Domtar employees volunteer for reading program at Ashdown

Employee volunteers from Domtar's pulp and paper manufacturing mill in Ashdown, Ark., will visit Ashdown Elementary School from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. Tuesday to donate and read new books to the school's children as part of its partnership with the nonprofit First Book.

“As part of its ‘Powerful Pages' campaign, Domtar has partnered with First Book, a nonprofit social enterprise that provides books to children in need, since 2012 to provide more than half a million dollars in grants to schools and programs in towns that are home to Domtar facilities. Domtar's grants provide funding to educators to purchase books through the First Book Marketplace, a website available exclusively to First Book programs, and then the school's children are able to bring home the new books,” said Domtar Corporate Responsibility Manager Heather Alverson Stowe.

“We're proud to have provided hundreds of thousands of brand-new books to children from low-income families across North America in partnership with ‘First Book,'” Stowe said. “Domtar is committed to promoting literacy by putting books in the hands of children in need in the communities in which we operate—it's a cause that is close to our hearts and core to our business.”

“Access to books is transformational in the lives of our children and the educators who serve them,” said Kyle Zimmer, First Book president and CEO. “Domtar's work with First Book has opened up a world of opportunities to children who might not otherwise have books at home.”