Donations Keep Coming

by Bridget Kinsella and Calvin Reid -- Publishers Weekly, 1/17/2005

Publishers around the country continue to offer support and donations to the victims of the Southeast Asia tsunami.

Scholastic CEO Richard Robinson announced plans to donate about $5 million worth of books and educational materials to children in the area. And Scholastic has also entered into a partnership with UNICEF to support a long-term effort to rebuild schools in the region.

Besides using its message boards to help locate missing persons, Australia-based travel house Lonely Planet has donated more than $800,000 to a variety of Australian and international relief organizations. Todd Sotkiewicz, president of Lonely Planet USA, told PW that the company's commitment to support the relief efforts will be long term.

Another Bay Area publisher, Chronicle Books, has organized Publishers Care, which encourages publishers and their employees to donate to the emergency assistance agencies of their choice. The program has attracted about a dozen publishers in the region, among them New World Library, Avalon, Amber-Allen and Last Gasp. Chronicle Books president Jack Jensen said that Chronicle is matching $2 for every $1 its employees donate, while Avalon Publishing president Susan Reich told PW the house is making donations to Doctors Without Borders.