Arlington, Va. - The NCEA Convention and Exposition, April 26-28 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, will host Wally Amos, the “Amos” of Famous Amos cookies, as a featured speaker on Wednesday at 3 PM in Ballroom A. Amos will kickoff NCEA’s participation in an initiative called the “Read it LOUD” program. The Read it LOUD foundation (www.readitloud.org), which Amos and his wife Christine founded in 2005, urges parents to spend 10 minutes a day reading aloud to their children. NCEA will sign-on as a national partner during the convention.
NCEA’s goal is to get 1 million families from Catholic schools and parishes to sign-up for Read it LOUD before the official national kickoff in September. The national goal is to have 5 million families join Read it LOUD.
Wally Amos is an entrepreneur and philanthropist with a special interest in children’s literacy. In 1975, long before there were food personalities like Emeril Lagasse, Paul Newman and Nigella Lawson, Amos came up with the idea that he could sell his cookies as an entertainment personality—a gourmet chocolate chip cookie. Borrowing $25,000 from friends, Amos opened the first freestanding store, on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California. The Famous Amos Chocolate Chip Cookie store sold only cookies – and they sold like hotcakes. Soon the entrepreneur became a national personality renowned not only for his cookies but for his ebullient and outgoing persona as well.
In 1985, the company changed hands and it is now owned by the Kellogg Company. Amos eventually returned to baked goods through Uncle Wally’s Muffin Company.
Amos always wanted to use his wide recognition as a means to draw attention to an important cause—literacy. He served as the national spokesperson for Literacy Volunteers of America from 1979 to 2002. Read it LOUD recently partnered with the Library of Congress and the United States Postal Service to launch a national campaign.
The NCEA, founded in 1904, is a professional membership organization that provides leadership, direction and service to fulfill the evangelizing, catechizing and teaching mission of the church. NCEA members include elementary schools, high schools, parish religious education programs and seminaries.
-end-
Back