BB&T West Virginia Foundation helps put books in children’s hands

by Book DistributionDonorsNewsSupporters

The BB&T West Virginia Foundation has awarded Read Aloud a $2,500 grant to support book distribution programs throughout the state. BB&T has provided similar financial support for several years, and the organization is grateful for the role they continue to play in helping Read Aloud maintain and expand its book distribution programs.

Sixty-one percent of low-income families do not have children’s books in the home, according to the Campaign for Grade Level Reading. Research has found that access to books is a critical factor in educational achievement. It is such a key element that researcher and California State University professor Jeff McQuillan concluded that “the only behavior measure that correlates significantly with reading scores is the number of books in the home.”

Read Aloud West Virginia offers comprehensive, research-based programming designed to engage families, provide consistent “commercials” for reading in the classroom and increase student access to print. Distribution of books and other high-interest reading materials through events that engage children and families is integral to our efforts. Projects vary from county to county based on availability of funds and resources. Programs offered include:

Reading Round Up

Working in conjunction with public schools, volunteers distribute books, magazines and educational materials to students and parents participating in spring Kindergarten and Pre-kindergarten Round-ups (enrollment fairs attended by a majority of students entering kindergarten). Children choose their books from a selection of titles chosen for their age group.

Snuggle and Read

Preschool students and their families are invited to a program where they receive a blanket and books of their choice. A short presentation provides information about the importance of reading aloud to children and a parent’s role in education. Children hear a story read by a Read Aloud volunteer and educational materials are provided to families.

Summer Reading Initiative

This program provides six books to each student at a designated elementary school at the end of the school year. Ideally, the program is offered to students for a minimum of three years to maximize efficacy, as the effects of summer learning loss are cumulative. Children choose the books they receive from a list of titles selected by experts in the field of children’s literacy and an end-of-year event is held to distribute the books.

Distribution by Request

Read Aloud sponsors general distribution of new and used books as funding and availability permit. It is important to distribute books in a way that is meaningful to students and involves families in the process. All schools enrolled in Read Aloud are eligible to request books through this program. Schools often request books for distribution at family fun nights and other school-sponsored events.

BB&T West Virginia Foundation has been an indispensable partner to Read Aloud West Virginia’s Book Distribution Program. Since 2008, Read Aloud has grown to serve 30 county chapters. That growth brings additional opportunities to place books in the hands and homes of children. With BB&T West Virginia Foundation’s support, the organization can provide more children the tools they need to succeed in school and life.

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Books-A-Million statewide book fair to be held September 30

by BooksEventsNewsSocial MediaSupporters

Mark your calendars for September 30th! The statewide Books-A-Million book fair benefiting Read Aloud West Virginia will return in ten West Virginia locations.

Customers visiting BAM stores on Saturday, September 30th, can donate 10 percent of their total purchase to benefit reading programs across the state. Individual stores will also host story times, and Read Aloud volunteers will visit with customers throughout the day.

Due to the hard work of Read Aloud volunteers, last year’s event was a huge success and provided the opportunity to have the event again this year!

“Based on last year’s book fair, Books-A-Million stores in West Virginia are honored to be working with Read Aloud West Virginia again,” said BAM District Manager Ed Reidy. “We understand the importance of creating a love for reading in our children. The Read Aloud organization, through their various programs, combined with their reach into almost every West Virginia county, presents the perfect partnership.”

Advertising for the book fair can be seen on social media, the Read Aloud website and flyers in the BAM stores a week before the event. Please help Read Aloud share the news of this great event! It is extremely important to bring as many people into the participating BAM stores as possible.

“Read Aloud volunteers and board members are welcome to share information about the book fair on social media.” Reidy said. “The more customers coming to shop that day, the better it is for the organization.”

So, PLEASE, on September 30, go to your local Books-A-Million and make a purchase! You can pick up birthday or early Christmas gifts while there and help Read Aloud in the process. Read Aloud hopes that through the work of volunteers across the state and attendance by people like you, this year’s fair will be an even greater success!

 

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Kroger Community Rewards

by NewsParents and FamiliesSupporters

Did you know you can contribute to Read Aloud while you shop? If you enroll in Kroger Community Rewards, a percentage of your purchases at Kroger will be donated to Read Aloud!

To enroll, visit https://www.kroger.com/account/enrollCommunityRewardsNow.

Then, create an account, search for Read Aloud West Virginia and within 7-10 business days, you will be enrolled in the program.

This enrollment is completely free and Kroger directly donates a percentage of your purchases to Read Aloud West Virginia.

Purchases are eligible at any West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky or Virginia location.

Kroger Fuel Points are not impacted by your enrollment.

Once enrolled, simply swipe your Kroger Plus card or enter your alternate ID (typically a phone number) at check out and Read Aloud benefits from your shopping!

Please be advised that each year you must re-enroll in the program.

This is a great way to be involved with Read Aloud and give back to your community!

 

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WVDE brings good news to Read Aloud’s annual conference

by NewsPartnersSupporters

Another successful Read Aloud Conference is in the books! Chapter representatives gathered July 24 and 25 at Stonewall Resort in Roanoke, West Virginia to network, share ideas and plan for the year ahead.

Read Aloud West Virginia welcomed not only chapter representatives, but also State Associate Superintendent of Schools Clayton Burch, along with Charlotte Webb, Coordinator of the Department of Education’s Office of Early Learning. Burch, who was the featured keynote speaker for the conference, affirmed an ongoing, natural partnership between Read Aloud West Virginia and the West Virginia Department of Education (WVDE).

Reiterating Read Aloud’s core values, Burch noted the important work the organization is doing in the classroom and in support of parents and families. Burch believes we can only “move the needle” on educational improvement if we change our culture to place a high value on education and engage families as well as educators to expect the best from our children. He cited the success of a Read Aloud summer reading project at Crichton Elementary as an example of engaging families and encouraging reading outside the classroom. At Crichton, students were able to choose six books to add to their home libraries and read during the summer. This project served to prevent the phenomenon known as “summer-slide.”

As he brought his remarks to a close, Burch surprised his audience with the announcement that the WVDE had chosen to award two grants to Read Aloud West Virginia, totaling $75,000. These grants are the first Read Aloud has received from the WVDE and are a significant tribute to the work of our volunteers around the state.

Following a motivating opening, the conference attendees were briefed on the Read Aloud “Year in Review” and chapters were given the opportunity to share their success stories as well as challenges they faced in the previous year. An entirely new Resource Kit was distributed to each representative in attendance and new marketing materials such as brochures and banners were on display for chapters’ use.  Staff members of the state Read Aloud office also shared reports from their departments.

Following the sessions, representatives networked with other attendees to develop connections and share resources from their respective locations. Attendees consisted of both veterans and newcomers to the conference, but the passion they share for Read Aloud West Virginia united them and yielded a productive retreat for all.

Banking on Books

Local banks put books into kids’ hands

by BooksChaptersNewsSupporters

A summer program by Jackson County—reprinted with permission from Jackson Newspapers

In the financial world, it’s common for banks to be in stiff competition with each other, offering better rates and incentives to gain new customers.

In Jackson County, three banks are joining together as a team on a project that will make a positive impact on the lives of children, ages 10 and under.

Starting June 19, United Bank, City National Bank and BB&T offered the second annual “Banking on Books” campaign.

In cooperation with Jackson County Read Aloud, each bank purchased 250 books to give to drive-through customers who have children under the age of 10 in the car with them. One book was given to each vehicle. The books were available at United Bank in Ripley, City National Bank in Ripley, and BB&T in Ripley and Ravenswood.

Both Kerry Casto, Market President for United Bank and Nick Miller, BB&T Vice-President, were enthusiastic about this opportunity to encourage and support reading.

“I serve on the Jackson County Read Aloud Board,” Casto said. “There’s no greater reward than to see a child excited about getting a book. With “Banking on Books,” our window tellers can see the kids’ faces light up when they’re handed a book. It’s a lot better than candy.”

Miller agrees with the importance of this campaign. “Our banks definitely support reading and life-long learning,” he said. “We were concerned last year that doing this might be a burden to our tellers. But it was just the opposite. They loved it.”

Jackson County Read Aloud worked closely with the book selection. There was a variety of books, geared mainly to elementary level, including board books and chapter books.

According to Linda Dickirson, Jackson Read Aloud board member, the inspiration for the book give away came from the Read Aloud West Virginia Conference.

“We learned about Lewisburg’s Literacy Day and their bank giveaway,” she said. “When we brought the idea back with us, our board and these three banks enthusiastically embraced it. And it’s really taken off. We hope it expands to the other banks in the area as well. There’s no doubt they all support reading and education.”

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What’s the point of a Read Aloud conference?

by ChaptersNews

By Melody Simpson

The fourth annual Read Aloud Conference will be held July 24-25 at Stonewall Resort in Roanoke, West Virginia. As in prior years, Read Aloud West Virginia will pay for two representatives from each county chapter to attend the conference, but more may attend at personal or county expense. Information on this year’s conference has been sent to county chapter leadership, along with a pre-conference survey for registering attendees and seeking input for the content of the conference.

This event offers the only chance each year for representatives from all participating county chapters to gather together and share successes, failures, ideas, plans, and challenges, and to prepare for the year ahead. With 30 West Virginia counties participating in Read Aloud, it is likely that there are 30 different projects, approaches, or ideas being used. West Virginians have always been creative, and this is as true when promoting a love of reading as it is anywhere else. Many participants in past years have reported leaving the conference energized and freshly motivated, with new ideas and partners (both within and outside their county) identified.

In addition to the networking and collaborative opportunities, Read Aloud West Virginia uses the conference to distribute support materials, such as updates to the Read Aloud Resource Kit and new posters or pamphlets, and to introduce other materials being developed for “testing” during the upcoming year. Finally, the conference provides an opportunity for Read Aloud West Virginia to acquaint county chapters with other organizations or programs working to improve reading readiness and literacy, where opportunities for additional collaboration or partnerships at the local level may exist.

The conference will begin at noon on Monday and end around 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday. So, county leadership, be sure to identify and register the two (or more!) representatives from your chapter who will attend this year!

Melody Simpson is an attorney at Bowles Rice LLP, a volunteer reader and a member of the Read Aloud West Virginia board and newsletter committee.

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Author Pam Miller visits local schools

by NewsSupporters

Children’s book author, Pam Miller, from Shepherdstown, West Virginia, visited Madison Elementary in Boone County and Cedar Grove Elementary in Kanawha County on May 9 and 10, 2017. She made multiple presentations in each school, told stories to students and discussed her own writing process.  Explaining her stories usually begin with a question she asks herself,  Mrs. Miller noted her stories undergo many revisions before they appear in print. Students were encouraged to take the questions they ask themselves and begin writing stories of their own.

Pam, a retired teacher, presents the weekly story time for three to five-year-olds at the Shepherdstown Public Library and at the Shepherdstown Day Care Center and was excited to share her stories with the students at Madison and Cedar Grove. In addition to the visit, Pam and her husband, Lex, also made a donation of $500 per school to Read Aloud for the purchase of books for the schools she visited.

Pam has published works for children ranging in age from four to 11 years old. Farmer McFee was published by MacMillan. Sand and Wrinkles are books for young children published by Scholastic. A portion of Pam’s latest book, Down Chestnut Street won the 2009 West Virginia Writing Contest, children’s category.  Her stories have appeared in Ladybug, Turtle and Highlights magazines. Pam is also a two-time winner in the Highlights Fiction Contest and recently joined the Jefferson County Read Aloud board.

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National Book grant books distributed throughout WV

by Book DistributionNews

By Lesley McCullough McCallister

Read Aloud West Virginia was selected by the Coughlan Companies Communities Fund, in partnership with GreaterGood.org (GGO), to receive a National Book grant valued at nearly $200,000. The gift includes thousands of books that will directly benefit West Virginia children and families.

A portion of those books arrived at the Read Aloud office in Charleston at the end of March. For more than eight hours on Saturday, March 25, volunteer students from Bridge Valley Community and Technical College and Charleston Catholic High School helped package and prepare more than 7,200 books for distribution to 32 Read Aloud West Virginia member schools throughout the state.

These generous volunteers performed a myriad of tasks, including making sure each book received a Read Aloud book plate so the student receiving the book could proudly write his or her name in his or her very own, brand new book. Additionally, students pushed shopping carts around tables in the Columbia Gas building auditorium with “shopping lists” for each school, packaged and labeled shipping boxes, and then loaded the boxes into the rental van for delivery. Each enrolled Read Aloud West Virginia school received 20 books per Read Aloud classroom, and deliveries were made to member schools before the end of the school year.

Executive Director Mary Kay Bond noted the importance of getting these books in the hands of students before the end of the school year, just in time to highlight the importance of summer reading among all students.

“Far too often children lose reading skills over the summer due to a lack of reading,” said Bond. “The result is that teachers have to spend important classroom time at the beginning of the next school year bringing students back to their previous skill level. This remediation time is not necessary if children maintain skills over the summer, and they can do so by reading.”

A second shipment of books is being prepared for distribution at a later time. Once the remaining books are added to the count, Read Aloud West Virginia will have distributed more than 11,000 books from the National Book grant throughout the Mountain State.

Lesley McCullough McCallister is a Read Aloud supporter, volunteer reader, newsletter contributor and a freelance journalist.

Ross Foundation funds program support, technology upgrades

by DonorsNewsSupporters

By Melody Simpson

Many thanks go to The Ross Foundation, a family foundation operating in the Mid-Ohio Valley region, for its recent $44,000 grant to Read Aloud West Virginia! A portion of this grant is for sustaining (or starting) Read Aloud programs in Jackson, Pleasants and Wood counties; the balance is for upgrading Read Aloud’s database. Thanks to this grant, we are completing a significant upgrade to our database program which will enable us to better track and communicate with those who are so critical to our programs’ success—our donors, volunteer readers, county coordinators and many more.

It is somewhat unusual for donors to grant funds for operating costs like salaries and technology, but Tres Ross, executive director of The Ross Foundation, recognizes the value of this type of investment. Ross, who is also involved with the West Virginia Nonprofit Association and Philanthropy West Virginia, has broad experience with what makes nonprofits successful. “I know many funders are hesitant to support overhead,” Ross commented, but said he has come to realize that nonprofit organizations need financial resources to grow their programs, and things like quality staff and technology are critical to this success.

“Over the years,” Ross noted, “I realized that ‘what you get is what you pay for.’  If you want to grow an organization and have it become a key player in the community, then you need to pay for that quality staff to implement programs.” A Wall Street Journal article entitled, “Why Can’t We Sell Charity Like We Sell Perfume?” reinforced his thoughts on nonprofit funding needs.

In 2013, three leading sources of information about U.S. charities—BBB Wise Giving Alliance, Charity Navigator, and GuideStar—jointly wrote an open letter to charitable donors called “The Overhead Myth.” After noting the tendency of donors to focus too much on the percentage of expenditures going toward administrative and fundraising costs when deciding which charities to support, they assert that many charities should actually spend more on overhead than they do, in areas such as training, planning, evaluation and internal systems to increase their charitable impact. The open letter includes some surprising statistics on the importance of spending on overhead, and the danger of underinvesting in the type of critical infrastructure that keeps a nonprofit healthy and successful. For more information on this joint letter, see http://overheadmyth.com/.

Read Aloud’s programs, and their success, depend on educating parents, teachers, school administrators, and businesses about the critical importance of modeling the joy of reading  to encourage children to want to learn to read.  They also depend on recruiting, training, supporting, retaining, and tracking volunteer readers across West Virginia, and on creating, training, supporting, retaining, and sustaining strong county chapters (currently 30 and counting). Our “output,” while including some tangible items like books to distribute, is largely reflected in intangibles:  Read Aloud conferences which reenergize county chapters and volunteers and help them share ideas; schools which welcome volunteer readers into their classrooms; trained volunteer readers who dependably show up each week to share their love of books; and ultimately, in more children learning, and loving, to read. All these may then be reflected in rising reading scores in schools and counties which have vibrant Read Aloud programs.  But none of this happens without mundane “overhead-type” investments—like upgraded database software.

The Ross Foundation “gets it.”  For this, we are exceedingly grateful.

Melody Simpson is an attorney at Bowles Rice LLP, a volunteer reader and a member of the Read Aloud West Virginia board and newsletter committee.