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Reading to Kids News

May 31, 2002  

Recent Grants Help Fuel Reading to Kids Effort

We recently received two grants that will greatly aid us in our continuing mission of helping children to learn the joy of reading. Hilton Hotels Corporation gave us a grant of $5,000, and for the third consecutive year, the Roth Family Foundation gave us a $1,000 grant.

The primary goal of Reading to Kids is to promote improved reading and learning skills in elementary school children--skills that may help lead to a more successful future for the children who participate.

Many students living near downtown Los Angeles reside in a densely populated area with numerous apartment and commercial buildings and little or no access to safe recreational areas. Many of the children in this area are from low income families, are recent immigrants to the country, are limited-English proficient, and have room for substantial improvement in their reading test scores. Helping these students is our highest priority.

By bringing volunteers, ranging from college students to young professionals to retirees, into neighborhood schools to read to these children once a month, Reading to Kids aims to help these children associate reading with pleasure and to promote the value of education and literacy. Furthering these goals are parent workshops in which teachers provide training to the parents of the attending children on how to continue the benefits of the reading club at home.

Reading to Kids also strives to develop the library resources of participating schools through book donations. When books are purchased for use at the reading clubs, they are donated to the schools' libraries so that the children (and future generations of children) may continue to enjoy literary works that have been hand-selected by the schools' teachers. Furthermore, at the conclusion of each reading club, the children are provided with free "prize" books as a reward for their attendance. The goal is to furnish them with books for their homes that they and their siblings will continue to enjoy.

Generous donations from foundations, corporations, organizations, and individuals help us to realize our goals and are greatly appreciated! To learn how to make a donation, please click here!

Thanks to UCLA Alpha Phi Omega and UCLA Golden Key Honor Society for Used Book Donation!

UCLA's Chi Chapter of the Alpha Phi Omega Service Fraternity and the UCLA Golden Key Honor Society held a book drive to collect used books for the home libraries of each student who participated at the May 2002 reading clubs at Gratts Elementary School. Thanks to their efforts, each child at Gratts was able to pick a quality book to take home at the conclusion of the reading clubs.

"I find the kids to be really enthusiastic and excited about attending the monthly reading club," noted Alpha Phi Omega Chapter President Tiffany Lin who, along with several other members of her organization, also volunteered as readers on May 11. The books that the kids were able to take home will hopefully provide them with even more opportunities for reading enjoyment outside of school.