If you're having trouble viewing this email, you may see it online
 
 

March Newsletter


Our Impact


A note from Jennifer

“The key to developing young learners into engaged, active, and innovative thinkers is instilling in them a love of reading at an early age.” If you haven’t read this Proclamation for Read Across America Day it is quite inspiring and speaks to our mission. I encourage you to read it regardless of your political persuasion.

Read Across America Day is an important day for us and so is the month of March. It is our survey month and if you partner with, or are served by us, I hope you will take the time to help us understand how we impact you and how we could do better. 

Finally, as we begin to celebrate 20 years of service to our region, we are so pleased to announce some exciting programming later this month; special guest Corinna Luyken will be joining us to read her soon to be released beauty, The Tree in Me. More information to come. I hope you will join us. 

“Reading is the gateway to countless skills and possibilities.” Thank you for partnering with us as we strive to bring the joy and promise of books and reading to all South Sound children.

Happy reading!

Jennifer W. Forster, Executive Director


March Surveys - chance to win a giftcard!

It's that time again! The South Sound Reading Foundation wants to hear from you about our services and the impact we've had on you, your family, and your community. Please take some time to fill out a few surveys, each with 6-8 short questions, so that we can better serve you. Each survey will enter you into a drawing to win a $25 Barnes and Noble gift card!! Parent Survey PreK-2 Survey 3-12 Survey


RSVP for Virtual Benefit Breakfast 4/15

Join us in sharing inspiring stories, honoring literacy champions, and raising essential funds to help families enjoy reading together every day so all children reach their full potential! RSVP by 3/20 to ask Nancy a question!


Spring into Reading Book Drive (March-May)

Get a jumpstart on Spring cleaning by donating your gently-used Children's books! And, become a Spring into Reading champion by hosting your own book drive on behalf of the South Sound Reading Foundation! Please reach out to Sarah Gage, sgage@nthurston.k12.wa.us, if you would like to host a Spring into Reading book drop off. We will then coordinate pick-up of any books you collect and highlight your incredible work on our social media pages. 


Share Your Story!

Have you or your children been impacted by the South Sound Reading Foundation's services? Maybe your little one is reading more thanks to our Bag O' Books program, or maybe you're reading more with your kiddo as part of our "Read 20 Minutes A Day!" mission. How ever we've impacted you and your family, we'd love to hear it! Everyone who submits a story will be entered into a drawing to win a $100 Barnes & Noble gift card and mystery book bags! Participants can submit a recorded retelling of their story, or submit a short paragraph and picture. Stories, videos, and pictures can be emailed to read2me@nthurston.k12.wa.us, or they can be uploaded to this Jotform.


Literacy Champion nominations accepted through 3/15

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.


Spring Monthly Book Giveaway!

Giveaway Alert! If you've looked outside today, you've seen that Spring has come early for us! To celebrate, the theme of our giveaway this month is SPRING.

TO ENTER: Share this post on Facebook and comment your favorite spring themed emoji! 🌷 🌼 🌈 🐥 We will randomly choose a winner on 03/31/2021 and reach out to schedule a delivery or pick-up. Winner must live in Thurston or Mason county.

Enter here!


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: 

We are excited to have a partnership with WSU to create virtual stories! As you know, our in person story times have taking a long hiatus due to COVID. This is a much loved program that we will be reinstituting as soon as it is safe to do so. In the meantime, we are partnering with students at WSU through the Center for Civic Engagement. Many students in the Early Childhood Development program are choosing to use the virtual story time as a learning opportunity. So far, we have more than 20 students signed up for the project using the Give Pulse volunteer platform. Give Pulse is an online resource for organizing community volunteer involvement. You can find us there, at www.givepulse.com. If anyone is interested in submitting story time videos, we have guidelines for participating and would love to hear from you! It is a fun project and we hope it will be enjoyed by families as an alternative to in person stories. We all love and miss story time! We are in this together. We look forward to the time when we can meet in the same room in the company of others as we encourage literacy and make lasting memories and connections for families in our community.

Volunteers safely contributed 90 hours of service in the month of February, a gift worth $2450! Check out our online calendar for future volunteer events and contact read2me@nthurston.k12.wa.us for more information. 


We would like to give a huge thank you to all the meal site partnerships we currently have: Nisqually Middle School, Pleasant Glade Elementary School, Saint Martins University, and the Family Youth Resource Center! Without these wonderful partnerships, we wouldn't be able to give nearly as many books out to the community as we currently are. Thank you to all of these sites for the opportunities you've given us to spread the joy of reading to the children of South Sound!

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


 
This email was sent to asipher@nthurston.k12.wa.us. To ensure that you continue receiving our emails, please add our email to your address book or safe list.
 
To unsubscribe from future mailings please click here
 
Powered By Neon One