February Newsletter

Our Impact

A note from Jennifer

This month as we move through winter, books beckon us to other worlds, experiences, and perspectives. I’m reading Kacen Callender's King and the Dragonflies, winner of the 2020 National Book Award for Young People's Literature. Every time I pick up the book I am carried away to a Louisiana Bayou and into the life of twelve year old King.

Books transport and transform us. What are you reading?

Happy reading!

Jennifer W. Forster, Executive Director

Know a Literacy Champion? Nominate them for the 2021 Literacy Champion Awards by March 15!

We're requesting nominations for the Lois Asay Literacy Champion Award for Adults and the Shirlee Lehnis Literacy Champion Award for children and/or youth. These awards will go to the individual or group who has done something exceptional to promote literacy. Awards will be presented at our virtual Readers Are Leaders Benefit Breakfast on Thursday, April 15.

To nominate a Literacy Champion, please submit a paragraph detailing the nominees’ activities and why you feel they should receive the award by March 15. Please forward questions and nominations to: read2me@nthurston.k12.wa.us.

Black History Month Book Giveaway!

Giveaway alert! This giveaway's theme is Celebrating Black History Month and diversity! The winner of this giveaway will receive 5 high-quality picture books.
Visit our Facebook page to share this post or comment to enter!

Sponsor Spotlight: 2021 Opportunities Available Now!

Many thanks to these generous community businesses and organizations whose recently renewed support is helping families enjoy reading together every day so all children can reach their full potential:

Interested in becoming a sponsor? 2021 sponsorship opportunities for our programs, 20th Anniversary Celebration, Readers are Leaders and Books by the Bay events are available now! Contact Amanda for details.

Volunteer Connections: First United Methodist Church of Olympia

A huge thank you to First United Methodist Church of Olympia for hosting a book party at our office! This lovely group of youth helped us immensely by processing, cleaning, and stickering our book donations. Because of their help, hundreds of books have been shelved and will be going out to organizations and schools all over Thurston and Mason counties! Thank you!!

Volunteers safely contributed 82 hours of service in the month of January, a gift worth $2090! Check out our online calendar for future volunteer events and contact read2me@nthurston.k12.wa.us for more information.

Partners Spotlight

These community partners are essential to our mission and made it possible for us to share 5881 books with children and families last month through our Literacy Bookshelves, Book Van, and Books for the Break programs!

Campus Children's Center
Family Education & Support Services
Herta's In-home Care (Lacey)
Hood Canal School
Jump for Joy Too Childcare Center
Little Tykes Preschool
Mount Olive Lutheran Daycare & Preschool (Shelton)
North Thurston Public Schools: Family & Youth Resource Center, Nisqually, Komachin, Salish, Chinook, Aspire, Pleasant Glade, Chambers Prairie, Lacey, Lydia Hawk, Lakes, Meadows, Evergreen Forest, Mountain View, Olympic View, South Bay
Olympia Boys & Girls Club
Our Place to Grow (Yelm)
Periwinkle Preschool
Providence Women's & Children's Services (Olympia)
Rochester Book Bus
Rhonda's Rascals (Olympia)
Rochester School District: Rochester Primary
Sanders Home Day Care
SeaMar Maternity Suport Services
Shelton Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP)
Skokomish Headstart
Squaxin Island Child Development Center
St. Martin's University/Thurston County Food Bank
Tenino School District: Tenino Elementary
Thurston County Corrections Facility
Thurston County Juvenile & Family Court
TOGETHER!
Tumwater School District: East Olympia, Peter G. Schmidt
Turning Point (Olympia)
Yelm Community Schools: Lackamas Elementary

Visit our website and follow us on Facebook to learn more about our programs or request services!

Recently one of our AmeriCorps members developed a new way for our volunteers stay connected, creating our new Volunteer's Community Digest! These weekly emails could consist of anything from updates about what's happening at our office to human interest stories from the community. They could also include activities like writing and photography prompts that recipients can then share with the rest of the group, as well as book disussions sections where readers can discuss and recommend what they've been reading.

If you're interested in receiving SSRF's new Volunteer's Community Digest, please join us at our SSRF Volunteer Facebook Group!