The next time you’re in the U District, swing by University Book Store on the Ave to pick up a couple children’s books for the Graduate Hotel’s book drive benefiting Page Ahead.
They have a goal of collecting 100 brand-new kids’ books in October and November, and U Book Store has LOTS of great titles they’ve prepared that the kids we serve would be thrilled to have on their shelves. Books can be dropped off at the front desk of the Graduate Hotel (4507 Brooklyn Ave NE) . . . and they’ll even given you a discount on a cup of coffee at their coffee shop, Poindexter!
No plans to be in the U District any time soon? Shop this list online and books will automatically be shipped to Page Ahead and counted into the Graduate Hotel total goal. (Plus Page Ahead will get 10% of the purchase price back through Bookshop.org!)
The rumors are true: there’s a new pageahead.org! BIG thank you to our friends at White Rabbit who designed and built it for us.
PACCAR + Mariners = Books for Kids
PACCAR has teamed up with the Seattle Mariners through the RBIs for Literacy program to benefit Page Ahead, and together, they create thousands of reading opportunities for kids in need. Now in its 16th season, this incredible partnership has given over 280,000 books to create home libraries for more than 23,000 kids who need them most.
Pictured left to right is PACCAR Foundation executive Ken Hastings, PACCAR Kenworth employee Tera McCormack, Page Ahead executive director Susan Dibble, and Page Ahead board member Bri Pentecost.
And that’s only part of the story. PACCAR employees also support kids and reading by holding a company-wide book drive and volunteering to read with students. This September they collected 2,650 new books via their book drive. Thank you, PACCAR, for your incredible partnership!
Plan a holiday book drive
Hosting a book drive to benefit the kids Page Ahead serves is a great way for your company, corporate team, or even a group like an extended family or book club to celebrate the spirit of giving AND make a difference in a child’s life.
Thank you to our friends at Stryker who held an amazing book drive last year—and are at it again this year!
Frequently asked question:
Will you take my slightly used kids’ books? They’re in good condition!
Answer:
No (though we do have some suggestions of other places that will take used books); we think it’s especially important that the kids we serve get to have NEW books. “We’ve had hand-me-down books for a long time,” a parent of a kindergartner at Arlington Elementary in Tacoma told us recently. “For my daughter to receive new books, it makes her feel as though they were special for her and it motivates her to read more.”
Fall is workplace giving season
Did you know you can support kids and reading through a payroll deduction? Workplace campaigns allow you to designate Page Ahead as your charity of choice—simply select Page Ahead (AKA Books for Kids) on your giving form or in your corporate giving portal.
We are also happy to come speak (virtually) at any campaign kickoffs or team meetings—just get in touch. Email us!
Returning to the office this fall? Continuing remote work for the immediate future? If you’d like to hold a workplace fundraiser or book drive either online or in person, we can help with that, too!Click herefor ideas or get in touch.
Public employees campaign codes for Page Ahead (AKA Books for Kids):
Combined Federal Campaign (CFC), federal employees: #47136
Combined Fund Drive of Washington (CFD), state employees: #0315741
King County employees: #2751
In memoriam
We are sad to report that a very beloved Page Ahead volunteer and friend, Jane Hodges, has recently passed away. After teaching in the Edmonds School District for more than twenty years, Jane joined Page Ahead as a volunteer in 2016. Jane was a dedicated Story Time volunteer for the kindergarten classrooms at Hawthorne Elementary School and a fearless book fair helper at many of the schools we serve with Book Up Summer. She was willing to go where the need was greatest, no matter how far the drive, as she enjoyed traveling. She will be dearly missed, and her memory will be an inspiration.
Jane Hodges during a Story Time
“Miss Jane became a favorite visitor in my kindergarten classroom this year. She brought engaging new books and presented them with enthusiasm. The children loved listening to her and the follow-up craft was both meaningful and easy to assemble.” — teacher, Hawthorne Elementary School
“Jane comes prepared with her book and lesson plan organized. She is excellent in managing the classroom environment during story time and craft time. She is always upbeat and cheerful, and she spreads sunshine whenever she comes to visit. The students LOVE Miss Jane the Story Lady!”— teacher, Hawthorne Elementary School
Coming soon: First Tech’s Season of Giving
Our friends at First Tech Federal Credit Union will once again be running their Season of Giving community campaign, and Page Ahead will be in running for a $7,500 grant!
Voting opens November 1, so stay tuned—your vote could make the difference for Page Ahead and the kids we serve!
If you think Page Ahead is a great nonprofit, let us know!
GreatNonprofits—a review site like TripAdvisor—is honoring highly reviewed nonprofits with their 2022 Top-Rated Awards. Your review of your experience being part of the Page Ahead community will help us raise visibility (and funds from more supporters!). It’s easy and will take just two minutes. Go to our page on GreatNonprofits.org to get started!
Successful sports teams bring money into their hometowns, but not just for T-shirts, beer and ball caps. Seattle nonprofits (including Page Ahead!) say they too are getting a windfall from the Mariners’ winning season.
The creative problem-solvers at White Rabbit Group built this beautiful new site for us, and we’re so grateful for their generous donation of their time and expertise—and we’re sending especially BIG thanks to Natalie Samaniego and Casey Trauty for their project management and design skills that helped make this long-awaited project a reality.
Please explore and click around, and if you run into any bugs or issues, please let us know at info@pageahead.org.
Hosting a book drive to benefit the kids Page Ahead serves is a great way for a company, corporate team, or even a group like an extended family or book club to celebrate the spirit of giving AND make a difference in a child’s life.
Thank you to our friends at Stryker who held an amazing book drive last year—and are at it again this year!
Fall is the perfect time of year to get your holiday book drive plans in motion! You can collect books in person, online, or both, and Page Ahead will help you along the way if you have any questions. Check out our book drive page to learn more.
However, when preschool children listen to stories, the areas of their brains that support mental imagery and narrative comprehension—that is, understanding meaning—are activated.
Page Ahead’s Story Leaders program combines the impact of hear-and-say story times and the power of building home libraries to help children at government-supported preschool programs develop important preliteracy skills to get them ready for kindergarten and beyond.
Preschoolers in Tukwila enjoy a reading of Story Leaders book The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear in 2022
A reading intervention that trains educators and families in evidence-based shared reading techniques for preschool children, Story Leaders rapidly develops vocabulary and language skills and provides eight free books that the students have read in class during the school year to take home, building both their home libraries and reinforcing the home–school connection.
Story Leaders is delivered in public Head Start and ECEAP (Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program) preschool classrooms where roughly 45 percent of the students are children of color and about one third speak a language other than English at home. It supplements existing curriculum and resources, helping to dismantle the literacy achievement gap that is too often experienced by children of color and children from under-resourced communities before that gap becomes irreversible. And it helps teachers, families, and children engage in meaningful, joyful reading together!
Students at Lake Grove Elementary in Federal Way “shop” for their twelve free books at their Book Up Summer book fair in spring 2022
Page Ahead’s programs are designed to close that gap before it happens—we focus on reaching children furthest from educational opportunity in the earliest stages in their development. Based on a highly regarded 2010 Department of Education–funded study, our Book Up Summer program gives students in grades K–2 at majority low-income elementary schools reading material for summer vacation—at no cost to them or their families.
Instead of a summer setback, Book Up Summer students experience a boost! According to 2018 Seattle Public Schools testing data, Book Up Summer students show an average improvement in reading skills of 2.63 points over the summer for rising first graders and 1.84 points over the summer for rising second graders.
To see these students, who would typically slide back, actually gaining reading skill is a powerful endorsement of this summer-reading model.
Page Ahead is pleased to present the 2022 Sarajane Beal Award for Volunteer Excellence to Laurie Rich.
Stacey Lane (left), Laurie Rich, and Lisa Ceniceros (right)
Laurie began volunteering for Page Ahead in 2019 and quickly became a valued member of Page Ahead’s volunteer team. Laurie is a retired elementary school teacher from the Tukwila School District and has been a dedicated Story Time volunteer, reading to children both at Thorndyke Elementary and at our summer Story Times at High Point and the Ballard Locks. This past spring, she also worked as a Book Up Summer book fair helper for several of our schools in Seattle and Tukwila. Additionally, Laurie has become an essential and priceless member of the Book Oasis team.
Laurie is responsible for repairing all 19 of the Book Oases, and she also restocks five of the Book Oases in West Seattle. This past year, she has coordinated 17 different repair jobs, including everything from fixing a broken latch to installing brand-new doors. In fact, just today, she installed a new door at our Book Oasis up on Greenwood! Laurie has also spent many hours keeping her five Oases stocked with books, free from trash, and in tip-top shape for the community; she has performed 54 different restocks in this past year!
Laurie’s passion for Page Ahead and the Book Oasis project contributes to our continued success of providing books to so many children. Thank you, Laurie! You truly make a difference at Page Ahead!
And we’ve seen positive impacts like that here in Washington, too. Access to books through our Book Up Summer program has functioned as a protective factor during the pandemic, which has knocked back students at all levels. Seattle low-income fourth graders who had participated in Book Up Summer in their K–2 years have slid back nearly four points less in their reading scores than their statewide low-income peers (a drop of 9.7 points for Seattle Book Up Summer students vs. 13.3 points for statewide low-income students).
As the authors of the Australian study say in their conclusion, “Children can be resilient, but need society’s assistance.” And they need books, too!
