LOS ANGELES, Feb. 16, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- City National Bank's Reading is The way up® nonprofit literacy program, in partnership with Barnes & Noble, has donated nearly 11,000 new books to schools in the Los Angeles, San Jose, San Francisco and San Diego areas in an effort to promote literacy and support the local community.
The donation marks an expansion of Los Angeles-based City National's literacy program from four schools in California last year to 12 schools in 2010. The bank is committed to helping and supporting the communities it serves.
The California donation is the result of a Holiday Book Drive at Barnes & Noble, the world's largest book seller, in partnership with Reading is The way up at City National. Customers at eight Barnes & Noble stores in California donated more than 4,800 books and City National donated the rest.
The City National and Barnes & Noble Holiday Book Drive ran from Dec. 1 through Jan. 1 and included 10 stores in California, Nevada and New York. A total of 6,300 books were donated nationwide by customers and City National Bank donated another $50,000 worth of books, for a total of more than 14,000 new books in three states.
"We are not only pleased, but committed to supporting community groups and schools in the areas that City National serves," said Carolyn Rodriguez, vice president at City National and head of Reading is The way up. "We believe there is nothing more important than instilling and encouraging the love of reading in a child."
"The Holiday Book Drive allows stores to partner with local organizations to get books into the hands of children who need them," said Jan Lindstrom Valerio, regional community relations manager with Barnes & Noble in Santa Monica. "Book sellers and customers love supporting the book drive, choosing their favorite children's books to spread the joy of reading. City National Bank has been a great business partner. Through the bank's literacy program, Reading is The way up, more people learned about the Holiday Book Drive, contributions increased and the bank's matching donations made a lot of children and schools very happy."
California schools that will receive books include: Synergy Charter Academy in Los Angeles, Pio Pico Elementary in Los Angeles, St. Brendan School in Los Angeles, Farr Avenue School in Escondido, Spring Valley Elementary School in San Francisco and Golden Hill Elementary School in San Diego.
"Synergy Academies is honored to be a recipient of the donated books from the joint-holiday book drive conducted by City National Bank and Barnes & Noble bookstores," said Jennifer Epps, principal of Synergy. "Since our schools are located in the heart of South Los Angeles, our students and their families do not have any nearby bookstores where they can purchase children's books for their homes. Therefore, the generous book donations from the Reading is The way up program will help our students develop a love of reading."
City National will present the books at several book donation events in Southern California.
- February 17 at 10:30 a.m., Synergy Charter Academy, 1010 E. 34th Street, Los Angeles California, 90011
- March 10 at 8 a.m., St. Brendan School. 238 S. Manhattan Place, Los Angeles, California 90004
For more information about Reading is The way up, visit www.readingisthewayup.org or send an e-mail to rwu@cnb.com.
About City National
City National Bank is the wholly owned subsidiary of City National Corporation (NYSE:CYN). It is backed by $21.1 billion in total assets, and provides banking, investment and trust services through 72 offices, including 16 full-service regional centers, in Southern California, the San Francisco Bay Area, Nevada and New York City. The company and its eight majority-owned investment affiliates manage or administer $55.1 billion in client investment assets, including more than $35 billion under direct management.
For more information about City National, visit the company's Website at cnb.com.
The City National Bank logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=3143
About Reading is The way up®
Seeking to better the education of our future leaders, City National in April 2002 launched a multi-faceted initiative to restock the state's school library system. Since then, the award-winning program has:
- Donated more than 55,000 books to California, New York and Nevada school libraries.
- Awarded nearly $300,000 to teachers at elementary, middle and high schools for creative literacy projects.
- Helped open 20 new elementary school libraries through its partnership with The Wonder of Reading in Los Angeles.
- Raised over $275,000 in charitable gifts from colleagues and clients through its Reading is The way up Fund.
The Reading is The way up Fund is a 501(c)(3) administered by the California Community Foundation, and serves as a funding resource to purchase books for school libraries in California. For more information, visit www.readingisthewayup.org.