Submitted by Executive Director Joan Wabschall, R.N., M.S.
Who comes up with these designations for specific days? Although I can’t answer that question, I have decided to use October 19th as a reason to report on the many activities going on at BookSpring.
Our programs are in full swing and we are in 52 Elementary Schools, and Infant and Pre-school programs around Austin. We have been motivating children to read through fun activities that include magic tricks, camp fires and airplane rides (not real ones, though- thankfully, children have great imaginations!).
We welcomed the Lone Star Circle of Care clinic at Seton Northwest into our early literacy family recently and are excited to have their doctors and nurses giving parents the message that it is important to read aloud on a daily basis.
Our Parent Book Clubs started at Langford and Walnut Creek Elementary Schools this past week and parents are receiving instruction on the best practices for reading aloud.
In addition, we are gearing up for our 2014 Read-A-Thon, presented by Howdy Honda, which will be held January 27, 2014 – February 7, 2014. The theme this coming year will be “Read Across Austin.” We hosted the annual art contest to pick the art work that will be used as the logo and on all our promotional materials including the 2,000+ Read-A-Thon tee-shirts. Henna McRae, from The Girls School in Austin, was this years’ winner and was honored with all the finalists at a reception at Art on 5th. The Cat in the Hat assisted Chief of Staff for State Representative Doug Miller, District 73, Fritz Reinig, with the awards ceremony and everyone had a good time. Many thanks to all those who attended and made the event a fun time!
We’ve been giving out thousands of gently used books to our partner agencies lately and need your help to keep donations of those books coming in the door. The need for children’s books in our community (both new and used) is always great. If you have children’s books that you would like to donate, please let us know.
We are so thankful for the wonderful volunteers who help us sort book donations, label new books, read to children in our programs, or help us with work at the office. We’ve seen an increase in corporate volunteers and want to specifically thank the following companies for their support: The Junior League of Austin, 3M, Dell, AMD, Spansion, The Advisory Board, Hospira, AT& T WiFi and URS. If you would like to join this prestigious group of volunteers, contact Amanda Shaver, Volunteer Manager at Amanda.shaver@bookspring.org.
Our annual appeal will start soon and we hope that you will be generous in donating to us so we can keep all these wonderful programs serving the children of greater Austin. Checks should be made out to BookSpring and sent to us at PO Box 143147, Austin, TX 78714. You can also donate online at bookspring.org/donate-to-bookspring. As you “evaluate your life” today, I hope it will include support for BookSpring. Together, we will make a difference!
