On March 2, 2023, Read Across America Day,volunteers from Columbia Threadneedle Investments' Boston office assembled 450 braille copies of the children's book Paddington, in partnership with Boston-based National Braille Press
BOSTON, March 6, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- On March 2, 2023, Read Across America Day,volunteers from Columbia Threadneedle Investments' Boston office assembled 450 braille copies of the children's book Paddington, in partnership with Boston-based National Braille Press (NBP). Read Across America Day is an annual event established by the National Education Association in 1998 to help kids get excited about reading.
The braille copies of Paddington by Michael Bond and illustrated by R. W. Alley, are part of the Children's Braille Book Club where every month, NBP editors choose a popular, classic or seasonably-appropriate children's book in print. Then, NBP production staff cuts the print books apart at the spine and inserts the identical text in braille on transparent plastic sheets, followed by rebounding the books in a print/braille format so that both blind and sighted members of a family can read together. The Columbia Threadneedle volunteers helped with the final step in the process, assembling the books for distribution.
"We truly appreciate the volunteers of Columbia Threadneedle who assembled these new braille books so that blind and low vision children and adults can read along with their sighted members of their families," said Brian Mac Donald, President, of National Braille Press. "We are able to subsidize children's braille books for blind readers so that they cost no more than retail print books, through volunteer efforts like Columbia Threadneedle which has been a longtime supporter of our organization."
About 30 Columbia Threadneedle volunteers assembled the 450 braille copies of Paddington in a room at their Fort Point Channel office. They assembled the books in approximately four hours.
''Columbia Threadneedle is proud to support National Braille Press and the great work that the organization does around the world to promote braille literacy for blind and low-vision individuals," said David Kennedy, Senior Portfolio Manager, Columbia Threadneedle and Trustee of National Braille Press. "Our volunteers did a great job assembling the braille children's books and we hope that their contribution will make an impact."
About National Braille Press
National Braille Press is a non-profit braille publisher and producer of braille products. NBP creates products and programs to support braille and tactile literacy in the blind community and to provide access to information that empower blind people to actively engage in work, family, and community. For more information visit http://www.nbp.org
About Columbia Threadneedle
Columbia Threadneedle Investments is a leading global asset manager that provides a broad range of investment strategies and solutions for individual, institutional and corporate clients around the world. With more than 2,500 people, including over 650 investment professionals based in North America, Europe and Asia, we manage $584 billion of assets across developed and emerging market equities, fixed income, asset allocation solutions and alternatives.1
Columbia Threadneedle Investments is the global asset management group of Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (NYSE: AMP). For more information, please visit columbiathreadneedleus.com. Follow us on Twitter.
Columbia Threadneedle Investments (Columbia Threadneedle) is the global brand name of the Columbia and Threadneedle group of companies.
1 As of December 31, 2022. Includes all assets managed in the Columbia and Threadneedle group of companies.
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Media Contact
Ann Murphy, National Braille Press, 1 6175154060, [email protected]
SOURCE National Braille Press
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