Capstone Connect

Book People Unite!

This new PSA from Reading Is Fundamental has been making the rounds. It should—it's got a great message and your favorite storybook characters! Reading Is Fundamental is a nonprofit group that provides books to kids in need. You can take the pledge, too, to "declare your belief in the transformative power of books, especially for young minds." 

 

Have a great Monday!

Gillia Olson, Managing Editor

Capstone Offers $2,500 College Scholarships

Do you know a college student in Minnesota or Illinois?

We’re offering eight $2,500 scholarships to students in these states studying in any of the following areas:

• Elementary/Preschool Education
• English
• ESL/ELL
• Graphic Design
• Library Science

The deadline is quickly approaching – March 1 – so please help us spread the word!

You can review specific scholarship guidelines and download an application on our website.

2011: A Year of Giving

As we begin this new year, we reflect on our accomplishments of 2011. Capstone was fortunate to be able to provide financial support, educational materials, and volunteer time to many charitable organizations.  We feel blessed to work with such inspiring charities whose work makes a difference for those in need. Some highlights from 2011 include:

National Giving Examples

• In honor of Capstone’s 20th anniversary, the Mayors of Mankato and North Mankato, Minnesota, declared June 23 as “Capstone Day.” On this special day, Capstone donated over 5,000 books to Bess the Book Bus, a mobile literacy outreach dedicated to reading to children, promoting literacy, and getting books in to the homes of underprivileged children and families. Check out our video from “Capstone Day!”

 

• Capstone donated $5,000 to the Tony Hawk Foundation, an organization that builds public skateparks in low-income areas. The skateparks provide local, at-risk youth an opportunity to participate in a fun, safe, and healthy activity.

• The Capstone Community Scholarships Program provided $40,000 in college scholarships to assist students majoring in preschool education, elementary education, library science, English language learners, or design.

• Capstone also assisted the children of its employees who plan to continue their education in college or vocational school programs with $3,000 scholarships to full-time college students at accredited institutions.

International Giving Examples

• In December, Capstone gifted 50,000 books to Books for Africa, the largest shipper of donated text and library books to the African continent. Books for Africa’s mission is to end the book famine in Africa.

• In June, Capstone donated approximately 700 books to Libraries of Love, an organization who partners with Africans to create libraries in individual schools. The libraries serve as bridges to a better future for the children.

Local Giving Examples in Minnesota

• Capstone donated almost 25,000 books to the Greater Mankato Area United Way “Books for Kids” Program, which instills the joy of reading in children by providing free books and parenting resources to families who live or work in the Mankato area.  Children up to age five within a 30-mile radius of Mankato receive Capstone books every other month. 

• The Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation (SMIF) and Capstone partnered for the seventh year for the BookStart program to promote early childhood literacy. The goal of our partnership is to ensure every child has a book of his or her own at home to read or be read to by family members. In 2011 Capstone donated 5,000 books for the program!

• Capstone presented Baby’s Space with a $27,500 grant to support their curriculum and special monthly Family Nights, and committed book donations and employee volunteer time. Baby’s Space is a nonprofit organization serving as a community center and safe haven for low-income families in Minneapolis. The center is also home to Tatanka Academy, Minnesota’s first public, year-around pre-K-3rd grade school devoted to reaching children in poverty.

• Through our Employee Volunteer Program, 90 Capstone employees donated over 300 hours of volunteer time! The program encourages employees to participate in a variety of volunteer opportunities in their communities, such as serving meals, working at an animal shelter or food shelf, planting gardens, raking yards, etc.

In addition to these donations, Capstone is proud to be part of the Minnesota Keystone Program, which recognizes employers who give at least 5% of pretax dollars to the community. Over the last year, this program has allowed us to assist more than 250 organizations with financial and organizational support, through donations and employee volunteering.

Giving back to the communities we serve is one of our core values at Capstone. We're passionate about fostering this generous spirit and look forward to our philanthropic giving in 2012!

Lisa Hanson, Director of Corporate Giving

Fiction Friday: Baby's Space

Okay, this isn't really a Capstone Fiction-specific post, but I'm taking this opportunity to talk about a really cool event I attended yesterday: EPCON 2011, the Engaged Philanthropy Conference here in Minneapolis.

EPCON is hosted by Social Venture Partners Minnesota, an organization that helps companies invest in social change and social entrepreneurs—especially in the areas of early childhood development and education, things that Capstone and our parent company Coughlan Companies see as priorities. Coughlan Companies makes a point of donating a significant amount of money, books, and employee time to organizations and causes they and we feel strongly about, and our partnership with SVP brought us together with the East Side Learning Center, with whom we worked for two years, and now with Baby's Space.

Baby's Space is a nonprofit organization serving children and their families living in poverty in South Minneapolis, linking quality childcare and education with parent education and family services. They're doing very fundamental and important work for people who really need it. And at EPCON yesterday, Corporate Giving Director Lisa Hanson was able to present Dr. Terrie Rose, the founder and president of Baby's Space, with a check for our grant of $27,500.

We'll also be giving books to Baby's Space, and employees will give of their time and talents as well. In fact, our grant to Baby's Space sponsors an entire year of Baby's Space's Family Nights, monthly meetings where families come to read and have fun together, and Coughlan employees will be a huge part of making that happen. (Sidebar to Coughlan employees: If you're interested in volunteering, potentially as early as this summer, please let me or Liz G. know!)

I left EPCON feeling energized about our relationship with Baby's Space, with Social Venture Partners, and with the larger Minneapolis philanthropic community. There are some very cool, very important things being done here, and it is a pleasure and an honor to be part of that.

 

Beth Brezenoff
Managing Editor

Capstone Digital announces $2 million matching grant program

Capstone Digital announces a $2 million matching grant program to help improve literacy rates  and reading growth in schools districts in the US. The CARE (Capstone Assists Remarkable Educators) program will provide an opportunity to have all K-12 public, private, charter and parochial schools to apply for funds that will help to fund myON reader. 

The Capstone Digital’s CARE matching grant program will allow school districts to apply to purchase myON reader to provide students, teachers, librarians, administrator’s access to the largest online digital library with reading supports and will help monitor, track and forecast reading growth by student, grade, building and district. A minimum purchase of $4250, Capstone Digital will provide $4250 which will provide a school building a one year subscription of myON reader with one session of Professional Development.  

For more information on the CARE grant visit our website! All applications must be received by May 31, 2011 by 12:00 pm CST. (We will only accept online applications!) Winners will be announced on June 3, 2011!

ON the last day of #IRAOrlando, we want to thank the teachers of Eagles Nest Elementary School from Orange County Public Schools in Orlando for attending the conference and demonstrating myON reader! Thank you Eddie, Beth, Maria & Abby!

  

Another BIG THANK YOU to Leo H. and Lars B. for helping us demonstrate myON reader at IRA! The attendees loved having students present what they like to read on myON and helping them pick out books that their students would like!  They were a huge  hit with the attendees and were "Tripe A Awesome"...code phrase of the boys of the booth!

Seeking Applications for Innovative Reading Grant

Attention school librarians!

• Does your school have a unique reading program that’s impacting student learning?
• Could you use an extra $2,500 for your school library?

If you answered YES!, you should consider applying for our Innovative Reading Grant, which we sponsor through the American Association of School Librarians (AASL). The grant recognizes an innovative program which motivates and encourages kids to read, especially those who struggle with it. As you know, we at Capstone have a special place in our heart for all of those struggling readers.

Last year’s winning project was a collaborative effort between Myra Oleynik (librarian) and Nancy Hobbs and Kristen Sacco (3rd grade teachers) from Bower Hill Elementary School in Venetia, Pennslyviania. They developed PIE, a Personalized, Independent, Enrichment program for readers. In the program, teachers and librarians collaborate to help students select books from different generes, write about the books they’ve read, and then talk about the books within small groups.

The Innovative Reading Grant deadline is Feb. 7. So apply online soon! And Good Luck!

Making a Difference

Capstone Digital is excited about 2011 and we are making a difference! As we sit in our sales meeting learning about how books - both print and digital – will continue to make a difference in student lives,  now am able to truly reflect on exactly how books make a difference. 

Yesterday, a group from Capstone spent the day in a squatter village in Cancun to help give our time to an organization that is helping to provide a better living for a group of people that are less fortunate. The experience was priceless. Not only were able to put Capstone books in the hands of children that most likely do not own a book we fed over 150 kids under the age of 15 a wonderful meal prepared by a host of wonderful women.  I can't put into words what we experienced yesterday but hope these pictures will!  Enjoy!

Children came in all ages...

...even the youngest of readers received a book!

 

This group of boys were playing soccer and stopped to enjoy some books...

...even after we walked away!

And they came in groups!

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Year of Giving

As the New Year approaches, many will reflect on what they accomplished throughout the past year. At Capstone, we are no different. 2010 proved to be a year of giving as we were fortunate enough to be able to provide time, financial support, and educational materials to many wonderful charitable organizations. We feel lucky to work with such inspiring and energizing charities whose work is truly making a difference. 

A few highlights from 2010 include...

Local Giving in Minnesota:

• Greater Mankato Books for Kids program – Ensures children from birth through age 5 within a 30-mile radius of Mankato receive our books every other month. We gave more than 25,000 books in 2010.

• Southern Minnesota Initiative Fund BookStart program – Supports the goal that every child should have a book to read at home. In 2010 we donated 5,000 books to the program.

• East Side Learning Center in St. Paul – We have given more than $52,500 in financial support to this one-on-one reading tutoring program for kids in grades K-4 who are below level in reading. We also supplied a team of employee volunteers who tutor regularly .

National Giving:

• Bess the Book Bus – A mobile literacy outreach dedicated to reading to children, promoting literacy, and getting books in to the homes of underprivileged children and families. We gave more than 500 books to Bess in 2010.

• Community Scholarships – In 2010 we provided $40,000 in Community Scholarships which assist students majoring in preschool education, elementary education, library science, English language and literature, or design.

• Employee Volunteer Time program – Employees participate in a variety of volunteer opportunities in their communities, such as serving meals, working at the humane society or food shelf, planting gardens, raking yards, etc., while getting paid for their time. In 2010, 120 of our employees donated more than 400 hours of volunteer time!

International Giving: 

• Books for Africa – We presented our largest donation in company history, donating 300,000 books worth over 5 million dollars!

• Doctors for Orphans – We gave nearly 3,500 bilingual books to a new library in Mexico.

• Child Aid – In 2010 we donated 10,000 bilingual books to help stock 35 libraries in Guatemalan communities.

• Mission Haiti – We donated more than 100 books to provide learning materials to parts of the country in desperate need of the most basic educational resources.

In addition to these donations, we’re proud to be part of the Minnesota Keystone Program, which highlights employers who give at least 5% of pretax dollars to the community. Over the last year, this program has allowed us to assist more than 250 organizations with financial and organizational support, through donations and employee volunteering.

Giving back to the communities we serve is one of our core values at Capstone. We're passionate about fostering this generous spirit and look forward to our philanthropic giving in 2011!

Lisa Hanson, Director of Human Resources & Corporate Giving


Sharing Blog Love: Child Aid Blog
Each Thursday we’ll feature a blog we love. Today we feature the Child Aid blog which shares the latest news from the nonprofit plus countless success stories of their work in Guatemala helping children learn to read, training teachers, bringing books to children, and transforming community libraries.

New Year’s Resolution Anyone?

Lose 10 pounds,(ok maybe 20!), read more, exercise more, work more/less, spend more time with family/friends, study more, travel more, win the lottery, volunteer, save more, are any of these sounding vaguely familiar?

Each year we are deluged with these same resolutions discussed on the radio and television, in newspapers and magazines, but when do we say enough is enough! I propose we stop making silly resolutions (on average only 12% of resolutions stick) and instead pick one thing that will “MAKE A DIFFERENCE” in a person’s life for a minute, a day, a week or a lifetime!  It doesn't have to cost a thing but it might take time, energy and maybe some sweat but there is no greater gift than the gift of time!  

So last night at dinner I surprised my kids (14 & 16) by telling them of my "Make a Difference" plan. I initially was greeted with blank stares but they were fairly open to the idea and asked if they could think about some ideas in the next couple of days. I was very pleased until I realized that the movie started in 45 minutes...ok they think I must have fallen off the turnip truck! Teenagers!

The good news is that I have the opportunity to get a head start in Mexico next week! In conjunction with Capstone Digital’s Sales Meeting, a group of us will be volunteering at the Non-Profit Organization, Youth With A Mission. This organization is in the middle of constructing a Children's Home, building a facility that will house over 35 children from infancy to 16 years of age. We will be pouring cement, painting, and a host of other duties. Although I have never done this type of thing before I am extremely excited to “Make A Difference.” We will be sharing our experience in next week’s blog and on our Twitter feed(@CapstoneDig) so stay tuned!

Personalize your own plan to “Make a Difference in 2011!

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

Giving Thanks

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! At this time of year, we’re reminded to give thanks for all of our blessings and to give back to those in need. In that spirit, Capstone made a big announcement this week. We're donating 300,000 books (yes, that’s the correct number of zeroes) to Books for Africa, a nonprofit organization that ships donated books to Africa. Since its start in 1988, Books for Africa (BFA) has shipped more than 23 million books to 45 countries across Africa. Our $5 million book donation is the single largest donation Capstone has ever made and one of the largest donations BFA has ever received.

One of our previous donations to BFA made its way to Botswana a few months ago, where this little girl chose one of our Picture Window Books titles for her school.

 

We had a ceremony at our distribution center yesterday to see off all of the books which were loaded in a truck and brought from Mankato, Minn., to the BFA warehouse in St. Paul, where they will be sorted and packaged for the long journey ahead.

Here’s some photos from the day. Tom Warth, Founder of BFA (donning the bow-tie), Pat Plonski, Executive Director of BFA, and Bob Coughlan, Capstone Owner, were among the representatives in attendance.

 
KEYC TV, the local Fox TV affiliate, was also there. Here they are talking with Tom for the news story that ran last night.  

 

What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving? We'd love to hear your stories.

Sharing Blog Love: Rasco From RIF Blog  
Each Thursday we’ll feature a blog we love. Today’s blog love goes to the Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) blog. RIF is America’s oldest and largest nonprofit children’s and family literacy organization. Carol Rasco, President and CEO, blogs about all things literacy and reading related (news, book reviews, special events) and includes guest posts from authors and other bloggers. The RIF website is also a must visit. The Literacy Resources section has a cornucopia (sorry, I couldn’t resist, it is Thanksgiving after all) of activities, booklists, articles, and a special section for multicultural resources.