News

'Soar With Reading' initiative delivers book-vending kiosks to children

A recent study by airline JetBlue found that in the Anacostia neighborhood in Washington, D.C., there is only one age-appropriate book for every 830 children. The airline decided to remedy this situation by deploying book-vending kiosks.

August 27, 2015

A recent study by airline JetBlue found that in the Anacostia neighborhood in Washington, D.C., there is only one age-appropriate book for every 830 children. The airline decided to remedy this situation by deploying book-vending kiosks as part of a "Soar With Reading" initiative, according to a report by ABC News.

As part of this program, JetBlue installed three book-vending machines around the neighborhood that dispense the books for free. Since the beginning of the deployment in July, it has donated 16,000 books to the community.

"We're reading books that are in the vending machine, so now they can take that book home and read it over and over again … and it's just wonderful," Shelley Hudson, the Mathews Memorial Baptist Church's first lady, said in an interview with ABC News.

JetBlue plans to expand this operation to other neighborhoods soon, and hopes this experiment will inspire more local businesses to sell children's books.