WYOMISSING, Pa., Jan. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Sovereign Bank, in partnership
with Reach Out and Read, announced today that 32,850 children's books were
collected during the bank's sixth annual holiday book drive, which was held
during the month of December at hundreds of locations throughout Sovereign's
footprint.
Reach Out and Read is a national, non-profit organization that promotes
early literacy by making books a routine part of pediatric care.
"We definitely hit a high note for children's literacy by teaming up with
Reach Out and Read for this year's drive," said Jay S. Sidhu, chairman and
chief executive officer of Sovereign Bank. "It's heartwarming to see how our
customers, Sovereign team members and the community at large displayed their
support by contributing thousands of books."
The new and gently used books that were collected during December are
being distributed to local Reach Out and Read programs located in a wide
variety of medical settings where pediatric primary care is provided.
"We are most grateful to Sovereign and their customers who have provided
the books that will soon find new homes with our patients," said Dr. Perri
Klass, Reach Out and Read medical director. "Our programs are delighted to
have the additional books to share with their families."
The Reach Out and Read program model is based on research showing a strong
connection between the frequency of sharing books with babies, toddlers and
young children and enhanced language development. Reach Out and Read trains
doctors and nurses to give new books to children at each checkup between 6
months to 5 years of age and to provide developmentally appropriate advice to
parents about reading aloud with their child.
For more information on literacy-related milestones, the book-related
skills that can be expected of children at certain ages, visit:
http://reachoutandread.org/downloads/RORmilestones_English.pdf
About Sovereign Bank
Sovereign Bancorp, Inc., ("Sovereign") (NYSE: SOV), is the parent company
of Sovereign Bank, a $64 billion financial institution headquartered in
Wyomissing, Pa., with more than 650 community banking offices, over 1,000 ATMs
and approximately 10,000 team members with principal markets in the Northeast
United States. Sovereign offers a broad array of financial services and
products including retail banking, business and corporate banking, cash
management, capital markets, trust and wealth management and insurance.
Sovereign is the 18th largest banking institution in the United States. For
more information on Sovereign Bank, visit http://www.sovereignbank.com or call
1-877-SOV-BANK.
About Reach Out and Read
Reach Out and Read is a national, non-profit program that is working to
make literacy promotion a standard part of pediatric primary care. Reach Out
and Read trains medical providers to advise parents about the importance of
reading aloud and to give books to children at check-ups from 6 months to 5
years, with a special emphasis on children growing up in poverty. Reach Out
and Read has one of the strongest records of research support of any primary
care intervention. Peer-reviewed studies indicate that parents who get books
and literacy counseling from their doctors and nurses are more likely to read
to their young children, read to them more often, and provide more books in
the home. Low-income children exposed to the program have shown improvements
in language development, a critical component of school readiness. Since l989
Reach Out and Read has trained more than 28,000 doctors and nurses who have
given advice and a new book at more than 15 million well-child visits. This
year Reach Out and Read will provide more than 3.4 million books to more than
2 million children, at more than 2,400 programs nationwide. For further
information please visit http://www.reachoutandread.org.
SOURCE Sovereign Bank
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Related links:
http://www.sovereignbank.com
http://www.reachoutandread.org
CONTACT:
Carl Brown Jr. of Sovereign Bank,
+1-610-378-6162, Cell, +1- 610-334-8637,
cbrown6@sovereignbank.com
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