On Sunday, September 11th, the Colts teamed up with "Books for Youth", title sponsor Cargo Services, Inc. and Indiana Department of Child Services to host a book drive prior to the Colts vs. Lions game. From 2:25 p.m. to 4:25 p.m., volunteers collected donations from Colts fans to benefit the "Books for Youth" program. Fans were encouraged to donate new or gently used books for children 18 and under. Donations were collected at the Colts Community Collection Stations, presented by Toyota, located outside each gate at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Fans who donated on Sunday received a limited edition bookmark featuring Colts center Ryan Kelly. Monetary donations were also accepted. In addition, one lucky book donor was chosen to take part in an on-field presentation during the game.
This year the collection brought in over 1,000 books and raised a Books for Youth total of $1,589 with $435 of that total coming from the TEXT TO GIVE initiative. Thank you to all those who gave at this year's "Books for Youth" Drive.
The "Books for Youth" program, which was started by the Indiana Department of Child Services and the Indianapolis Colts in 2006, provides Indiana foster youth with a backpack filled with 25 age-appropriate books. To date, more than 750,000 books have been collected and more than 7,000 backpacks have been distributed to children in foster care throughout the State of Indiana.
Colts fans also are invited to support "Books for Youth" through the "Buy One, Donate One" program. For each backpack purchased at the Colts Pro Shop, one is donated to the program and distributed to an Indiana foster child. Visit www.colts.com/booksforyouth for details or to purchase a backpack online.
The Colts Gameday Collections program will continue to run throughout the 2016 season with a different charitable collection held at each home game. A complete list of future collections is available at www.colts.com/collections.
About Books for Youth
The "Books for Youth" program was officially launched in 2006 through a partnership between the Indianapolis Colts and DCS with the goal of placing a backpack filled with 25 age-appropriate books in the hands of every Indiana foster child. The statewide initiative was created after Steve Pemberton, a former foster child, shared his story of personal triumph over situational tragedy crediting a gift from a stranger – a box of books – as his motivation to overcome challenges and provide hope for his future.
Books for Youth title sponsor Cargo Services Inc., one of the only Indiana-based owned and operated freight forwarding companies, has sponsored the program since 2008. At any given time, there are 12,000 children in Indiana's foster care system.
About Cargo Services, Inc.
Cargo Services global logistics team is considered one of the best in the business by its customers and professional partners throughout Indiana, the Midwest and the world. Company owners, managers and employees have more than 500 years of combined international transportation experience in all facets of freight-forwarding and customs brokerage services. The team uses its talents, knowledge and expertise to partner with clients representing manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, life sciences, plastics, animal feed, food, publishing and other business sectors to seamlessly move air, ocean and ground cargo. The team creates long-term customer relationships of trust through the company's "3-C culture": customer focused, creative solutions and community driven. For more information, visit www.cargos.com.
