NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - Around $30,000 in donations literally sent a nonprofit 'over the edge' on Saturday, in an effort to provide books for local children.
Through five years, The DeGood Foundation has partnered with Dolly Parton's Imagination Library to donate a reported 125,000 books to children on the Peninsulas and in Isle of Wight County.
“Children get a free, high-quality, age-appropriate book in the mail every single month from the time they’re born until they start kindergarten at age 5," said Kyle DeGood, the organization's founder. “65 percent of children in Hampton Roads, especially in low-income communities, do not have access to books or do not have an age-appropriate book in the home.”
DeGood says by children age out of the program, they have a library of dozens of books. They're free for the families, but the foundation pays for them in part with funds from the state of Virginia and from donations.
He tells News 3 that right now, he's working with more than 5,000 local families, but would like to increase his organization's giving. That's where his unique fundraiser came in.
The DeGood Foundation partnered with Over the Edge, a company that helps people rappel down the sides of buildings, to reward donors at the Marriott at City Center in Newport News.
30 donors, who each raised more than $1,000, got equipped and rappelled 11 stories and 150 feet down to the ground below.
“Everybody does a 5k, everybody does a gala, everybody does some sort of drive, so we had to do something a little bit different, or very different in this case, to either get that attention or just get people really excited about getting free books for kids," said DeGood.
The sight got attention from passersby on the ground. Family and friends of the people rappelling also came out in support.
Newport News Mayor Phillip Jones and the city's police and fire chiefs did the daring descent on Friday.
“It was so much fun," said DeGood.
For more information about The DeGood Foundation and how to help its mission, click HERE.
