LOS ANGELES — Southern California McDonald's restaurants joined forces with the National Center for Family Literacy to celebrate National Family Literacy Day on Nov. 1, 2007.
More than 12,000 age-appropriate children's books were distributed to families, courtesy of Scholastic Books, at select McDonald's restaurants.
Additionally, McDonald's hosted book readings by Sharon Darling, president of the National Center for Family Literacy, local dignitaries including California State Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas (D-Los Angeles) and Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster and Ronald McDonald.
McDonald's champions the issue of illiteracy because, according to a news release, four out of five third-grade children in California read below grade level, nearly two million adults in Los Angeles County lack sufficient reading skills, and a recent study concluded that children whose parents are functionally illiterate are twice as likely to be functionally illiterate themselves.
"The number of illiterate families in Southern California is astonishing," said Scott Frisbie, board member of the McDonald's Operators' Association of Southern California and McDonald's owner/operator. "McDonald's is committed, for the long haul, to breaking this cycle of generational illiteracy by giving our time, facilities and resources to provide families with additional learning opportunities."
McDonald's also hosts Family Mealtime Literacy Nights, which consists of five 90-minute weekly interactive sessions designed for preschool children and their parents. More than 1,200 parents and children have participated since the initiative started in 2006.
