KNOXVILLE, TN – Mercy Health Partners is proud to partner with Scholastic Inc. in Scholastic Book Clubs ClassroomsCare initiative which brings 1 million books to children in need across the U.S. This year, Super Bowl MVPs Eli and Peyton Manning are joining in this effort to get the word out to kids in schools across America.

ClassroomsCare is an annual challenge to the one million classrooms that use Scholastic Book Clubs. Participating classes read 100 books, triggering a donation of books from Scholastic Book Clubs to Mercy Health Partners (and other charity and literacy organizations). The books are then donated throughout the year to kids in preschool to middle school who in many cases would not otherwise have books of their own.

Classrooms keep track of books read on posters and online, and then tell Scholastic when they’ve finished. Any books kids read in the classroom, with their parents or on their own count toward the goal. Teachers also can use lesson plans and activities available at http://classroomscare.scholastic.com to incorporate this program into their curriculum.

More than 1 million classrooms have participated in ClassroomsCare since its founding in 2001, helping Scholastic Book Clubs to donate more than 9 million books to kids.

“Mercy is delighted to be a part of this exciting initiative and we are particularly pleased to join with Peyton and Eli Manning in promoting the importance of reading throughout our community,” said Jerry Askew, Mercy Health Partners, Senior Vice President for External Relations.  “We believe this program has the potential to positively impact East Tennessee for generations to come.” 

Scholastic Book Clubs is a division of Scholastic (NASDAQ: SCHL), the global children’s publishing, education and media company.