Congratulations and thanks, to Dr. Dan Foster and the YMCA

by DonorsSupporters
Dr. Dan Foster of Charleston is winner of the 2018 Spirit of the Valley Award, given by the YMCA of Kanawha Valley.

Dr. Dan Foster of Charleston was recognized by the YMCA with the 2018 Spirit of the Valley Award for his four decades of work in health care and public service in the Kanawha Valley.

The award comes with a donation, made in the recipient’s name, to a non-profit organization chosen by the recipient. Dr. Foster chose Read Aloud West Virginia.

In his remarks at the award luncheon, Dr. Foster talked about his mother and how she shared her love of reading with him. He pointed out that both the YMCA and Read Aloud have an impact on the lives of children.

Read Aloud West Virginia seeks to improve West Virginia’s literacy rates and educational attainment by motivating children to WANT to read. Read Aloud’s research based programs — Volunteer Readers, Book Distribution, Public Education and Classroom Enrichment — put books in the hands and on the minds of West Virginia’s children.

The 501(c)(3) organization also raises community awareness regarding the importance of reading to children from infancy into adolescence and the value of providing children with a print-rich environment. During the past school year, Read Aloud distributed more than 8,300 books and placed 1,113 volunteers in over 1,652 classrooms across 30 counties in West Virginia.

These volunteers serve as live commercials for reading. The readers are also important role models who allow children to experience the joy of reading and, in so doing, motivate them to become proficient readers. Once equipped with this essential skill, students experience more success in all subject areas and are better prepared for a promising future. Students who develop good reading skills tend to go further in school, to have higher lifetime earnings and even to enjoy better health.

Read Aloud thanks the YMCA for recognizing Dr. Dan Foster’s service and commitment to the Kanawha Valley. The organization is tremendously grateful to be allowed to share in Dr. Foster’s honor as his non-profit designee. Recognition from those so dedicated and accomplished as Dr. Foster and the YMCA strengthens our own commitment to serving our mission in the Kanawha Valley.

Among the many congratulatory messages compiled for the booklet printed for the August award ceremony was this one from the John L. and Maude H. Dickinson Family:

“Thank you for making West Virginia your home and for making our community a better place to live.”

 

Kwame Alexander: Maybe kids aren't so much "reluctant readers" as they haven't found the right book yet.

Newbery winner to speak at West Virginia Book Festival Oct. 27, 2018

by BooksEnrichment IdeasEvents
Newbery winner Kwame Alexander will appear at the West Virginia Book Festival.

By Kaitlyn Guynn

The West Virginia Book Festival is returning to the Charleston Civic Center on October 26 and 27 with Newbery Award-winning children’s author Kwame Alexander.

His series The Crossover is about a boy and his brother who love basketball, but face challenges together much deeper than who wins a game of one-on-one.

Alexander and singer-songwriter Randy Preston will perform “A Literary Concert with Kwame Alexander and Randy Preston,” from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 27 in Conference Rooms 202-205.

One of Alexander’s latest novels, Rebound, is a prequel to The Crossover, which is about brothers, loss of a father and becoming a man. Another novel, Solo, is a poetic verse novel about a 17-year old girl who learns that the life of a rockstar isn’t all the glamour it seemed.

Alexander has also published picture books and poetry books.

Leading up to the festival, Harvard history professor and New Yorker staff writer Jill Lepore will give the annual McCreight Lecture in the Humanities at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 24 in Riggleman Hall at the University of Charleston.

Among her many books, Lepore wrote Book of Ages, a biography of Benjamin Franklin’s little-known sister, and The Secret History of Wonder Woman, which won the American History Book Prize. Her new book, These Truths: A History of the United States, was published in September.

Also appearing at this year’s Book Festival schedule are:

— Debbie Macomber, author of the popular Cedar Cove and Rose Harbor series.

— Dennis Lehane, staff writer of the HBO series “The Wire” and author of many bestsellers including Mystic River and Gone, Baby, Gone.

— John Scalzi, award-winning science fiction writer and blogger, author of Redshirts, among many others.

— David Grann, another New Yorker writer and author of The Lost City of Z, whose stories frequently make it to the screen.

The festival is free to the public. For more information about the schedule, writing workshops or other events visit wvbookfestival.org.

Kaitlyn Guynn is a senior at the University of Charleston.

 

libcommissionbuilding

Library Commission show to feature Read Aloud during week of Oct. 1, 2018

by NewsPartnersResourcesVideos

The West Virginia Library Commission will feature Read Aloud West Virginia’s work on a program that will air during the first week of October on Channel 17 for Suddenlink customers in Kanawha and Putnam counties.

“Libraries Today” airs regularly on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10:30 a.m., 4:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.; on Wednesdays and Fridays at 4:30 a.m.; and Saturdays at 1:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

The video will also be available on the Library Commission’s YouTube Channel.

Image featuring the WV Neighborhood Investment Program (NIP) tax credits and people those credits have helped.

Read Aloud can offer WV NIP tax credits! Get ‘em while they last

by DonorsNewsSupporters

Read Aloud West Virginia can once again offer West Virginia Neighborhood Investment Program (NIP) tax credits to qualifying donors. The benefit reduces a donor’s state personal income tax bill or corporate net income tax bill by as much as half of the gift amount.

Donations of at least $500 qualify for the NIP credit and help us pursue our mission to motivate children across the state to want to read. With your help, we are changing the literacy climate in West Virginia.

Donations made by Dec. 31, 2018 can qualify for credits to apply to taxes due in 2019, but credits are limited and offered for as long as they are available.

The tax credit may be applied in one year, or during the next five years. Individuals are limited to receiving no more than $100,000 in NIP credits in a single year.

Proposed changes in federal tax policy could reduce the effect of the state credit on federal taxes related to donations made after Aug. 27, 2018, but state rules are unchanged.

Donors may give online, or make checks payable to Read Aloud West Virginia and send them to Read Aloud West Virginia, P.O. Box 1784, Charleston WV 25326.

For more information about NIP tax credits or anything else, please call Read Aloud at (304) 345-5212, or email Executive Director Mary Kay Bond at readaloud@frontier.com. Thank you.

Carter Family Foundation and City National Bank support Read Aloud

by Book DistributionDonorsNews

Read Aloud is most grateful to the Carter Family Foundation and City National Bank of West Virginia for funds they recently gave to support our Book Distribution Program.

The Book Distribution program sponsored by Read Aloud West Virginia continues to grow and provide West

Virginia’s children with access to high interest reading material. Research shows that access matters.

Just as access to a basketball and hoop are essential to building basketball skills, access to books and magazines are necessary to building reading skills.

Thank you, Carter Family Foundation and City National Bank, for enabling Read Aloud to reach even more children with high-quality reading material!

 

It’s all about connection…

by News

Read Aloud West Virginia is a literacy nonprofit, but if you condense our mission into a single word, “connection” might be the one to use. We often say habits are caught rather than taught. Children catch the reading habit through connections made possible by volunteers, teachers, families and the community at large. This newsletter offers ample evidence of the connections being made. That connection may be due to increased access to books and family involvement (see “Summer reading projects highlight the importance of access and family involvement” article), inspiring and creative teaching (see “No Fear Shakespeare” article) or community programs that raise reading awareness (see “Berkeley County students in Leadership academy recognized” and “The Great American Read” articles). The list goes on.

I have had reason to reflect on my own childhood connection to reading recently and I vividly recall my father’s pride as he asked me to “read” to my grandfather. I was in kindergarten or first grade and my ability was limited, but I was thrilled that these two very special people in my life were excited that I was learning to read. The message was loud and clear—this reading business was really important and worth my time and attention! I also remember my mother in the grocery store saying yes to the purchase of a golden book when the answer was no to candy or a cookie.

This past year, 1,113 trained Read Aloud readers gave that message to students in 1,652 classrooms on a regular basis. Think of it! Assuming 20 students per class, that is 33,040 students who are getting the message that someone cares enough about them and reading to visit the class regularly and share a good book. We know from the teacher evaluations that these visits generate student enthusiasm and interest in books. Additionally, volunteers and donors have enabled us to put books in the hands of more than 8,300 children this school year alone. In a complex world where much seems beyond our control, Read Aloud offers an opportunity for families, educators, donors and volunteers to make a difference. Let’s keep the momentum going!

~ Mary Kay Bond, RAWV Executive Director

 

Readers, we want to hear from you!

by NewsReadingVolunteer Readers

The end of the school year is a bittersweet time for Read Aloud volunteers. Your dedication and commitment to read to a classroom of children every week has likely yielded dividends, from conversations with students who are excited about reading to big smiles and hugs in the classroom. You might even have received handmade cards from students saying how important you were to the class, recalling favorite stories, and asking you to continue reading next year.

Readers might be sad to say goodbye or ready for a well-deserved hiatus (or perhaps some combination of these). Meanwhile, Read Aloud West Virginia staff is already looking to and preparing for August. That’s why Read Aloud asks volunteer readers to accomplish one more task by completing an end-of-year reader survey.

These quick surveys ask about your experience as a Read Aloud volunteer and your plans for the following school year. When Read Aloud school coordinators return to school in the fall, the state Read Aloud office provides a report that helps coordinators place returning readers into classrooms as soon as possible, as well as identify how many new readers each school needs.

If Read Aloud West Virginia has a valid email address for you, the survey should have arrived in your inbox around the beginning of June. Paper copies will be mailed to those with no email address on record. If you were an active volunteer reader during the 2017-2018 school year and you do not receive a survey by email or mail, please contact Marsha Hoyer at (304) 345-5212 or email mhoyer@readaloudwestvirginia.org.

Thank you, readers, for the gift you have given to more than 33,000 children in West Virginia this school year!

 

Leadership Academy Students with Bob Fleenor

Berkeley County students in Leadership Academy recognized

by NewsSupporters

By Bob Fleenor

Thanks to the efforts of three talented high school seniors, Read Aloud West Virginia (RAWV) was presented a $1,000 check on April 10, 2018 by the Eastern West  Virginia Community Foundation’s Youth Advisory Council Fund.

The students—Jaelin Cochran and Maria Sobinovsky of Hedgesville High, and Noah Slack from Martinsburg High—were selected the overall winners from among  seven teams of students who took part in the Berkeley County Schools Leadership Academy.

Jaelin, Maria, and Noah selected Read Aloud West Virginia for their leadership project. Over the course of the school year, they devoted long hours to researching RAWV and in April presented a “pitch” on the organization’s behalf to a panel of judges. The Berkeley County Chapter Board members were told that five of the six judges selected their presentation as the very best.

Thanks to the generosity of United Way of the Eastern Panhandle, the other five nonprofits (Berkeley County Humane Society, Berkeley Senior Citizens, Boys & Girls Club of the Eastern Panhandle, Habitat for Humanity, and Horses with Hearts) on whose behalf student teams competed each received $300 grants. Additionally, all 20 students who took part in the competition were awarded $350 scholarships!

Berkeley Chapter Board Member, Bob Fleenor, says: “This unexpected windfall is a testament not only to the students’ hard work, but to the efforts of each of you (staff and board members) and all our volunteers who touch the lives of thousands of local students and make Read Aloud a program worthy of inspiring our next generation of leaders.”

Bob Fleenor is a retired journalist and currently a Read Aloud Berkeley County Chapter Board member.

(From L-R) Lisa Welch, one of the judges, Maria Sobinovsky, Hedgesville High Senior, Jaelin Cochran, Hedgesville High Senior, Bob Fleener and Joyce Ashworth with Read Aloud Berkeley County, and Berkeley County School Director of Communications Elaine Bobo. (Photo by Elias McMillan. Photo credit to WEPM Radio.)

 

The Great American Read

by Enrichment IdeasEventsReadingVideos

PBS has launched an eight-part online and television series to find America’s favorite book! The special project, targeted to adult readers, began on May 22, 2018 and will continue through the summer and fall.

Viewers will vote on their favorite books throughout the series and the list of 100 diverse books will be narrowed down to one. Celebrities, athletes, experts, authors and everyday Americans will participate in the series, alongside host  Meredith Vieira. The multi-platform campaign will encompass online and community engagement, including cooperation with local libraries in West Virginia.

The grand finale will air on October 23, 2018 at 8:00 pm. Viewers can follow the Great American Read Facebook page and use the hashtag #GreatReadPBS. This project offers an opportunity for families to discuss their own favorites and explore new titles.