| Tuesday, March 18, 2008 |
| Let's help kids read! |
The local schools have been in the news here lately due to budget cuts. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has demanded a 10 percent cut across state services to help reduce a state budget deficit, and it looks like class sizes will be getting bigger and programs like music and sports will be drastically reduced or eliminated. Oh, and if you think you can avoid the problems by home-schooling your kids, think again.
These days, a lot of teachers have to resort to private donations to afford things like basic school supplies, audiovisual equipment -- even books! I was browsing the DonorsChoose.org database -- that's a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that matches givers with needy classrooms. The title of this post, "We Love Mysteries!," caught my eye, because, well, I love mysteries!
Reading teacher "Ms. F" is looking for $344 to buy books for her students (grades 3-5). "Our stock of books is sadly deteriorating after years of use," she writes. "Having their hands on books is what these kids need, since many of them come from families who simply cannot afford to buy books whenever they want!" She notes that the kids love reading mysteries, but also wants to "include more genres and more topics to motivate struggling readers."
So far, Ms. F has raised... $0 in the 5 weeks this post has been up at DonorsChoose.org. By the end of this week (March 23), I would like to fully fund Ms. F's request. I will match every dollar you donate. Every day this week, I'll check back in and see how the challenge is going. It will be really, really embarrassing if it's still $0, so please don't disappoint me. Even $1 or $5 will help.
Did I mention that DonorsChoose.org is a Charity Navigator 4-star charity, and that every DonorsChoose project must meet stringent eligibility requirements to make sure that your donation will go directly to help students?
Help fund this project!
Edited to add: I have no way of knowing who is donating; the people I thanked in the comments are the ones who let me know that they had given. If you do donate, you should receive a thank-you from the school.
Also, as I mention below, if my readers donate over $172 to this request, I will add the rest of my matching funds to another Ms. F project.
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posted by 125records @ 8:54 AM  |
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| 4 Comments: |
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I gave $40, in honor of many good times spent as a lad reading Encyclopedia Brown obsessively.
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Josh, you rock! Thanks also to my friends Janet R. and Vallery for donating. LESS THAN $100 TO GO, folks (remember, I've pledged $172 of my own money). In case my beloved readers give more than $172, I will select another Donors Choose project and direct my matching funds there. Maybe we can wrap this up early...?
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OK, if there are any excess funds, I'll apply them to another Ms. F project, Open New Worlds. That one's already partially funded.
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Thanks for alerting your pro-book and pro-kid readership to DonorsChoose.org. I found a worthy project at a school which is, really, just the other side of the tracks from my neighborhood. The teacher is not exaggerating about her students not having ready access to a public library; if anything, she understates the problem. Everyone should be in walking distance of a public library or a bookmobile stop. But who am I to say? Anyway here is the project at Como School.
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Name: Sue
Home: San Francisco Bay Area, California, United States
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I gave $40, in honor of many good times spent as a lad reading Encyclopedia Brown obsessively.