25K Books Donated to Long Beach Schools

From a press release:

In recognition of National Make a Difference Day, nearly 200 Molina Healthcare employees volunteered to spend their Saturday sorting more than 25,000 reading books.

The brand-new books, donated by The Molina Foundation, will be distributed to 22 elementary, middle and high schools throughout Long Beach Unified School District.

Among the special attendees who participated in Saturday’s volunteer event included Mayor Edward Wilson from Signal Hill; Megan Kerr, school board member for LBUSD; Pete Davis, assistant superintendent for LBUSD and two LBUSD principals.

We want to extend special thanks to our partners at Signal Hill Elementary, Long Beach Unified School District and the hundreds of Molina Healthcare volunteers who joined us on this special day to give back to our community,” said Dr. Martha Molina Bernadett, President and Founder of The Molina Foundation. “We are looking forward to the positive impact tens of thousands of new children’s books will have on the lives of students in Long Beach.”

According to the 2013 CalFacts annual report, about one in two children in the public school system is from a low-income family. Concurrently, the programmatic funding per student has declined in the recent years, which means there is less allocation of spending for resources, such as books. Before the founder of Molina Healthcare, Dr. C. David Molina, entered the health care industry, both he and his wife, Mary, were elementary school teachers. The Molina family has a deep-rooted commitment to education, health and literacy in underserved communities – a commitment reinforced daily through the work of Molina Healthcare and The Molina Foundation.

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