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Read to a Child - National News
Excited to Announce New National Board Members
Read to a Child is pleased to announce the addition of two new National Board Members: Mark Tarini and Peter Necheles.
 Mark Tarini is a longtime volunteer reading mentor in the lunchtime reading program and Boston Regional Board Member. He is Partner and Head of Portfolio Management at ArcLight Capital. During Read to a Child's first annual Digital Campaign, he was one of our leading champions - highlighting his personal experience with the student he read to for four years. Peter Nechles has also been a reading mentor and Boston Regional Board Member. He is the Senior Vice President, General Counsel at Agero. A longtime supporter of Read to a Child, Peter represented our Lead Gala Sponsor, Agero, as keynote speaker for the past two years.
We are very happy to welcome Mark and Peter to our National Board of Directors!
Cisco Grant and New Online Training
In 2013, Read to a Child received a $75,000 grant from the Cisco Foundation to support development of an online training course for new volunteers. After working closely with the technical team to develop this resource, we are excited to announce that we piloted the course this fall. This online training enabled staff members to train select mentors remotely - greatly increasing efficiency during the busy kickoff season!
 The course does not replace in-person training, but increases staff capacity and ensures preparation for volunteers who are unavailable for in-person training. We were pleased with the user feedback which showed that 93% of participants felt this training prepared them well to serve as volunteer reading mentors.
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Learn More About Our Locations
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 | | Linda Winin & Kristen Baxter |
Boston
Congratulations to Our Boston Directors
Read to a Child is excited to announce that we have promoted Linda Winin to Boston Director of Programs and Kristen Baxter to Boston Director of Development. Linda brings her 25+ years of experience as a principal to our program expansion and management. Kristen brings demonstrated success at expanding the Gala, securing grants, and building strong relationships with our valued stakeholders. Please join us in congratulating Linda and Kristen on their new roles!
Team Trivia Night
Join us on Wednesday, April 8th at the Greatest Bar in Boston for Read to a Child's annual Team Trivia Night! It will be a fun-filled evening with competitive trivia, an exciting raffle, and great food and drinks. Show off your trivia skills and buy tickets here: trivianight2015.eventbrite.com. For sponsorship opportunities, please contact Kristen Baxter at [email protected].
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Connecticut
New Regional Board Member
We are very excited to announce that Sean Datcher has joined the Connecticut Regional Board. Sean is Vice President of eBusiness Technology at Travelers, and is in his second year as a volunteer reading mentor at Betances Elementary School in Hartford. We would like to thank him for being such a committed volunteer, and welcome him to Connecticut's Regional Board!
Reading Pair Spotlight
Sharon and Nalleli are in their second year of reading together, and shared these thoughts:
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Nalleli and Sharon
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"My favorite thing about Lunchtime Reading is that my reader reads to me, and that I eat my food, and I enjoy a lot of books. The best part is that we get to pick different kinds of books, so I learn about biographies and fiction and non fiction. My favorite book is The Lorax. I feel happy about my reader because the first time I ever met her I was nervous, but now I'm so happy to see my reader every week!"-Nalleli, 3rd Grade
"There are so many great and rewarding things about reading to a child it's hard to give one; the look of excitement on my child's face every time I'm there to read to her; the anticipation and sense of accomplishment that coming to the end of our first chapter book provides; having her say at the end of our time "not yet, I want to keep reading"; the pleasure of being fortunate enough to be able to spend my time enjoying a children's book with a child. For all those reasons and more, that's what I love about reading to a child!"-Sharon, Volunteer Reading Mentor
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Detroit
3rd Annual Detroit Fundraising Event
Read to a Child is happy to announce it's 3rd Annual fundraising event in Detroit: "To Read, Perchance to Dream" on Thursday, March 12th. Please join us at the Detroit Opera House from 7:00pm to 10:00pm to celebrate the lunchtime reading program and to honor our 2015 Reading Mentor of the Year, Sheree Dorsey from 5/3 Bank.
To buy tickets, please visit ReadtoaChild-Detroit.eventbrite.com. For sponsorship opportunities, please contact Danielle Hilliker at [email protected].
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Spotlight on Ernst & Young Volunteers
Ernst & Young has been a corporate reading partner in Los Angeles since 2010 and a tremendous supporter of the lunchtime reading program. Since they started, 138 employees have read with 70 students at Tenth Street Elementary in Downtown Los Angeles.
 Felicia Luong and Patricia Tran take turns reading to 4th grader, Roselin, every week. Roselin is a big Ronald Dahl fan. Her favorite books they have read together are The BFG and Matilda. Both volunteers have noted much progress in Roselin since they started reading with her. Roselin was quite shy and reserved before the program. She has opened up more to them by expressing her thoughts and contributing insightful comments and questions during their reading time. Last year, Roselin read 33 books (2nd most in her class) in a 6 week period for the Million Word Challenge. And at this past year's holiday party, Roselin brought in The Hunger Games to read. Roselin has become a voracious reader in Felicia and Patricia's eyes, which is why they like volunteering with Read to a Child. They say it is an opportunity to see their student develop academically as a reader, as well as seeing her enthusiasm for reading increase every week. Thank you, Ernst & Young, for all you do to help children at Tenth Street Elementary love reading!
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South Florida
Inspiration from a Board Member
Read to a Child feels very fortunate to have such caring Board Members in each of its five regions across the country. Recently we had the opportunity to speak with Stuart Gitlitz, volunteer reading mentor and South Florida Regional Board Member, who said these kind words:
"I love Read to a Child because of the look of excitement and joy that I see on my student's face when we enjoy a book. It is so fulfilling and satisfying when I get the big greeting and often a hug when he sees me, especially after vacations or whenever we haven't read for a week or two."
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Upcoming Events & Campaigns
2nd Annual Digital Campaign - May 2015 (National)
*Contact Amelie Ansari at [email protected] to learn more about this year's campaign! |
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Copyright � 2013. Read to a Child. All Rights Reserved.
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