1,146 kids, 503 volunteers, 135 parents, and 25 teachers & staff discovered the "Wonders of Science and Technology" at our November 8th reading clubs! We also gave away our 130,000th prize book to a child!

Thank you to all of our volunteers who showed their school spirit on Saturday! Your participation in our College Spirit Day, as well as the college giveaway items we gave to every child, helped plant the seeds of college aspirations.

Volunteers from 64 colleges and universities participated in our College Spirit Day. Which college showed the most spirit? The numbers have been tallied and (drum roll please), here are the results:

Local:
     1st place: UCLA (64 volunteers)
     2nd place: USC (44 volunteers)
     3rd place: Occidental College (24 volunteers)
California (Non-Local):
     1st place: Stanford (9 volunteers)
     2nd place: UC Berkeley (8 volunteers)
Out of State:
     1st place: Univ. of Michigan (13 volunteers)
     2nd place: Univ. of Illinois & Univ. of Texas (3 volunteers each)
Furthest Away:
     Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia (1 volunteer)

This summer, Reading to Kids was selected as one of 15 U.S. finalists for Fluor's Global Community Project Fund, and your votes helped us win a $10,000 grant!

As part of that project, 13 Fluor employees read aloud to children at Magnolia Elementary on November 8th, while another Fluor employee talked to parents about the importance of science and technology-based fields of study.

You can help Reading to Kids win an additional $10,000 Best-In-Class award from Fluor - here's how:

Go to Reading to Kids volunteer and Fluor employee Jinhwa Chun's blog. Use the GlobalCommunityProjectFund link in the upper right to submit your comments or questions about our project's progress.

At the end of the year, an additional $10,000 "Best-in-Class" award will go to the benefiting organization of the project that demonstrated the most progress, employee support, impact, and visibility in their local community and beyond. Let's show Fluor our enthusiasm for Reading to Kids!

Sign up for the next reading clubs! Click here to submit your RSVP for our "Spirit of Giving" reading clubs on December 13th, then "join" the December 13th Reading Club Event on Facebook and invite your friends!

December is one of our biggest months, so invite your family, friends, co-workers, etc. to share the gift of reading with children on December 13th!

SANTAS AND SANTA HELPERS NEEDED!

We are on the lookout for volunteers to dress up as Santa, Mrs. Claus, or one of his helpful elves at our December 13th reading clubs.

We've had Santas of all shapes, sizes, colors, and gender, and we'll provide the full Santa suit. There's nothing better than seeing the students' excitement when Santa visits our reading clubs!

If you are interested in being Santa, Mrs. Claus, or an assisting elf on December 13th, please contact us at inforeadingtokids.org. You won't be able to read that day, but you'll see hundreds of smiling faces!

We continued our 2014 Annual Fund Drive at the November 8th reading clubs, receiving $1,780 from 79 donations! Our overall goal by the end of the year is to raise $45,000 from 500 donors.

We'll need a few more days to add the names of our new donors to our 2014 Annual Fund Drive page, but we can announce the school competition stats so far:

Here's how you can help, with your donations being counted towards the school competition:

1 - Donate by check or online today. Contributions of any amount are greatly appreciated!

2 - Show your support by asking friends and family to contribute! Visit our 2014 Annual Fund Drive page and look under the "Help us Fundraise!" header for resources. In particular, please consider personalizing and sending the provided sample email to friends and family, or posting our handy donor sheet.

Once they know about Reading to Kids, many of your friends and family will want to donate to us - we just need you to ask!

Also, if your workplace matches donations to nonprofits, please share with them your donation, and ask them to consider matching it. In this way you double your donation and share with others your enthusiasm for Reading to Kids!

MARATHON RUNNERS WANTED

If you or a runner you know is interested in becoming one of our fundraising runners or creating a fundraising team, please email Chris Martin at marathonreadingtokids.org for all the details.

IMPORTANT NOTE: to register to run on behalf of Reading to Kids, you MUST receive a special code BEFORE registering on the ASICS LA Marathon website.

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Thanks, and we look forward to seeing you on December 13th!