News 2009

Share Literacy receives a $50,000 grant from Kaiser Permanente to allow over 17,000 underserved Bay Area children to receive books during the 2009 Holiday Season

Our very grateful thanks to Kaiser Permanente Community Grants Program for their continuing support and for their very generous grant in November 2009 of $50,000 to help us provide books to low-income and homeless children in Northern California. Programs around the Bay Area are writing to us weekly on how much this gift meant to the children in their programs, especially in these bad economic times. We were able to provide special readings at some schools for these giveaways. Sally Mallam read Dende Maro to third graders in the McEntee Academy in the Alum Rock School District in San Jose, CA. (For an article on the event, click here – 49 KB pdf.)

Volunteer Jonathan Russell read The Man with Bad Manners to first-graders at Martin Luther King Jr. School in Oakland, CA.  (For an article on the event, click here – 188 KB pdf.)

Some excerpts of letters received this season:

Schoolchildren from East Palo Alto enjoying
their holiday gift of Neem the Half-Boy
thanks to a grant from Kaiser Permanente
Community Benefits program and other
supporters. Share Literacy was able to
provide these books to the EPAK Foundation
to give out to children.

“This holiday season has been hard on nearly everyone, but because of donors like you our Center was able to provide gifts and fulfill wishes for families in need. Your generosity is more than greatly appreciated.” —Beth Stokes, Executive Director, Hamilton Family Center (San Francisco)

“Please know that you are helping us to make a difference in the lives of those whom we serve.” —Lesia Preston, Executive Director, Ecumenical Hunger Program (East Palo Alto, CA)

“The timing [of your gift] was excellent...the books found their way into many homes of both English and Spanish speaking children.” —Laura Welter, Director, Safe Passage Family Resource Center (Fort Bragg, CA)

“...thank you for your generous and thoughtful donation of all the new children’s books...every child loves to receive a new book and we all know it is a gift that gives over and over all year long. Your donation helps us serve the fastest growing segment of America’s roughly 3.5 million homeless people...Our clients know when they come here they will be treated like extended family. Sometimes that is all they need to help them turn their lives around. Having partners like you certainly helps.” —Martha Ryan, Executive Director, Homeless Prenatal Program (San Francisco)

“The parents in our program are thrilled to be able to choose such high quality books. Having books in Spanish is a real plus. We sincerely appreciate your generous donation... Thanks for making the holidays “brighter” in many respects for low-income families in Sunnyvale.” —Nancy S. Tivol, Executive Director, Sunnyvale Community Services (Sunnyvale, CA)

Hoopoe Books, Schools and Community Police Officers and Firefighters
Connect with Kids in Bay Area

Since early 2009, thanks to a grant from the Kaiser Permanente Community Benefit Program, and the Wells Fargo Foundation, as well as donations from other Share supporters and a matching grant of $70,000 in 2009 from the Will J. Reid Foundation, our goal has been to donate 30,000 books and ancillary teacher supplies to at-risk children in Northern California. We started toward this goal by providing materials to several San Francisco Bay Area schools and programs in the Spring of 2009 and are continuing to implement our plans to meet and exceed this goal.

Many programs have held special read-along events with ISHK volunteers as well as local police officers and firefighters. Here are some highlights for events held this past year.

IHSD (Institute for Human and Social Development) South San Francisco, CA:  IHSD received books to give out to all 750 children in their Head Start programs and their teachers received books, CDs and teaching guides. IHSD scheduled a special Literacy Day at one of the schools in East Palo Alto where officers from the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office and community firefighters conducted a read-along from The Clever Boy and the Terrible, Dangerous Animal and connected the story to safety for the kids. To read a letter from Mary Joy Duenas, the Special Projects Coordinator at ISHD, click here (325 KB pdf).

Preschoolers Become Readers of Hoopoe Stories in Fremont, CA:  Share donated books and teacher materials to Fremont Unified School District Preschools. For an article on a special read-along event with police officers, click here (112 KB pdf).

Noriega CDC Read-Along with Firefighters in San Francisco, CA:  Noriega Child Development Center received The Lion Who Saw Himself in the Water home literacy kits and teacher materials in June, and scheduled a special read-along with San Francisco officers and firefighters. To read a local article on the visit, click here (1.6 MB pdf).

San Francisco firefighter Miles Young reads to Noriega CDC students from
Lion Who Saw Himself in the Water at a special June 12 event, and a student
gives him a hug of appreciation.

East Palo Alto Kids Foundation Receives Books
from Hoopoe-Share

East Palo Alto, CA:  Share donated Hoopoe books, including Dende Maro: The Golden Prince by Sally Mallam, to the EPAK (East Palo Alto Kids Foundation). The Dende Maro books were used in a bookcase project for Costano School’s graduating second graders, where EPAK furnished each student with a beautiful bookcase stocked with books. Share Literacy also donated more Dende Maros to the East Palo schools for use in their art classes and libraries. To read an article from the local journal The Almanac on the special bookcase event, click here (20 KB pdf). For an article from the Palo Alto Daily on a reading from Dende Maro by author Sally Mallam at the Costano School event, click here (1.7 MB pdf).