BEGIN:VCALENDAR PRODID;X-RICAL-TZSOURCE=TZINFO:-//com.denhaven2/NONSGML ri_cal gem//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN VERSION:2.0 BEGIN:VEVENT DESCRIPTION:LAKE COUNTY\, IL (06/13/12) &ndash\; Page it Forward is Lake County&rsquo\;s largest summer-long book drive\, spearheaded by United W ay of Lake County (UWLC). Last year\, the goal of the campaign was to co llect 100\,000 books for low-income children in Lake County through a su mmer-long book drive with a contemporary twist. UWLC ended up surpassing their goal and collected a record-breaking 154\,000 books.\nIn 2012\, P age it Forward 2.0 will be the second annual summer-long celebration of reading. The goal this summer is to collect 200\,000 books to be distrib uted to low-income children in Lake County. \;\nUnited Way of Lake C ounty&rsquo\;s kindergarten readiness assessment of incoming kindergartn ers&rsquo\; skills in Waukegan\, found that 76% of Waukegan 6 year olds had no knowledge of books. \; Furthermore\, research by the U.S. Dep artment of Education indicates that 61% of low-income homes have no age- appropriate reading material for children. Reading is the most important skill a child needs to learn\, but children can&rsquo\;t become profici ent readers without access to books.\nPage it Forward 2.0 will officiall y kick off for the year on Thursday\, June 21st\, in conjunction with Un ited Way Worldwide&rsquo\;s National Day of Action. \; Throughout th e day\, Trustmark (Lake Forest) and Aon Hewitt (Lincolnshire) will be ho sting corporate challenge collection sites for donated books. A third co rporate challenge collection site will be held on July 19th at United Co nveyor in Waukegan. \; The corporate challenge is open to all busine sses in Lake County. \; Businesses that sign up to participate are p rovided with toolkits that help them run their own book drives. The book s that each business collects are then dropped off to one of the three c orporate challenge sites. \; The three businesses that donate the mo st books will receive a custom Page it Forward traveling trophy\, braggi ng rights for the year and special recognition at UWLC&rsquo\;s Annual L eadership Breakfast in the fall.\nIn addition to two corporate challenge s on June 21st\, UWLC will be hosting a speed reading competition at Bar nes &\; Noble in Vernon Hills at 10am. \; Local community figures including George McCaskey of the Chicago Bears\, Haynes Johns of WXLC r adio and three other prominent figures in Lake County will be competing in front of an audience and a panel of judges to see who is the best spe ed reader in Lake County! \; The public is welcome to attend this ex citing promotional event.\nThroughout the summer\, there will also be se veral other community locations throughout Lake County that will be acce pting donations for Page it Forward 2.0\, including First Midwest Bank l ocations\, Starbucks locations\, and local Farmer&rsquo\;s Markets and P ark Districts. \; The full list can be viewed at www.pageitforward.o rg. \; \;\nPage it Forward 2.0 is truly an old-fashioned book dr ive with a contemporary twist. \; In addition to the ambitious scale of the &ldquo\;on-site&rdquo\; book drives in the form of corporate cha llenges and community drop-off sites\, United Way of Lake County offers a set of cutting-edge social media options to make contributing toward t he goal of 200\,000 books through the Page it Forward 2.0 campaign acces sible\, exciting and meaningful to all. Whether it&rsquo\;s collecting d onations through custom Peer-to-Peer fundraising tools\, or texting the word PAGE to 85944 to donate $10 to childhood literacy\, or &ldquo\;liki ng&rdquo\; Page it Forward at www.facebook.com/pageitforward\, everyone in the community has an opportunity to support this important cause in t heir own\, unique way. \;\nPatch.com\, an online media source\, is a lso sponsoring Page it Forward 2.0 through social media efforts. Patch i s donating one book for every &ldquo\;Like&rdquo\; that the Page it Forw ard Facebook page receives. This provides all residents of Lake County w ith and easy effective way to contribute books to Page it Forward 2.0.\n Other Page it Forward 2.0 sponsors include 102.3 WXLC\, BMO Harris Banks and Waukegan Tire.\n&ldquo\;We are very excited to kick off Page it For ward 2.0 in Lake County\,&rdquo\; said Kristi Long\, President and CEO o f the United Way of Lake County. &ldquo\;United Way of Lake County is co nfident that we can meet our goal of collecting 200\,000 books with the help of residents and businesses in our community\, which will mean that over 33\,000 low-income children will have books to call their own.&rdq uo\;\nFor more information\, including volunteer opportunities\, downloa dable materials and the latest updates\, visit www.pageitforward.org.&nb sp\; \; \; \;\nAbout United Way of Lake County: United Way o f Lake County (UWLC) is preparing our children to succeed in a changing world by focusing on education and building safe and stable families. Wo rking with nonprofit agencies and community partners\, we have identifie d four key programs to prepare children to succeed: Success By 6 Program &ndash\; prepare for kindergarten\; Reading Success Program &ndash\; re ad at grade level\; Stay in School Program &ndash\; graduate high school \; Safe and Stable Families Program &ndash\; empowering families. UWLC i s overcoming reading and educational barriers by reaching children\, fro m preschool through high school\, through these key programs. \; The overall effect and benefits are multiplied by the strong collaboration with agencies and our community partners. URL:http://lakeforest.patch.com/events/page-it-forward-20-corporate-chall enge-book-drive SUMMARY:Page it Forward 2.0: Corporate Challenge Book Drive! LOCATION:400 N Field Dr\, Lake Forest\, IL 60045: 400 N Field Dr\, Lake F orest\, IL END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR