Jennifer Garner and Amy Adams enlist celebrities to read children's books to kids stuck at home

As schools shutter their doors indefinitely due to the global coronavirus pandemic, children are forced adjust to learning at home and some kids may now become food insecure. A group of celebrities is hoping to ease both of these challenges for children across the U.S.

Actresses Jennifer Garner and Amy Adams have teamed up with Save the Children and No Kid Hungry, two organizations that work to ensure children around the world have the resources and food they need to grow up healthy. 

In a video taped from their respective homes, Garner and Adams explain their #SaveWithStories mission. "Thirty million children [in the United States] rely on school for food, and with school closures across the country, these children are extra vulnerable," Adams says in the Instagram video.

"We had an idea. We're going to read you books — and here's why," Garner chimes in. On the #SaveWithStories site, they say the idea is "to provide fun and education to kids and parents stuck at home during the coronavirus outbreak." They also enlisted their famous friends to live-stream themselves reading their favorite children's books, so kids at home can tune in and hear a tale. 

All they're asking for in return is a donation to Save the Children and No Kid Hungry — groups they say are working overtime to deliver meals to kids in need and have set up a fund to directly address the food shortage and educational needs during the coronavirus outbreak. 

So far, stars like Jimmy Fallon, Camila Cabello, Reese Witherspoon, Beanie Feldstein, and Senator Kamala Harris have read children's books online for kids stuck at home. 

Ellen DeGeneres also joined in, reading her own design book, "because you're never too young to start reading about design," she joked in her video. 

Some of the videos have gained hundreds of thousands of views, and multiple story-times are shared on the #SaveWithStories Instagram each day.

Other stars are doing similar live-streams to entertain kids stuck at home. Josh Gad, who voices Olaf in "Frozen," has started the "Gad Book Club" and will read books on a Twitter live-stream daily. 

Many singers are streaming at-home concerts, and there are a growing number of online resources that parents can utilize during challenging isolation days. Google Arts & Culture provides virtual museum tours, Scholastic is offering free day-by-day projects to keep kids' minds active at home, and the Kennedy Center is also posting daily "Lunch Doodle" videos hosted by beloved children's book author Mo Willems.

In:
• COVID-19
• Amy Adams