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Doing Good Together Newsletter
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| Helping strengthen kids and communities through family volunteerism... |
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Literacy is a basic human right. It can have untold benefits for children and adults -- social, economic, political, even health. In addition, reading stories can be a magical way to step into the lives of others and explore new ideas. At Doing Good Together, we heartily believe that reading together can spark conversations around important issues and your family's personal values. That's one reason we launched our exciting, parent-tested Big-Hearted Families Book Club.
Details are below.
Jenny Friedman, Executive Director
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Equal Opportunity Reading
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Make a Difference....
If your family believes in the importance of reading, share the joy with others!
- Collect and donate books. Scour garage sales, ask friends to give you their old books, or gather any in your house that are ready for a new home. Depending on the type of books you've collected, you can donate them to a local early-childhood center, or start or enhance a library at a homeless shelter.
 - Get involved with Reach Out and Read, a great program that puts storybooks into doctor waiting rooms and distributes millions more to parents. You can be a volunteer reader in pediatric waiting rooms and show other parents the fun of reading aloud.
- Sponsor a reader through One Book At a Time. The organization Family-to-Family will send you details (name, age, reading level) about a child living in poverty. You and your kids can send a book and letter once a month to the child you're matched with. Read how this volunteer opportunity is impacting our blogger's family.
- Create homemade "kindness books" for members of your family or special friends. One mom had each of her two daughters write four things she liked about her sister. They put the compliments on heart-shaped paper and fastened the pages with a piece of yarn.
- Hold a readathon
 to raise money for literacy. Ask sponsors for a pledge (dollar,quarter or whatever they choose) for each book you read. Set a specific time period. Then collect the pledges and donate them to your favorite literacy cause or education nonprofit, such as Room to Read. - Create a paper mache Penny Pot Piggy Bank to collect coins for the International Book Project.
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Literacy Matters
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Talk About It.....
Use your family's story time as an opportunity to chat with your children about the value of reading. Try some of these questions to get your conversations rolling.
- Why do you think it is important for people to learn how to read?
- How would it feel to grow up without knowing how to read?
- What would it be like to have no books in your house or in your school?
- What are some things you have learned, or would like to learn, from books?
- The author William Styron said, "You live several lives when reading." What do you think he meant?
- Why is it so nice to hear books read out loud? If you have children, are you going to read out loud to them? Why or why not?
Learn About It.....
 We highly recommend a subscription to the Big-Hearted Families Book Club. Each month you'll receive 1 book + 1 kindness activity + 1 recipe designed especially for you by our awesome friends at The Kid's Cook Monday! campaign. Thoughtful reflection questions are included as well. Subscribe through our
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Inspiration
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"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go."
-Dr. Seuss
"Reading is the sole means by which we slip, involuntarily, often helplessly, into another's skin, another's voice, another's soul."
-Joyce Carol Oates
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| News from DGT | |
We're excited to announce that the BIG-HEARTED FAMILIES ONLINE SHOP IS FINALLY OPEN! Now it's easy to find fun, unique, big-hearted items for you, your family and your friends. You'll find:
Subscriptions to the Big-Hearted Families Book Club. Available for one month, three months or a full year.
Great books by Jenny Friedman, DGT Executive Director and Founder
More resources are in the works - check back soon for details!
  
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Doing Good Together is a nonprofit, 501(c)3 organization that provides information and support to help people raise compassionate and socially conscious children through family volunteerism.
Copyright � 2013 Doing Good Together
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