Books And Stories For 1,780 Children

For the seventh year, Bertelsmann supported the nationwide reading day "Wir lesen vor" organized by the Stiftung Lesen and the weekly newspaper "Die Zeit." 53 Bertelsmann employees from the Corporate Center and the local Arvato companies visited kindergartens and schools in the Gütersloh region last Friday to read funny and suspenseful stories to children. In addition, Bertelsmann gave each of the almost 1,780 children in the institutions a book. Bertelsmann CEO Hartmut Ostrowski had encouraged employees in the group to support the reading day in Gütersloh: "Being read to is a wonderful thing, but it’s also wonderful for those who do the reading."

In addition, at the occasion of the nationwide reading day, eight schools participated in the first reading marathon in Gütersloh, a campaign sponsored by "Lesespaß Gütersloh," an initiative of Bertelsmann AG, Stiftung Lesen and the Goethe Institute,, the Gütersloh school libraries and the working group reading partners of the Gütersloh schools. Each of the participating schools organized one hour of reading time about a subject they selected; it began with a celebrity reading patron and was continued by the pupils. The nine-hour event was broadcast live on the Internet at www.lesespass-guetersloh.de, in various Gütersloh schools and central locations in the city.