Is your alumni group, sorority, or fraternity looking for a way to make a positive impact within your community?
Consider creating a day of service and hosting a book drive in support of Reach Out and Read Kansas City.
DeAngela Burns-Wallace, a Stanford Alumni and Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies for The University of Kansas was kind enough to take time out of her busy schedule to share her book drive story.
Each year Stanford encourages their alumni to participate in a national day of service, that way the organization has a positive community influence wherever their alumni go. She searched for a nonprofit that they could provide the most impact.
“Because we have a small alumni base in KC area, we looked for an activity that we could organize with a small number of people but have a significant impact. Reach Out and Read was an ideal partner.”
DeAngela believes in the importance of early reading, for her, the good Reach Out and Read Kansas City does is essential to her community.
“Reading allows kids to experience so many things, early reading opens up their imagination and possibilities. Supporting early childhood education and especially reading at all ages is key and critical in our society. Reach Out and Read Kansas City helps real families on a daily basis, that was important for us as we looked for a local partner.”
Book drives can take many forms, birthdays, school competitions, office events, cocktail parties, no matter the form though, the key to success it is planning and promotion.
“About four weeks prior we began to email alumni in the region asking them to collect age-appropriate books – their own, friends, family, etc. We used the national day of service called “Beyond the Farm” as the book drop off date. Myself and three other alums set up tables, boxes, and treats to welcome the drop-offs at my home. It was a simple set up but one that allowed alumni to drop off books and go. We boxed the books on site and delivered over 250 books to Reach Out and Read from the KC area Stanford alumni and our friends. “
Small book drives like this make a big difference in the Kansas City community. Thank you DeAnglea and the KC area Stanford Alumni for your continued support!
If you are interested in learning more, head over to our How to Host a Book Drive page for more information.
Have you ever wondered who decides which books to purchase for our clinics? Or who organizes our book drives and deliveries? Meet Janice, our book coordinator of over 15 years. She’s responsible for purchasing, organizing, and managing the delivery of over 83,000 books to our 51 partner clinics. Recently, Janice joined us to talk about her important role as RORKC’S book coordinator.
As Anthony Meyer’s three sons grew older, he realized that other people, besides himself and his wife, had an influence on their lives. He saw that coaches, teachers, and others were positively impacting them and decided that he wanted to volunteer to have a similar influence on others. This led Anthony Meyer to Reach Out & Read Kansas City.
Reading books together helps babies create a foundation for lifelong learning by building skills that fluent readers take for granted. Babies have to learn that there are patterns in the sounds they hear, and that these sounds make words. They have to learn that the squiggly lines in books are letters and those letters make words. They also have to learn that there is a connection between those letters they see and the sounds they hear. That’s a lot of work for a baby! However, this connection, called print awareness, is one of the most basic pre-literacy skills and is absolutely necessary before a child can learn to read.
Elizabeth Vasquez is a Physician’s Assistant at Health Partners Olathe, a Reach Out and Read KC partner clinic. She delivers the Reach Out and Read program to the children and families she sees in her practice and represents their sites (Olathe and Growing Futures) at our quarterly Clinic Coalition meetings. Elizabeth holds a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and a Master of Science degree in Physician Assistant Studies. Along with a love for reading and sharing books, she has a deep understanding of the need for and importance of our program and its role in fostering learning and healthy brain development. She says the following about her love of reading:
We are thrilled to welcome our new Communications Specialist, Sydney Milner. Sydney joins our team as a full-time volunteer through the AmeriCorps VISTA program.
to think about when being in conversation with your children. She presents the research that explains importance of being in conversation with children in an easy to read and understand way, and reminds us of the impact that our conversations can have on children, both negative and positive.
