LeVar Burton’s ‘Reading Rainbow’ Becomes Most-Successful Kickstarter In History

On Wednesday, LeVar Burton’s goal to bring Reading Rainbow back, became a reality. A reality that is now also the most-successful Kickstarter campaign of all-time.

With an original goal of $1M, the celebrity-backed Kickstarter crossed the finish line with just over $5.4M. Rewards ranged from a “thank you” tweet from @ReadingRainbow for $10 all the way to a visit to your local library by Burton or a private dinner with him and TNG co-star Brent Spiner and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to wear Burton’s Geordi La Forge visor for $10,000.

After the campaign hit its initial $1M goal, Family Guy creator and self-prfesed Star Trek fan Seth MacFarlane made a matching donation of $1M.

Other Star Trek-related rewards included meet-and-greets with William Shatner, Patrick Stewart, Kate Mulgrew, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, Michael Dorn, Marina Sirtis, Gates McFadden, Jeri Ryan and Robert Picardo.

The new Reading Rainbow will be available on iOS, Android, Kindle Fire, X-Box and in thousands of classrooms.

All told, including @SethMacFarlane’s generous pledge, we’ve raised $ 5,408,916 with 105,857 individuals coming together for our kids!

— LeVar Burton (@levarburton) July 2, 2014

Wait, wait… the champagne toast is kicking in. What I meant to say was $6.408,916 is what we have raised thanks to all 105, 857 of you!

— LeVar Burton (@levarburton) July 2, 2014

We here at TrekNews.net would like to congratulate Burton and everyone involved in the success of the campaign.

For more information, visit ReadingRainbow.com.