Lulu Helps Provide Education for Fallen NYPD, NYFD Children

RALEIGH, N.C., Jan. 19, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The Silver Shield Foundation, 501 (c) 3 public charity, has a lofty goal: Provide college tuition, tutoring, and counseling services to as many families and children of fallen police officers and firefighters from the New York tri-state area (NY, NJ & CT) as possible. And as college applications continue to rise – up 28% at some schools in 2010 according to USA Today – the organization, founded by late Yankees franchise owner George Steinbrenner, is opening fundraising opportunities to the general public for the first time.

In search of a fundraising solution, Joe DeBono, a volunteer for the Silver Shield Foundation, and president of MBA Corps, turned to Lulu, the leader in open publishing. Working with the company, Silver Shield was able to create a full-color calendar of firehouse and K-9 unit dogs. The custom calendar left space for sponsoring companies' logos and buyers could even vote on which of their favorite dogs would appear in the calendar before it was published. In less than one week, over 25,000 people voted online.

"It was amazing to see so many people honoring the memory of these police officers and firefighters by helping to further their children's education," said DeBono. "Lulu made the project possible through its print on demand capability – there was no capital outlay required to launch and they provided a collaborative, literally, one-stop shop, where we could tweak our calendar as much as we needed to, which just made sense.  We are using Lulu for marketing distribution, order fulfillment and payment collection.  Lulu truly is the best turn-key solution for non-profits that are cash poor and content rich."

"Stories like this never get old," said Bob Young, Lulu's Founder and Chief Executive. "Lulu was started to help a new generation of authors and publishers profit by enabling them to bring their remarkable works to their customers more easily than ever before and I am constantly amazed to see how authors and organizations like Silver Shield use our services to better the world."

Lulu offers an array of products including photo books, mini books and calendars with customizable date cells that provide a range of unique fundraising possibilities. To learn more or get started, visit www.lulu.com/publish.

About Lulu: Lulu (www.lulu.com) is the leader in open publishing, empowering creators of all kinds — individuals, publishers, educators and enterprises — to publish and sell while enabling buyers to discover new knowledge. Powered by an Internet retail site, global distribution system and social content discovery engine, Lulu helps creators make and monetize content in a variety of formats, including physical books and eBooks. It connects them to buyers on Lulu.com and in third-party channels, including Amazon.com and Apple's iBookstore.

About Silver Shield Foundation: The Silver Shield Foundation is a non-profit organization that works to provide educational funds to the widows and children of police officers and firefighters killed in the line of duty. Since its founding in 1982, by late owner of the New York Yankees baseball franchise, George Steinbrenner, Silver Shield has committed to pay for over 900 college educations of widows and children who lost a parent or spouse from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.  

SOURCE Lulu