 2nd.

Other celebrity readers expected at this year’s October 8th event include Laura Bush, Jesse McCartney and Greg Kinnear.

Both Bosworth and Parker have made PSA’s supporting the campaign encouraging people to sign up to pledge to read The Very Hungry Caterpillar to a child or children in their local communities.

This year’s official Campaign book is a limited edition of the classic The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle. The commemorative book includes a foreward with messages from Matt Lauer and Meredith Vieira of NBC’s TODAY Show , Mary-Louise Parker and LL Cool J. The special limited edition can be purchased online at www.readfortherecord.org/books.

Read for the Record is a program designed to share the joy of reading with young people around the world, and it helps to put books in the hands of low-income children. To find out how you can pledge to read, visit ReadForTheRecord.org, or to take part in Lo’s “Very Virtual Book Drive”, click here.

Lo Bosworth Shares a Caterpillar

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 14:57:00 -0000

Written by Myrlia Purcell

The Hills, Lo Bosworth is joining this year’s Read for the Record© campaign, taking place October 8, 2009, and you can join her Very Virtual Book Drive.

Jumpstart's Read for the Record was started in 2006 as an international campaign to bring preschool children together with valued grown-ups in their lives to read the same book, on the same day, in communities all over the world. Nearly 700,000 readers took part last year, sharing the magic of reading with children in classrooms, libraries and homes from Japan, Germany and Brazil to cities and rural communities across America.

Also taking part this year will be Matt Lauer, Meredith Vieira, Mary-Louise Parker and Eric Carle on NBC’s TODAY show in Rockefeller Center.

Carle has signed a copy of his classic, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, which will go to one lucky person who pledges to join the campaign.

To pledge, visit the Jumpstart website. Be sure to return to the website and submit your information after you read to help break the world record attempt!

For those who want to do more, there are plenty of other options, from taking part in a community event, to sponsoring a child, a class or even an entire school through book donations on your behalf to children in low-income communities.

To get involved, or for more information, visit ReadfortheRecord.org.

Famous Faces Flock To Family Festival

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 12:30:00 -0000

A host of celebrities will gather at the annual Kids for Kids Family Carnival in New York in September to raise money for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.

For 15 years, Kids for Kids has brought families together to rally in support of the Foundation’s fight against pediatric AIDS. In celebration of the Foundation’s lifesaving work, plans are under way to make this year’s carnival unforgettable!

Kids for Kids has moved to a new time and place, and will feature new and exciting components, but you can still expect your favorite attractions from years past — samplings from New York’s greatest restaurants, world-class artists and photographers, celebrities, and both old-fashioned and cutting-edge games and activities. Stars already confirmed to attend include Natalie Portman, Whoopi Goldberg, Helena Christensen, James Gandolfini, Heidi Klum, Rachael Ray, Julianne Moore, Petra Nemcova, Susan Sarandon, Meredith Vieira, and many more.

And that’s not all! The evening before the carnival, the Foundation will host a very special art auction featuring pieces by acclaimed artists Cecily Brown, Jeff Koons, Richard Prince, and Tom Friedman.

The event takes place on Saturday, September 20, from 1pm to 5pm at the Park Avenue Armory in New York City. More information and tickets can be obtained from www.pedaids.org.

Look To The Stars News: Meredith Vieira

Vote For This Year's Read For The Record Charity Campaign Book

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