By Lori Cothrun
Photos by Denise Gary
The traditional definition of a volunteer is a person who freely takes on a task. While this may be the case, the volunteers at Kids Need to Read are so much more than a traditional definition. We would define them as caring, wonderful, generous, hardworking, determined, and quirky. They are the foundation of what keeps our ship flying, so we decided to host a mixer that allowed our volunteers to spend time with each other outside of our normal working environment.
Our volunteers were invited to a casual mixer with a fun Valentine theme to show our appreciation. There was plenty of food, including the delectable baked goods seen in this photo!
We had wonderful support from local businesses as they donated a variety of items to our door prizes! Many thanks to Arizona Museum of Natural History, Arizona Renaissance Festival, Baby Kay’s Cajun Kitchen, Bookmans Entertainment Exchange, and Phoenix Comicon for such wonderful generosity!
Operations Director Lori Cothrun draws names for the door prizes!
Everyone walked away happy as they chose their prizes. The winner of The Arizona Renaissance Festival basket, Drew, chose to donate one item from the prize to KNTR—a new children’s book! Love is Real, by Janet Lawler is a delightful story celebrating the power of love with foxes, bunnies, and bears.
There were also freebies for everyone!
This is only a small part of our Kids Need to Read family. Words cannot express the undying gratitude we have for our supporters all over the world. We thank each and every one of you.
We consider ourselves very lucky to have the opportunity to spend time with our local volunteers!
The evening’s prizes:
