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Dear Friends of Reading to Kids,
We are now on Bluesky, the fast-growing social network!
Follow us at bsky.app/profile/readingtokids.org and let's see how many followers we can add!
NOVEMBER SUCCESS
AT EIGHT SCHOOLS!
Even though Saturday fell on a three-day weekend to observe Veterans Day, 470 kids, 240 volunteers,
76 parents, and 23 teachers & staff
helped to make our November 9th reading clubs a success!
Sample craft by volunteer Paul Heinzman for The Hugging Tree
(Click on the above image to see it full size)
Saturday's launch at our new 8th school, Tenth St. Elementary, was especially exciting since it is our first new school since 2016!
The kids and parents were delighted to discover us at their school, and below is a photo of all our volunteers at our first reading club at Tenth St. Elementary!
(Click on the above image to see it full size)
143 volunteers (60% of all our volunteers!) helped inspire college aspirations by wearing college logos from 45 different schools!
(LMU student volunteers at Politi showing their college spirit.
Click on the above image to see it full size)
UCLA showed the most spirit of local colleges with 29 volunteers wearing UCLA logos!
The most spirit shown for a college located elsewhere in California went to Stanford with eight volunteers wearing its logo, while the most spirit from an out-of-state college went to the University of Michigan & Yale with four volunteers each wearing their logo.
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DECEMBER 14TH READING CLUBS
SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN
Please be sure to sign up for the next reading clubs!
Click here to submit your RSVP for our
"Family & The Spirit of Giving" reading clubs on December 14th,
then "join" the
December 14th reading club event on Facebook and invite
your friends!
A Santa & Helpers Needed!
At least once in your life you should experience being Santa or one of his helpers - and here is your chance!
We need two more people willing to be Santa, Mrs. Claus, or an assisting "elf" at our reading clubs on December 14th. We've
had Santas of all shapes, sizes, and gender, and
we'll provide the full Santa suit.
Santa or his helpers do NOT need to be veteran Reading to Kids volunteers, so please ask your friends if they can be Santa, Mrs. Claus, or an elf on the 14th!
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 14th, please email us at
info@readingtokids.org. You won't be able to read that day,
but you'll see
a hundred smiling faces!
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ANNUAL FUND DRIVE UPDATE & LEADERS SO FAR:
DOUBLE YOUR DONATION FOR YOUR SCHOOL!
On Saturday and the last few days we received another $8,642 from 56 donors towards our 2024 Annual Fund Drive!
The names of the new donors have already been added to our
2024 Annual Fund Drive page, and here are the school competition stats so far:
SCHOOL COMPETITION WINNERS!
Highest percentage of volunteers who donated at the Nov. 9th reading clubs:
1st: Magnolia (a new leader with an impressive 50%!)
2nd: Alta Loma (25%)
3rd: Tenth St. (23%)
Highest dollar amount raised at the Nov. 9th reading clubs:
1st: Esperanza
2nd: Magnolia
3rd: Tenth St.
Highest percentage of volunteers who have donated overall:
1st: Magnolia (47%!)
2nd: Alta Loma
3rd: Esperanza
Highest dollar amount raised overall:
1st: Esperanza
2nd: Magnolia
3rd: MacArthur Park
All of these Nov. 9th volunteer donations will be doubled or tripled by our matching donors at every school, and their offers still stand!
That's right, you can still double or triple your donation and easily change the above standings by donating this week!
We have so far raised $20,655 from 182 donors!
Our overall goal by the end of the year is to raise $65,000 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
2024 Annual Fund Drive. Contributions of any amount are
greatly appreciated!
2) Show your support by asking friends and family to
contribute!
Visit our
2024 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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FOUR MORE RUNNERS NEEDED
FOR THE 2025 LA MARATHON,
13.1 MILE CHARITY CHALLENGE,
OR LA 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 2025 Los
Angeles Marathon or 13.1 Mile Charity Challenge on Sunday,
March 16th!
This is our 11th time running the marathon, and we're looking for four Charity Challenge runners (the last 13.1 miles of the course) and more full marathon runners to join us in one of the best marathons in the country.
If either of those distances is too daunting, you can join us in the LA 5K (that's just 3.1 miles) near Dodger Stadium the day before the marathon on Saturday, March 15, 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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8 COMPUTERS OR TABLETS WANTED
TO GIVE TO KIDS!
At our January reading clubs we would love to give away a computer or iPad/tablet to one lucky kid at each school.
If you or your employer have any working computers that are less than 6 years old running Windows 10 or later, or any Macintosh computers less than 7 years old, or any iPads or similar tablets, we can give them to deserving kids!
We especially need working computers (CPUs), whether or not they come with monitors, keyboards, etc. Please email us at
info@readingtokids.org to help make a kid very happy!
A Charles White Elementary 5th grader with perfect Reading to Kids attendance
leaps for joy after winning a new iPad
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