The Erik Jones Foundation, AdventHealth Partner to Donate Book Vending Machine to Local-Area Elementary School

Erik Jones has always had a penchant for reading. His mother, Carol Jones recalls that the driver of the No. 43 LEGACY MOTOR CLUB Toyota Camry XSE began reading by himself full-fledged in the first grade. While his schedule is very busy these days, Jones is still an avid reader, as he recently polished off reading 'The Rough Riders' by Teddy Rosevelt.

A strong love of books is why Jones chose reading to be a key pillar of his Erik Jones Foundation.

"I wanted to find a way to connect [reading] with NASCAR," Jones said in an interview with Racing America. "Never really knew the path. Then, a few years ago, [I] started reading kid's books and trying to get kids interested in reading. And it was something that fans would come up and tell me they enjoyed and liked being able to have their kids watch it. And I was like, 'Well, this may be a way to do it.'"

"It was a natural transition from there moving into the foundation," Jones explained.

On Thursday, Jones visited Blue Lake Elementary School in DeLand, FL, which is roughly 25 minutes away from Daytona International Speedway. He brought his dog Oscar and some books -- as it turned out, he brought a lot of books.

Jones sat inside the school's library and read a book aloud to the children in attendance with an assist from legendary NASCAR crew chief Larry McReynolds, who was in charge of showing off the illustrations in the book. After the story was done, the adventure was just beginning. Jones revealed to the audience that he had a surprise hidden underneath an AdventHealth-branded drop cloth.

As AdventHealth's Erik Lunde joined Jones at center stage, the two men grasped the cloth and pulled. It felt like a real-life magic trick was taking place as a vending machine containing books was revealed to a loud clamor from the children.

The vending machine, which was produced by Global Vending Group, accepts special tokens, which the children will earn through school attendance. When a student earns a token, they get to use that token to choose a book from the vending machine for free.

Jason Blumberg of Global Vending Group says the company has produced more than 8,000 of the book vending machines to date.

"It's neat. It's something we started last year [when] we learned about these vending machines," Jones explained.

The book vending machine donated on Thursday marks the third one that the Erik Jones Foundation has given away to schools so far. Last year, Jones' foundation donated one to the elementary school that he attended as a youth in Michigan and an additional one to an Atlanta-area school.

AdventHealth, which joined Jones as a primary sponsor for the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season, instantly fell in love with Jones' reading initiative and immediately stepped up to help donate the vending machine in DeLand.

"It's awesome. We're really excited to be able to partner with Erik Jones and his foundation," Lunde said. "We give back to the community as a not-for-profit, AdventHealth really wants to be involved in the community in all that we do. We live here, we work here. When we realized that Erik was going to be here, and his passion for reading, it really aligned closely with what we're doing to partner with a local school district. To help kids enjoy school, but also to try to work together to eliminate and reduce that chronic absenteeism."

Jones taking time out of his day on a Thursday morning to read to children impacted a community of families in DeLand, Florida.

"It is beyond words how exciting it is especially to see students, to see Erik Jones, his dog Oscar came as well, to really promote literacy. Promoting reading is so important to our schools and the love for reading, it opens up a whole world of opportunities for our students. We are honored to have Erik here," Dr. Julio Nazario-Valle, Chief Academic Officer for Volusia County Schools said.

Jones now sets his sights on winning the Daytona 500, NASCAR's biggest race, and the race with the biggest purse of them all. A win in that race would go a long way toward acquiring more book vending machines.

"Yeah, it would definitely be a good step in making some more vending machines happen, for sure," Jones said. "I think everybody would like to kick it off with a bang. It's good for everybody. It's good for the team, it's good for the driver, it's good for everyone involved. We'd love to kick it off and get some more vending machines donated."

Photo Credit: Toby Christie, Racing America