Baskin-Robbins teams with DreamWorks for literacy promotion.

Baskin-Robbins and DreamWorks SKG partnered this month in support of First Book, a national non-profit organization that provides free, new books to children from low-income families. For every scoop served during its May 2 Free Scoop Night, Baskin-Robbins made a donation to First Book and DreamWorks agreed to match the Baskin-Robbins' donation. The two companies reported on May 16 that as a result of the promotion 500,000 books would be provided to the First Book program.

Behind the cooperation of DreamWorks with Baskin-Robbins is the fact that the frozen desert chain is a promotional partner for the DreamWorks computer-animated comedy Shrek, which opened this month. Joe Adney, director of marketing for Baskin-Robbins, noted that "Partnering with DreamWorks to help celebrate their release of Shrek has been a great opportunity to combine the fun of ice cream through our new Shrek flavors with an exciting new theatrical event. Now, this partnership is opening even more doors to support children's literacy, a cause that Baskin-Robbins has made an ongoing commitment to support. With the help of DreamWorks, we believe we'll reach our goal to supply up to a half million books to First Book through Free Scoop Night."

According to Jeffrey Katzenberg, one of the founding partners of DreamWorks, "Organizations like First Book give children the opportunity to discover the magic of reading so that fairy tales and all books will be open to them. That's why we're so excited about Baskin-Robbins' Free Scoop Night as a chance to educate children and their parents about the pleasure of reading, while enjoying some family fun with ice cream."

First Book is a national nonprofit organization with a single mission: to provide low-income children with their first new books. In neighborhoods across the country, First Book Local Advisory Boards unite leaders from all sectors of the community to provide books to children in literacy programs, shelters, housing project initiatives, after-school programs and other community-based efforts reaching children living below the poverty line. In 2000, First Book distributed over 4 million books to children in more than 290 communities around the country.

"We are very pleased that Baskin-Robbins and DreamWorks have made this terrific corporate commitment to literacy," said First Book President, Kyle Zimmer. "With this level of dedication, thousands of children across the country will be able to discover a passion for reading and learning that will last a lifetime."

DreamWorks SKG was formed in October, 1994, to produce live-action motion pictures; animated feature films; network, syndicated and cable television programming; home video entertainment; records; books; toys; and consumer products. Joining Katzenberg in the creation of the company were the film director Steven Spielberg and music producer David Geffen.