Reading to Kids News

September 13, 2003

2003 Annual Fund Drive Kicks Off September 13
(Scroll down for donation information.)

From September 13 to November 8, Reading to Kids will be holding its Annual Fund Drive.

The theme of this year?s drive is "We Couldn?t Do It Without You!" Without all of its volunteers, teachers, and parents, Reading to Kids would not be the success it is today. Monthly, we improve hundreds of students? chances for brighter futures by helping them become better readers.

In May 1999, Reading to Kids held its first Reading Club with 8 volunteers and 20 students at Gratts Elementary School. Four years later, an average of 200 Reading to Kids volunteers read to 600 children a month, now at 4 schools!

With our recent expansion to four schools, however, comes additional expense. The Reading to Kids annual budget is $99,000, most of which is covered by donations from foundations. However, we definitely need your support in order to meet our needs each year, and we were so grateful for your donations of almost $10,000 to the 2002 Annual Fund Drive! This year, we are hoping to raise $12,000 to support Reading to Kids.

In order to continue and expand this important program, we ask for your support. Please consider donating to Reading to Kids during our Annual Fund Drive. When you give to Reading to Kids, you also give great hope and enthusiasm--if children have good reading skills, their future is bright.

Financial support from foundations, corporations, organizations, and individuals allows Reading to Kids to maintain and expand the reading club program, purchase teacher-selected books for elementary school libraries in low-income communities, and fund book donations directly to children to aid them in developing their own home libraries.

Donation Information

Donating is easy. Simply make your check out to Reading to Kids and mail it to our office:

     Reading to Kids
     1600 Sawtelle Boulevard, Suite 210
     Los Angeles, CA 90025

If you prefer to donate by credit card, you may do so at http://readingtokids.org/Donations/index.html.  Please note that we prefer checks because our processing company deducts a 3% fee from your donations.

If you have any questions regarding the Annual Fund Drive, please feel free to contact Maryanna Abdo at the Reading to Kids office at (310) 479-7455 or by e-mail at MaryannaAbdo@readingtokids.org.