Less than 24 hours after launching, LeVar Burton's Kickstarter campaign to bring the popular kids' television show 'Reading Rainbow' to the web has exceeded its goal of reaching $1 million donations, prompting a tearful reaction from the Hollywood star.
Mr Burton, who hosted the show on America's PBS until it was taken off the air in 2009, had taken to the popular crowdfunding site to raise money to adapt the format to the internet, create a program for teachers to use in the classroom, and to fund a not-for-profit initiative to give it to low-income schools at no cost.
In a video posted to YouTube, the Star Trek: The Next Generation star can be seen tearfully reacting to the success of the campaign.
"I am overwhelmed," he says. "Thank you so much. This is going to enable us to really, really, really do a lot of good."
"We are literally changing the world."
Reading Rainbow, which aired from 1983 to 2009, ran for 21 seasons and encouraged literacy and reading comprehension skills among children.
As of 2012, it has existed solely as a tablet app.
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