'Reading Rainbow' Breaks Kickstarter Record For Most Backers ($5.1 mil donations)
Reading Rainbow's Kickstarter campaign has the most backers ever for the online crowdfunding site.
The campaign to create a Web version of the popular children's television show reached more than 91,600 backers Monday, surpassing the previous record of 91,585 backers to make a movie out of the Veronica Mars TV show.
As of Wednesday morning, the Reading Rainbow campaign had more than 102,000 backers and had raised $5.1 million. People have until 3 p.m. ET Wednesday to donate.
The original goal was to raise $1 million on Kickstarter, which was reached in less than one day.
Last week, comedian and Family Guy creator Seth McFarlane said he would match up to $1 million in pledges over the $4 million mark.
Reading Rainbow host LeVar Burton said every child has the right to be literate.
"We have a responsibility to prepare our children … and right now, the numbers show that we, as a society, are failing in that responsibility," Burton said in a statement on the campaign's website.
The show aired on PBS from 1983 to 2006. The Kickstarter campaign allows Reading Rainbow to build a new version of the mobile app launched in 2012, making it available on the Web with new content added every Friday.
The Web version will provide materials for teachers and make it available for free to classrooms in need in the United States and Canada. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2014/07/02/reading-rainbow-kickstarter-record-backers/11994919/
