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Excited to Announce 2014-2015 Results
Read to a Child staff members have been hard at work all summer analyzing this year's evaluation results through teacher and mentor surveys, pre- and post-program student assessments, and children questionnaires.
Here are some of our most exciting findings:
- 93% of students made gains in one or more of the following areas: vocabulary; listening comprehension; ability to articulate thoughts; overall reading ability; enthusiasm for books/reading; reading by choice; interest in classroom reading; exposure to new ideas, knowledge, people and places; school attendance; and self-confidence.
- 99% of volunteers would recommend the program to friends/co-workers
And here are some of our favorite quotes gathered through this process that represent the impact our lunchtime reading program has on participating students and volunteer reading mentors:
- "The best part was I got to learn more, like sometimes I can have trouble remembering what the story is about. She helped me with that and I love her for that." - Olivia, Grade 4
- "It was wonderful to see the change in my mentee the short time I spent with her. I looked forward to my visit, the highlight of my week." - Volunteer Reading Mentor
Save the Date:
Read to a Child's 13th Annual Gala
Read to a Child's 13th Annual Gala will be Thursday, November 5th at the Omni Parker House in Boston. We are excited to share our Save the Date - invitation with more information will follow soon!
If you or your company is interested in sponsoring the event, please contact Kristen Baxter, Boston Director of Development at [email protected].
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Learn More About Our Locations
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Additions to National Leadership Team
Read to a Child made some very exciting additions to its leadership team this summer. First and foremost, we welcomed Paul Lamoureux as our new CEO. For the last ten years, Paul was Vice President of Programs for Thompson Island Outward Bound Education Center in Boston. Paul served on the senior leadership team, supervised staff, managed a multi-million dollar budget, oversaw programs, inspired stakeholders and achieved fundraising success.
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Brett Barfield (left) and Ruth Bramson (right)
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Read to a Child has also made some great additions to its
National Board: Brett Barfield and Ruth Bramson.
Brett is a Partner with the international law firm Holland & Knight, and is based in Miami which adds South Florida representation to the National Board. Ruth is
the former CEO of the Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts.
Welcome to Brett and Ruth!
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Financial Literacy Initiative
The Boston program is happy to announce a Financial Literacy Initiative during the lunchtime reading program.
Our corporate sponsors, Eaton Vance and BNY Mellon, have generously donated funds so that mentor/student pairs can opt to participate in the program this coming school year in eight of our schools.
We hope to find additional sponsors so that we can make this initiative a part of the lunchtime reading in all of our schools in the greater Boston area - and beyond!
The students will commit to enjoying at least 5 books that will be read to them from the new Financial Literacy Book Collection. They will be engaged in guided discussions with mentors from questions provided on printed book marks
. They will earn token coins for reading each book, and in the spirit of learning about counting money, earning money, saving money and spending money, they will be able to make decisions about earning interest in their piggy banks, or going "shopping" in the Piggy Bank Store. We are happy to assist our schools and families in exposing young children to experiences and background knowledge in this area.
Exciting Funding Announcement
Read to a Child's Boston program is so excited to announce that they have received a $45,000 grant from
BNY
Mellon
/James and George Fund/Mary D. Whitney Trust. Of this generous grant, $25,000 will support the lunchtime reading program in Boston, while the other $20,000 will go towards needed technological enhancements for the program. We are so appreciative of this support and the ongoing partnership between Read to a Child and BNY Mellon.
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Connecticut
Welcome New Regional Board Chair
Read to a Child enthusiastically welcomes Sean Datcher in his new role as Chair of the Connecticut Regional Advisory Board. Sean is Vice President of eBusiness Technology at Travelers, and has been a volunteer reader at Betances Elementary School in Hartford for two years.
We are very appreciative of the service of outgoing Chair Matt Lotfey, and thank him for his many years of support.
Allied World Assurance Grant Announcement
We are excited to announce that longstanding corporate partner Allied World has generously made a grant of $12,500 to support the lunchtime reading program. For the past 4 years, Allied World employees have taken time out of their busy schedules to read to students at Lincoln School in New Britain, CT.
Save the Date: Connecticut's First Fundraising Event
Read to a Child will host its first ever fundraising event in Connecticut on Thursday, November 12th: "
An Evening at the Mark Twain House." The event will take place at the historic Mark Twain House in Hartford and will even include guided tours! I
f you wo
uld like to join the host committee, volunteer at the event, or learn about sponsorship opportunities, please contact Kate Holzman at [email protected]. Stay tuned for more information!
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Detroit
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| Kim Bormann (left) with students in the lunchtime reading program at Loving Academy in Detroit |
Welcome Kim Bormann as New Program Specialist
School Coordinator Kim Bormann has taken on new responsibilities in Detroit as a Program Specialist. In this new part-time role, Kim will focus on program improvements, including engaging reading mentors, families and the local community throughout the school year, as well as identifying additional age-appropriate and content-specific reading materials for the lunchtime reading program. Kim has been a School Coordinator with Read to a Child since 2013 at Loving Academy and will continue in that capacity in addition to her new role.
Detroit is Looking to the Future!
After another successful year in Detroit, Read to a Child is happy to report that we will continue the lunchtime reading program at all three of our current locations and will be bringing the program to a fourth school this fall: Herrington Elementary in Pontiac, MI. We are hopeful to add yet another Detroit Public School by 2016, which would mean steady growth of one new school per program year!
A large part of this growth is attributed to the dedicated volunteer reading mentors in Detroit. Check out this great quote from a volunteer reading mentor who truly saw the impact she was able to have on her student:
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My student's reading and listening comprehension have both improved tremendously. When I first started reading last year, I would ask about the book, and what she thought would happen next, and her response was always, "I don't know". Now, she is using her imagination and creativity to talk about what has already happened in the book, and what she thinks might happen next. It's amazing!
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11th Annual Los Angeles for Literacy Benefit -
Los Angeles Celebrates with "Willy Wonka"!
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DIRECTV Volunteers Belia Slattery & Brian Regan sharing the stage with their reading buddy Devon Nassif
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On Thursday, July 16, 2015, Read to a Child held its 11th Annual Gala at Studio 1342. Read to a Child would like to thank everyone who came and supported the event and helped raise $37,000. It's always a pleasure to bring people together to celebrate our mission and be able to showcase the power of the lunchtime reading through the moving words of children and dedicated volunteers in our program.
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Trivia Champions: Rebekah Bryant, Danielle Gsoell & Mike Murray
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We would like to extend a special thanks to the generous Corporate Sponsors and Corporate Reading Partner volunteers who supported this event: AEG & Staples Center Foundation, Allied World Assurance, Alston & Bird, Capital Group, DIRECTV, Ernst & Young, Innovation Capital, Kirkland & Ellis, Lockton, LTL Attorneys, Seyfarth Shaw LLP, Veritext, Winston & Strawn, Fun 4 Events, Disney VoluntEARS, MC John Hensley, DJ Brutha Gimel, Michael Jacobo, and our generous silent auction donors.
We would also like to express our deepest appreciation to Ralina Shaw, Ralina Shaw Public Relations, for contributing countless hours producing this year's memorable event.
Congratulations to Veritext, for their big win and champions of this year's Willy Wonka trivia contest!
Students Meet Children's Book Authors
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Students at Sunrise elementary school with volunteers from Alston & Bird gather around with John & Soma
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On May 13, 2015, Children in Los Angeles were thoroughly excited to meet
John Stickler and Soma
Han, authors and illustrators of Maya and the Turtle: A Korean Fairy Tale. John read aloud while
Soma displayed her original art work featured in their book. Each student received a signed copy of Maya & the Turtle: A Korean Fairy Tale.
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South Florida
Holland & Knight internal fundraiser
In addition to providing volunteer mentors, funding program operations, and becoming a corporate sponsor for the regional fundraiser in September, Holland & Knight in Miami selected Read to a Child as its designated charity for July. This meant raising funds through "casual Fridays," a raffle that included Marlins baseball tickets and baked goods, and a breakfast volunteer recruitment event for our lunchtime reading program at Coral Way K-8. Thank you to Holland & Knight lawyers Eric Funt (a South Florida Regional Board Member) and Brett Barfield (National Board Member) for your efforts!
New School Coordinator Hired in Miami
We are so excited to announce that we have hired Whitney Garrett as our new School Coordinator at Coral Way K-8. She brings great enthusiasm for our mission and years of success working for a school-based nonprofit in Ohio. Welcome, Whitney!
2nd Annual Fundraising Event in Coral Gables
We hope that all of our volunteers and stakeholders in the Miami area will be able to join us for our 2nd Annual South Florida Fundraising Event -
Tonight, Wednesday, September 9th from 6:00pm to 8:00pm at Books & Books in Coral Gables!
Click here to buy your tickets and more information.
Sample appetizers and cocktails while you meet guest speaker and award-winning author, Christina Diaz Gonzalez. We'd like to thank our generous event sponsors: Holland & Knight, Stuart Gitlitz, and Greenburg Traurig, as well as our major supporters in the region: Assurant and The Children's Trust.
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Upcoming Events & Campaigns
13th Annual Gala in Boston - Thursday, November 5th
Connecticut Fundraising Event - Thursday, November 12th
3rd Annual Digital Campaign - March 2016
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Copyright © 2013. Read to a Child. All Rights Reserved.
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