Bess the Book Bus travels to Philadelphia for an event at the Wells Fargo Center with the mission to distribute 600 books to local children.
Bess the Book Bus made a stop at the Wells Fargo Center on Wednesday, August 7th and teamed up with The Tortorella Family Foundation, the Flyers, and hosted nearly 300 kids from Camden neighborhoods to emphasize the importance of health and literacy. The children took part in a ball hockey clinic with Head Coach John Tortorella, toured the Flyers locker room, and visited and received books from three different book buses on-site, one of them being Bess the Book Bus who's team traveled from Tampa, Florida to attend the event!
"Bess," as the bus is affectionately referred to, has been featured in People magazine, the Today Show, and countless news outlets over the world for their incredible mission to help raise awareness and the importance of children and early literacy.
Children receive free books at the Philidelphia, PA event coordinated by The Flyers.
The event also included healthy lunches provided by Wegmans, Flyers swag bags, music, storytelling, crafting, an appearance from Gritty, the Flyer's lovable, albeit goofy mascot! Excited children of all ages were afforded the opportunity to choose several books that were free to them, as they begin to wind down their summer vacation and start preparing for their first day of school.
Coinciding with one of Bess' first events since unveiling their new logo and book bus design, the newly wrapped book bus is a gorgeous traveling mural, featuring a central mascot (or "mousecat" as the team likes to say!) "Once" is a smart and curious mouse who is also an avid reader and sports big, round glasses. Traveling to far-away places through stories and the power of imagination, Once is also a main character on Bess The Book Bus' newly updated website.
Delivering the magic of reading to children and communities, Jennifer E. Frances, Bess’ Founder stated, “Wednesday was an amazing first day of the Bess the Book Bus Fall tour! I am overwhelmed with gratitude and in awe of the power of community coming together to bring joy. Students from Camden, Lindenwold and Winslow, NJ joined us at the Wells Fargo Center for a day of free books, reading, art, health, and hockey. Thank you to Flyers Charities, the Philadelphia Flyers, Townsend Press, The Tortorella Foundation, CAMcare Health Corporation, The Free Books Project, Tree House Books, Wegmans, Townsend Press, and First Book for coming together to celebrate community and emphasize the importance of health and literacy. The children and educators were so excited to take part in a ball hockey clinic with Head Coach John Tortorella, tour the Flyers locker room, meet author Christine Tortorella, learn about healthy living from CamCare Health, visit and receive books from three different book buses on-site and eat a delicious picnic lunch from Wegmans.”
The event really showcased what community means. Michelle Box, Associate Director at Bess added, “We are so grateful to work with our partners to bring hockey, food, health tips, and books to these amazing kids! Huge thank you to all of the participants for these essential partnerships, friendship, and support. We love the Camden, NJ community and cannot wait to do this again. Together we can do great things!”
Maggie Osborn, Vice President of Network Engagement Partnerships at First Book was thrilled with the outcome of this event, stating, “First Book was proud to partner with Bess the Book Bus yesterday to bring books, hockey and lots of love from the community to beautiful kids from Camden who all left with books of their choosing. A community of folks came together to give them what should be available to every child. The community-based programs and partners, together with the city and corporate leadership will continue to bridge the equity gap and remove the barriers so all children thrive in Philadelphia and Camden. It was a joy to be part of this great back to school bash. We’ll see you again next year in the arena!”
The team encourages everyone to visit their new website at: https://bessthebookbus.org and join them on their social media sites at: https://www.facebook.com/bessthebookbus and https://www.instagram.com/bessthebookbus/
If you want to contribute to Bess the Book Bus’ extraordinary mission of, “Delivering the magic of reading to children and communities,” you can make a financial contribution at: https://bessthebookbus.org/donate
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