By Zachary J Fox
Photos by Shelby McBride, Bruce Matsunaga, and Denise Gary
Highlights magazines are filling up the warehouse of Kids Need to Read and we are running out of room! This is thanks to everyone who participated in the Highlights #GivingTuesday project, which pledged 12 copies of Highlights magazines to Kids Need to Read for every new subscription ordered on #GivingTuesday, as well as one magazine per @highlights Twitter retweet on that day! Because of your support and generosity, Highlights for Children has donated a whopping 36,331 magazines to Kids Need to Read! We are getting buried over here!
Highlights magazines have become an integral part of KNTR’s programs since our partnership was established in 2009, so we are exceedingly grateful. We will be providing this precious gift to underfunded schools and literacy programs nationwide, as well as children visiting Kids Need to Read at various events.
Additionally, these magazines will be a great addition to KNTR’s new Page Coach project! The Page Coach is a mobile outreach vehicle used to deliver books and supplemental reading resources—including Highlights magazines—to children in low socioeconomic neighborhoods. For children who do not have access to books and other reading materials, The Page Coach will provide them with the means of exploring education and imagination, and the opportunity to practice their literary skills throughout the year, especially during the summer months when reading levels tend to slide.
Kids Need to Read will continue to use Highlights with the READ Together program, providing adult caregivers with fantastic and stimulating content to read to their children—an activity that is incredibly vital to building high reading proficiency skills. Most caregivers have fond memories of reading these magazines as children, which often times made a visit to a dentist or doctor’s office a more enjoyable experience! To find out more about READ Together or to download a guide of Family Reading Tips, please visit the READ Together web page.
We are deeply thankful to Highlights for Children and their staff who put together the #GivingTuesday campaign, as well as all of you who supported the magazine-raiser on behalf of Kids Need to Read! The magazines are a top-quality literacy resource for children and exceedingly valuable to our organization’s programs. Thank you all for this wonderful treasure!
