Read to Them, a family literacy non-profit headquartered in Richmond, is hosting a week of community support events during this year’s Read Aloud to a Child Week.
Each year, Read to Them sponsors Read Aloud to a Child Week, Sunday, October 20 through Saturday, October 26, as a national event to showcase the importance of reading aloud to children and encourage families to read together. Read Aloud to a Child Week is meant to be a stress-free way for everyone to engage with the literacy community, no matter what read aloud experience they may have.
Read to Them was founded in Richmond, launching their first school-wide reading event at Fox Elementary School. Since its inception, Read to Them has helped add over 4 million books to home libraries across the country, with a presence in 3,300 schools in all 50 states.
“Though our programs have grown to a nationwide scale, we have always endeavored to do what we can for our hometown,” says Christa Donohue, executive director of Read to Them. “Read to Them has a long history promoting family literacy and nourishing a love of reading throughout the City of Richmond. We are thrilled to have boots on the ground and look forward to providing as many books as we can to children and families in our community.”
Community Events to Celebrate Read to Them
Read to Them’s schedule of community support events includes filling Free Little Libraries across Richmond, donating and assembling bookcases along with books to Maymont Preschool’s Book Nook, providing books to United Way of Greater Richmond and Petersburg’s annual Literacy Kit Drive, and reading aloud to students at Mary Scott Preschool and Oak Grove-Bellemeade Elementary School. Staff and Board Members from Read to Them will also ride along with the Richmond Public Library’s Lit Limo and Enchanting Bookmobile and give away books to children at FRIENDS Association for Children, Randolph Community Center, Lois Harrison Elementary, and Fox Elementary.
Support for Read to Them will be shown throughout the week where MOSAIC Restaurant (Wednesday, 5-9pm), Gelati Celesti – Scott’s Addition (Thursday, 3-9pm), and Kendra Scott – Short Pump (Friday, 5:30-7:30pm) will give a portion of their proceeds to support Read to Them programs like Virginia Reads One Book and Imagination Library RVA.
Read to Them thanks the Richmond community for a wonderful twenty years and is eager for all that is to come in the twenty years ahead.
About Read to Them & Imagination Library RVA:
Since 2004, Read to Them’s family literacy programs have used the power of reading aloud together to build connections across families, schools, and communities to cultivate students’ learning and success. Their flagship program, One School, One Book®, helps educators select a book that each student in a school will receive to read at home as a family. At school, students celebrate and explore the novel with their classmates. This essential strategy reinforces reading instruction, increases parental involvement, bridges the home-school connection and builds a true community of readers. One School, One Book® has been expanded to suit district and state-wide needs. For more information, please visit readtothem.org.
As of June 2023, Read to Them has served as the local affiliate for Dolly’s Imagination Library. As an affiliate of the program, Read to Them helps provide a free, age-appropriate, high-quality book each month to registered children from birth to age five. These books are mailed directly to the child’s home to create a gifting experience that makes books exciting and shows the child someone is thinking of them. To register your child, please visit imaginationlibraryrva.org.
For book recommendations for kids of all ages from Read to Them, visit Pages for All Ages.
