Sweet Tooth for Storytelling

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Date Published: July 31, 2003
Krispy Kreme donates $1 million to International Storytelling Center
JONESBOROUGH - Krispy Kreme Doughnuts recently gave the International Storytelling Center a sweet deal in the form of a $1 million donation.

The company's chief executive officer, president and chairman, Scott Livengood, said Krispy Kreme has been working on forming a partnership with the not-for-profit organization located in Jonesborough.

"We've had an ongoing relationship that began about a year ago," Livengood said. "The Krispy Kreme Foundation was just established, and its mission is to focus on people and organizations reaching their potential."

The donation will be given in allotments over a three- to five-year period and will be used primarily for the initial development of a storytelling in education program, operational support, and completion of a theater in the ISC interpretation center.

The donation comes amid a drive to secure funding in an effort to raise $20 million over a seven-year span.

"The ($20 million) is what will help us build the capacity of this organization to be successful," ISC founder and President Jimmy Neil Smith said. "Like any business or nonprofit organization, we need the pieces to be successful."

Half of the $20 million will eventually be placed in an endowment. The interest earned from the endowment would then be used to cover annual operating costs.

Smith said he, Livengood and other ISC officials just completed a three-day tour of the region in which they spent time with potential partners.

"We are introducing ourselves to the region because we want people to know there has been a change in who we are and how we operate," Smith said.

The ISC is well-known for having helped host the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough every year for more than 30 years.

However, Smith said the ISC's new mission is to improve and teach to improve nearly every facet of life with storytelling.

"The festival is the cornerstone of what we do, but we have a new vision," Smith said. "This new vision is one that stories can be used to build a better world."

Livengood said it is that mission to use storytelling in education, business, health care, and peace and understanding that convinced Krispy Kreme to enter into a partnership that he said will last far beyond the three- to five-year donation period.

Livengood lives in Winston-Salem, N.C., the home city of Krispy Kreme, and attended his first storytelling festival last year.

"I did not have to be persuaded about the power of stories," Livengood said. "That event, however, helped to broaden my perspective."

- By Corey B. Shoun