May 1, 2009
Thanks to the continuing sales of Amherst philosophy professor Alexander George’s What Would Socrates Say? and its growing number of translations and international publications, total donations from the AskPhilosophers Fund, the charitable organization that disburses the proceeds of the book, reached the $50,000 mark on April 1. The fund, according to the AskPhilosophers.org Web site, donates its monies on a quarterly basis to various educational charities, particularly those that help to make education available to people who would not otherwise have access to it. Just a few of the organizations that have received AskPhilosophers funding include Reach Out and Read, which trains doctors and nurses to advise parents about the importance of reading aloud; the United Negro College Fund, the nation’s largest, oldest, most successful and most comprehensive minority higher education assistance organization; and the Hadley School for the Blind, which promotes independent living through lifelong, distance education programs for people who are blind or visually impaired their families and blindness service providers. A complete list of recipients can be found at the fund’s dedicated Web site.