AdventHealth not only sponsors Erik Jones’ NACAR Cup Series racecar, Jones and the hospital group also form a perfect partnership.
The first pillar of the Erik Jones Foundation is igniting children’s passion for reading (the others are encouraging early cancer detection and care and promoting animal welfare). Jones has partnered with his sponsor in providing Inchy’s Bookworm Book Vending Machines to elementary schools.
Jones and AdventHealth joined forces again on Friday, Aug. 22, at Rymfire Elementary School in Palm Coast where they unveiled a new book vending machine in the cafeteria.
Jones was in the Daytona Beach area to race in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, Aug. 23.
At two consecutive assemblies at Rymfire, Jones sat in a chair on stage and read “Goodnight Racetrack.” He then took some questions from students.
His favorite book when he was a kid? “Dragons Love Tacos.”
His favorite racetrack? Daytona is pretty fun, Jones said, but Darlington (South Carolina) is his favorite. Those happen to be the two tracks where he’s won his three races. He won the 2018 Coke Zero Sugar 400, and he’s won two races at Darlington.
A boy asked, “Why do you do all this for us?”
“I’ve loved to read since I was your age,” Jones answered. “I still love to read.”
Then it was time to reveal what was behind a black curtain against a wall in the cafeteria. Jones and Yuri Pashchuk, the associate chief of nursing at AdventHealth Palm Coast Parkway, drew the curtain to reveal a vending machine filled with books.
“You put a token in the slot, choose a book and you take it home. You get to keep it,” Jones explained.
Students will receive tokens as rewards in the school’s Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports program and use them to get a free book. AdventHealth will keep the vending machine stocked with books from Flagler School’s approved list, said Debi McNabb, AdventHealth’s director of Community Advocacy in the East Florida Division.
“Reading levels for children in Flagler and Volusia are lower than statewide,” McNabb said. “They’re improving, and this is one of the activities to help.”
Rymfire becomes Flagler Schools’ third elementary school to have a book vending machine.
Bunnell and Belle Terre elementary schools have had book vending machines for the past couple of years, donated by other groups, Flagler Schools Superintendent LaShakia Moore said, adding, “I’m sure this one won’t be the last one donated by AdventHealth.”
Rymfire was a natural choice for the AdventHealth/Erik Jones Foundation donation. AdventHealth supports Rymfire’s medical science program of study, providing all the equipment in the school’s medical lab. The program’s end-of-the-year field trip is a visit to the AdventHealth Palm Coast sim lab.
AdventHealth also sponsors the Allied Health Assisting career education programs at Flagler Palm Coast and Matanzas high schools, provides full-time athletic trainers to the two high schools and provides the district with mental health services.
“They’ve gone above and beyond,” Moore said. “We could not provide the Allied Health programs without AdventHealth.”
Jones said this was the ninth or 10th book vending machine his foundation helped to provide to schools in proximity to NASCAR racetracks.
Jones’ interest in children’s literacy began during the pandemic when he began to do virtual book readings as a way to stay connected with fans.
“They caught on,” he said of the readings. “Then I found out about the vending machines through my foundation.”
He said he likes to read biographies. He prefers paper to e-books. He likes having a book in his hand, he said. And he enjoys helping give the younger generation that opportunity too.