JESTER & PHARLEY PHUND

Our mission is to empower children facing serious challenges–both medical and educational–by sharing the universal message of hope and joy in the award-winning illustrated children's book The Jester Has Lost His Jingle, written and illustrated by David Saltzman before his death from cancer at 22. We are dedicated to helping ill and economically disadvantaged children through medical and literacy programs inspired by The Jester’s message: “It’s up to us to make a difference. It’s up to us to care.”© We envision all children-especially minority and low-income children-improving their lives with these programs. If inspired at an early age to enjoy reading and to understand the importance of being a contributing member of their community, children will lead more productive and responsible adult lives. Our unique literacy program gives children struggling with challenges in low-income areas the motivation and tools they need to read and succeed in later life. Programs and Services: The Jester & Pharley Phund was founded in 2000 in response to David Saltman’s acclaimed children’s book The Jester Has Lost His Jingle, with an Afterword by esteemed children’s book author-artist Maurice Sendak. The N.Y. Times best-selling book celebrates its 25th year in print in 2020. Our goals are to bring our Reading Makes A Difference literacy program to low-income elementary schools in the Los Angeles and Orange County areas to ignite a love for reading while boosting literacy, raising test scores, helping children develop empathy, improving teacher effectiveness with engaging supplemental materials and providing emotional support to young patients. The program motivates disadvantaged and minority children to become hooked on reading through inspiring assemblies and participation in a Read-A-Thon that results in the donation of Jester books and dolls to a medical center in their community. Our major accomplishments reside in the many success stories of the thousands of disadvantaged students participating in our program. David’s story has touched their hearts for over 18 years. Some 148,612 students at over 200 Los Angeles and Orange County schools have read more than 42 million pages in our program to give Jester books and dolls to hospitalized children in their community.