Calhoun Lecture Series

Barbara Bush at the Brooks Theatre

Monday, January 24, 2000, 7:30 p.m.

Throughout her years in public life, Mrs. Bush volunteered in and supported hundreds of charity and humanitarian causes. Her number one focus, however, is family literacy. She believes, and so do the experts, that if more people could read, write, and comprehend, we would be that much closer to solving so many of the problems plaguing our society today. In 1989, she helped develop the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy whose mission is to support the development of family literacy programs; break the intergenerational cycle of illiteracy; and establish literacy as a value in every American family. Her involvement in the literacy cause does not end with her foundation. By visiting literacy programs across the country -- in schools, housing projects, organizations and businesses -- she witnesses, first hand, the powerful impact reading has on those who were previously illiterate. She regularly appeared on "Mrs. Bush's Story Time," a national radio program that stresses the importance of reading aloud to children. She also authored two books, C. Fred's Story and the best-selling Millie's Book, whose profits benefited the literacy cause.