“If you make your living in the community, you should give back to the community,” said Glenn Churchill, owner of the UPS Store in Auburn, describing his reason for supporting local charities.

And he's excited about his most recent project, the Toys for Tots year-round literacy initiative.

This is the first year of this program, a joint effort of the UPS Stores across the country and the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation. The Marine Toys for Tots Christmas drive is well known in many communities, so the foundation is reaching out to support literacy. The goal is to offer economically disadvantaged children opportunities to compete academically and to succeed in life by providing direct access to books and educational resources.

This month, the UPS Store will be selling $1 donation cards. These cards will provide one new book for a deserving child, thanks to the additional support of

Scholastic, Inc., a publisher and distributor of books for children and teenagers. The books will be distributed locally by EPIC, Every Person Influences Children. A coin jar is also set out for pocket change donations that will be added to the fund.

“The UPS Stores wanted to get involved year round,” Churchill explained, “and

the literacy program covers pre-kindergarten through high school. I wanted to be involved as much as I could, so I researched several programs. EPIC covers everything, including offering parenting training for parents. The key is to reach economically disadvantage children.“

In addition to the $1 book donation cards, Churchill has set up a book drive to collect age-appropriate books until Dec. 31. One hundred percent of the books collected will be given to children in Cayuga County.

Churchill is actively networking to find local partners who will work with him toward the success of the program. The Auburn Doubledays baseball team has pledged support during the playing season, although the details have not been finalized. Churchill's store prints all the tickets for the free community nights at Falcon Park at no charge, and each of these games gives out close to 10,000 tickets.

Carolyn Hirst-Loucks, assistant superintendent for instruction of the Auburn Enlarged City School District, is also considering getting the schools involved.

Churchill's ongoing support of the community is evident every Saturday when

he makes low-cost copy services available to all clubs, associations and organizations. Black and white copies are 3 cents each and color copies are 39 cents, with no limits. He said many of these groups are able to promote their groups and make copies of their information within their frequently limited budgets.

Donations may be made to the Toys for Tots Literacy Initiative by visiting

the store or by going online to www.toysfortotsliteracy.org and clicking on

“Donate.” Donations are zip code specific and will be directed to the area

designated by the donor.

If you go

What: The Toys for Tots

Literacy Program

When: Donation drive through March; book drive continues through Dec. 31

Where: The UPS Store, in the Metcalf Plaza, Suite 102, 144 Genesee St., Auburn

To donate online: Visit www.toysfortotsliteracy.org

For more: Contact Glenn Churchill at the UPS Store at 282-0622