Bertucci’s Fundraiser for Operation Outreach-USA

Twenty years ago, Malcom Stamper had an idea that he wanted to get books into the hands of every needy child. It was a big vision, but then, he had served as the President of the Boeing Company, so a big picture was no deterrent. He set out to make it happen, and in doing so, co-founded Operation Outreach-USA with Judy Golden, then the Director of Education at the MSPCA.
“Our philosophy (at the MSPCA) was if children learn to be kind and compassionate to animals they will carry that relationship over to people,” says Golden. She explains that the co-founder of the organization, George Angell, published books, such as Black Beauty, to help promote his humane messages about animals. In fact, Angell had handed that book out in the late 1800s to every coach driver.
Golden’s partnership with Stamper, then, “was sort of a natural progression,” says Golden. “I was teaching humane education, and when Mr. Stamper came along and saw what we were doing in Massachusetts schools, he said, ‘Wouldn’t you like to reach every child in the United States with this message? I’ll publish books and you raise money. Together, we’re going to do this. That was in 1991, and from then until 1997, the program was offered through MSCPA’s education department,” says Golden. The nonprofit book publisher became its own entity in 1997, originally in Natick and eventually, in Golden’s town of residence, Holliston, right on Woodland Street.
“We publish all of the books in the program,” says Golden, who says the program is geared toward helping low income communities. Authors submit manuscripts, and the organization works with teachers on themes and diversity. Books are grouped by grade. One example is a second grade book about a character named Violet. It takes place on Galapagos Island, which lends itself to science and geography lessons.
“There are two groups of birds, red feet and blue feet,” says Golden. “They don’t get along, until two individuals from each of the groups gets together produce a chick with purple feet. Both groups of birds are aghast at this, until little Violet shows them she possesses the best qualities of both groups. It’s about how we treat one another and how we look at one another based on appearance,” she says. “There’s compassion, respect, responsibility and a lot of environmental protection aspects to the stories. It’s important we have these kind of messages in the books.”
The donation model has been based on corporate sponsorship. Companies can sponsor a classroom, with a donation of $300, a school with a donation of $1,000 or a whole school with a donation of $6,000. What the recipients get are two books for each child, books for the classroom, lesson plans for teachers and parent reading guides for helping children with skills at home.
Since it began, Operation Outreach-USA has distributed 2.4 million books to 1.2 million children in all 50 states. Mr. Stamper has long since passed away, and the nature of philanthropy has changed, and corporate sponsorship has leveled off.
So now, Operation Outreach-USA is shifting its focus back onto Massachusetts communities, and to community foundations and individuals for support. It still has support from some organizations such as Boston Scientific and the Parini Foundation, but it will hold fundraisers.
One such fundraiser, in fact, will take place on March 7, 2017. Bertucci’s in Holliston is offering to donate 15% of every order the presents a fundraiser coupon for Operation Outreach for that day. At press time, the group was planning on sending out coupons through the local schools as well as placing them at the Holliston Superette and Coffee Haven.
If you’d like to find out more about Operation Outreach-USA, visit www.oousa.org. Can’t make it to the Bertucci’s fundraiser on March 7th? You can support the organization through your online purchase with Amazon Smile and by shopping through GoodShop.