Colin Powell, Pearl Jam Help Seattle School Libraries

Staff -- School Library Journal, 9/1/1998

Colin Powell has been on the front lines of a campaign in Seattle to raise $500,000 for public school libraries. The retired general, an old army friend of schools superintendent John Stanford, appeared in a public service announcement encouraging contributions to the John Stanford Book Fund.

The fund was created by the Alliance for Education, a foundation supporting Seattle schools, as a way of honoring the widely popular superintendent, a longstanding library advocate who is battling leukemia.

The group met its goal in August, with one of the largest contributions coming from the Seattle-based rock group Pearl Jam, which donated $78,000. The Alliance plans to buy 50,000 new library books--a new book for every student.