Seth MacFarlane is giving the Reading Rainbow fundraising effort a big boost, pledging up to $1 million to bring back the fan-favorite show.
The Family Guy creator said he will match up to $1 million in pledges through 3 pm on July 2.
The former host of Reading Rainbow , actor LeVar Burton, started the campaign last month with a goal of raising $1 million. It took less than a day to reach that point, and for the first three days raised close to $1 million each day.
Burton said he was thrilled with the results, and wants to bring Reading Rainbow to new audiences .
“ Reading Rainbow was never about teaching kids to read, it was about fostering a LOVE for the written word. And then slowly but surely, we began to get some traction in homes, and then the research we were doing began to show that among kids who were watching the program during the summer, their reading & comprehension skills were not just being maintained, they were improving, so we knew we were onto something.”
The campaign aims to make Reading Rainbow available to schools, including at no cost for 1,500 of the neediest classrooms.
With the contribution Seth MacFarlane made to Reading Rainbow , the programming will now be available to an additional 4,500 needy classrooms.
LeVar Burton said that all the contributions, both large and small, are key to the campaign’s success.
“The fact that so many people have become a part of this, and are donating $1, $5, $10 – this is, I believe, a response to the need for people to feel like they can make a difference,” he said after hitting the first $1 million goal. “It’s been interesting, because along this journey we have heard from many people in terms of our business model – do you think Reading Rainbow is still relevant? Yesterday proved beyond the shadow of a doubt the relevancy of Reading Rainbow’s mission. AND the importance of reading in this culture.”
With the $1 million pledge from Seth MacFarlane, the Reading Rainbow campaign will cross the $5 million point.