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Dear Friends of Reading to Kids,
What a holly, jolly morning we had on Saturday, with 521 kids, 269 volunteers,
72 parents, and 27 teachers & staff
gathering for festive books and crafts at our December 9th reading
clubs!
(Click on the above image to see it full size)
(Click on either image to see it full size)
At Esperanza we even had a grinchy visitor lurking about the reading clubs!
Click here to see a short video on our Instagram!
15% of the overall student population at all of our eight partner schools joined us for these reading clubs!
We especially thank our Santa Clauses, Mrs. Clauses, and elves for bringing the North Pole to the reading clubs, and to the
Pasadena Jaycees for once again providing the
Santa suits!
If you are interested in volunteering for
Operation Santa
and bringing joy to children in need on Christmas Eve,
click here or email them at OpSanta@PasadenaJaycees.org!
Reading to Kids also thanks
Pico Cleaners for once again generously donating dry cleaning of the Santa suits after the December reading clubs!
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JANUARY 13TH READING CLUBS
Please be sure to sign up for the next reading clubs!
Click here to submit your RSVP for our
"Mysteries & New Adventures" clubs, then "join" the
January 13th reading club event on
Facebook and invite your friends!
We'll need hundreds of volunteers for these January reading clubs, so be sure to sign up early and recruit your friends, co-workers, and family members as volunteers!
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ANNUAL FUND DRIVE UPDATE & WINNERS SO FAR:
FINAL TWO WEEKS TO DONATE!
Since Saturday's reading clubs we received another $5,137 from 65 donors
towards our 2023 Annual Fund Drive!
Thanks to those generous volunteer readers and the Facebook fundraisers created by volunteers Matthew Jones, Mark May, and Alyson Beckman, we have now raised $34,712 overall from 296 donors!
This puts us closer to our goal of raising $60,000 from 500 donors within the next 17 days!
The names of the new donors have already been added to our
2023 Annual Fund Drive page, and here are
the school competition stats so far:
SCHOOL COMPETITION WINNERS!
Highest percentage of volunteers who donated at the Dec. 9th reading clubs:
1st: White (a new leader with 30%!)
2nd: Alta Loma (27%)
3rd: MacArthur Park (24%)
Highest dollar amount raised at the Dec. 9th reading clubs:
1st: Esperanza
2nd: White
3rd: Gratts
Highest percentage of volunteers who have donated overall so far:
1st: Esperanza & Politi currently tied!
3rd: Gratts (only 4% behind!)
Highest dollar amount raised overall so far:
1st: Esperanza Elementary (thanks to Angel fundraiser Mark May)
2nd: Magnolia
3rd: White
All of the Dec. 9th volunteers' donations will be doubled by our matching donors at every school!
Our overall goal by the end of the year is to raise $60,000 from
500 donors.
Here's
how you can help, with your donations being counted towards the
school competition:
1) Make a pledge to donate by check or donate online
today by visiting our
2023 Annual Fund Drive. Contributions of any amount are
greatly appreciated!
2) Show your support by asking friends and family to
contribute!
Visit our
2023 Annual Fund Drive
page and look under the "Help us Fundraise!"
header for resources, including information on creating your own
personalized fundraising page on Facebook, our handy
donor sheet for raising money with your friends and
co-workers,
tips for fundraising, and so much more.
Once they know about Reading to Kids, many of your
friends and family will want to donate -
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!
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THREE MORE RUNNERS WANTED
FOR THE 2024 LA MARATHON'S
CHARITY HALF MARATHON OR 5K!
Do you know any runners? Are you a
runner? Please forward this email to them
and ask them to join
Team Reading to Kids in the 2024 Los
Angeles Marathon on Sunday,
March 17th!
This is our 10th time running the marathon, and we're looking for three more runners to run the Charity Half Marathon - a course between Dodger Stadium and the finish line in Century City, without all of the hills of the full Los Angeles Marathon. This is an exclusive opportunity to participate without having to run the entire route!
If that distance is too daunting, you can join us in the LA Big 5K (that's just 3.1 miles) near Dodger Stadium the day before the marathon on Saturday, March 16, 2024.
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
marathon@readingtokids.org!
IMPORTANT NOTE: To register to run
on behalf of Reading to Kids, you
MUST receive from us a special web address
to use when registering on the Los Angeles Marathon website.
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THANK YOU, GELSON'S!
Please join us in thanking the
Gelson's for their support of
Reading to Kids, helping us all share with children our love of reading!
To celebrate the opening of their store in West L.A. on West Edge off Olympic and Bundy (near the Reading to Kids offices), they awarded us a $2,500 grant as one of their nonprofit neighbors. This allows us to keep buying read-aloud and prize books for the kids we serve each month.
Click on the photo below to see our Program Coordinator Yancy Rodriguez Coe and Literacy Coordinator Ciara Kelly receiving the grant in person that morning!
(Click on the above image to see it full size)
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Thanks, and we hope you can join us at our next reading clubs on Saturday, January 13th!
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