Barbara Bush Foundation’s Honorary Chair Doro Bush Koch and board member Jeb Bush Jr. presented the award to Denine Torr, Dollar General’s senior director of community initiatives.
“Literacy is a gift that lasts a lifetime. It has the ability to uplift and open doorways to new opportunities,” said Denine Torr. “We are very humbled and honored to receive the ‘Champion for Literacy’ award. As we continue to search for innovative ways to increase access, eliminate barriers and serve more students, we look forward to working closely with the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy to create impact-driven solutions.”
The $7 million Barbara Bush Foundation Adult Literacy XPRIZE presented by Dollar General Literacy Foundation is a first-of-its-kind competition, challenging teams from around the world to develop mobile applications that result in the greatest increase in literacy skills among participating adult learners in just 12 months.
“We’re so grateful to the Dollar General Literacy Foundation for their leadership, their generosity and their dedication to changing lives through literacy,” said Doro Bush Koch. “They’ve supported our programs for nearly two decades, and as the lead donor of the Barbara Bush Foundation Adult Literacy XPRIZE, they’re now playing an integral role in our efforts to expand educational access to the millions of American families in need.”
The Dollar General Literacy Foundation celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2018 and has awarded more than $146 million to literacy initiatives, helping more than nine million individuals learn to read, receive their high school equivalency or learn English. Dollar General’s co-founder, J.L. Turner, was a farmer’s son who dropped out of school in the third grade when his father passed away unexpectedly. In 1993, the Foundation was established by his grandson in his honor to help adults and children nationwide gain the literacy and basic education skills they need to pursue their dreams.
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Denine Torr (front, center) is photographed with team members from the Barbara Bush
Foundation for Family Literacy. She accepts the Champion of Literacy award for the Dollar
General Literacy Foundation.