United Through Reading Announces Dollar General Literacy Foundation as the Mission Read sponsor of its Operation Storytime Campaign

August 29, 2023

August 28, 2023, San Diego, CA – United Through Reading is honored to announce the Dollar General Literacy Foundation (DGLF) will serve as the Mission Read sponsor as part of their Operation Storytime Campaign.

Mission Read makes sure that military children and their families are reading together every day. Every year United Through Reading distributes books around the world through our App, recording sites, and events. These new books are read alongside the storytime recordings to grow children’s literacy skills and love of reading.

“We’re proud to partner with United Through Reading on Operation Storytime and continue supporting military children’s literacy and education with Mission Read. Each new book given to military children helps enhance critical thinking and reading skills, cultivate imagination, and grow a love of learning and reading,” said Denine Torr, executive director of the Dollar General Literacy Foundation.

Since 2018, the DGLF has served as United Through Reading’s Books for Ownership Sponsor. Their partnership alone has supported nearly 150,000 books being sent to military families over the last five years. With the Foundation’s support of Mission Read, United Through Reading will continue to grow the number of books in military families’ homes.

“We’re so grateful for our longstanding partnership with the Dollar General Literacy Foundation, a global leader in literacy education. They share our commitment to ensuring military families receive new books to read along with their storytime recordings from their service member, enriching and supporting their literacy development while staying connected no matter the distance,” said Tim Farrell, United Through Reading’s CEO.

Celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2023, the DGLF was created by Dollar General’s former CEO, Cal Turner, Jr. in honor of his grandfather and DG co-founder, J.L. Turner, who was functionally illiterate. With the belief everyone deserves an equal opportunity to receive a basic education, the Foundation awards grants each year to non-profit organizations, schools, and libraries within a 15-mile radius of a Dollar General store or distribution center to support adult, family, summer, and youth literacy programs. Since its inception in 1993, the DGLF has awarded more than $238 million to support nearly 19.6 million individuals to improve their lives through literacy and education. More information is available online at dgliteracy.org.

Operation Storytime is United Through Reading’s three-year campaign to connect #TheNextMillion military family members through shared storytime. Learn more at operationstorytime.org.