The Raising A Reader (RAR) committee of The Monday Club will continue this successful program to further our mission of promoting childhood literacy and providing access to books for children. Our continued outreach effort will help provide books to more children, not just those who participate in the RAR program through their schools. Clean out your bookshelves and attic, have a little fun shopping in for children’s books, tell your family and friends, and let’s collect books!
We will collect new and “gently loved” children’s books (Infant – Grade 6) from the community and deliver them to the SLO Food Bank to be distributed via a program called “Breakfast Bags.” These are drawstring backpacks given to youth under 18, which are filled with 3 weeks’ worth of shelf stable, easy-to-prepare breakfast items and other resource material, distributing 9,900 of these bags per year to 40 sites. The Food Bank staff will put the donated books into the Breakfast Bags, ultimately getting them into the hearts and homes of children without access to books in their homes, and helping to foster a life-long love of reading. Our goal is to provide books to all 40 sites.
We will also donate books to the County-wide Raising A Reader program events in October, so that each child who participates in the RAR event at their school receives a book to keep, along with a personal invitation to the parents outlining all the benefits of reading to your child. This gift of a book could be the start of a home library for many children.
Labels will be added inside each donated book cover, and will include printed bilingual “Reading Tips” for families.
We will launch this year’s book drive on May 9 at 1:30 p.m. at The Monday Club with a presentation of a donation to the Community Foundation for Raising A Reader. Our $5,000 donation will fund starting a\ Raising A Reader program in a new classroom. We welcome the community to join us!
The Community Foundation of SLO has been the largest donor to the Raising A Reader program in the County and has kept RAR in the classrooms through consistent donations for many years. According to Shannon Pimental (COE Employee), “without the consistent donations of the CF, there wouldn’t be a RAR program in this county”.
Our first collection day will be May 9, from 2-5 p.m. Donations may be dropped off to a large red wagon at the side entrance of the Club. Books should be new or gently used, non-religious, and for children, ages Infant through Grade 6, including books in Spanish and other languages.
Future Book Drop-off dates: second and fourth Mondays in May, June and July, 2-5 p.m. Note: drop-off time for May 23 is 12-3 p.m.
We hope you all will join us in donating to this exciting project!
For more information about the Raising a Reader Program and Monday Club member volunteers, visit https://www.themondayclubslo.org/RAR.