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NEWS
from
Reach Out and Read
Washington State
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Dear Friends,
It has been too long since we last communicated with you via our (usually) monthly newsletter. Back in January we shared with you that our previous Executive Director, Dr. Jill Sells, accepted a new position and left our organization. As you can imagine, it has been a busy time for us with much transition!
I am thrilled to share with you that, after serving in the role for an interim period, I was recently hired as the Executive Director for Reach Out and Read Washington State. I have been with our organization since 2010 and it is an honor to take on this leadership role. I know many of you from my time as Program Director and then Deputy Director, and I am greatly looking forward to meeting those of you I don't know.
We have made additional adjustments to our staff team, including several new promotions. We will be sharing information with you about each staff member and their role over the next several issues. In this newsletter you will get to meet our Assistant Director, Karen Aoyama. Additional information about our staff team is always available
on our website.
We also tell you about an amazing opportunity to help us receive a matching grant for this year's
GiveBIG event from
Comic Relief/Red Nose Day USA. If we can raise $5,000 between now and the evening of May 9 through GiveBIG, we will receive an additional $5,000. This is an amazing opportunity for us and we hope you will consider
helping us secure these matching funds!
Thank you so much for all that you do to support the children and families in our state. It is such an honor to do this work and to be a part of this wonderful community coming together to help care for our littlest members.
Very best wishes,
Jessica Mortensen
Executive Director, Reach Out and Read Washington State
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Get to Know Karen Aoyama
Our Assistant Director
Karen Aoyama re-joined our team in January. She previously served in the Assistant Director role from 2012-2015. We are thrilled to have her back! Anyone who works with Karen will notice her deep knowledge of effective non-profit organization management and staff development, extensive background in managing and creating programs that support children's development,
and a consistently positive and strength-focused approach in the face of challenges.
Karen has a graduate degree in librarianship and worked in library services for 20 years, including at the University of Washington and Battelle. She spent the following two decades in leadership roles at the Camp Fire Council of King and Kitsap Counties, where her final role was Chief Program Officer. At Reach Out and Read, Karen plays a leading role in our partnerships, fundraising, communications, strategy, internal operations, and team development.
Karen has been a soccer mom, a PTA president, a camp counselor, and a zoo volunteer. She enjoys traveling with her husband, gardening, and, of course, reading (with and without her baby granddaughter). Thank you for all you do, Karen!
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Comic Relief/Red Nose Day USA Matching Opportunity
$5,000 donation goal through GiveBIG event on May 9th
Once again, Reach Out and Read is participating in
GiveBIG, a one-day, online charitable giving event sponsored by
Seattle Foundation. This year we have a special opportunity!
If we are able to raise $5,000 in donations through the GiveBIG online portal by the end of the campaign on the evening of May 9th, we will receive an additional $5,000 from Comic Relief/Red Nose USA.
This is an amazing opportunity for your donation to Reach Out and Read to be doubled dollar-for-dollar.
Can you help us reach this goal and claim these matching funds?
We extend a huge thank you to Comic Relief and the Seattle Foundation for this opportunity and to all of those who have donated for your generosity!
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Study Demonstrates Reading Aloud Has Behavior Benefits
Overview Article by Dr. Perri Klass in the New York Times
Dr. Perri Klass, Reach Out and Read's National Medical Director, recently contributed an
article in the New York Times that gives an overview of the study
Reading Aloud, Play, and Social Emotional Development, which was published in the April edition of the journal
Pediatrics. As Dr. Klass summarizes it for us, the new study shows that reading and playing with young children has impact that goes beyond helping children learn language and literacy skills. The "parent-child-book moment" has the potential to improve behaviors like aggression, hyperactivity, and difficulty with attention.
Dr. Klass closes her article with the following that includes a quotation from Dr. Alan Mendelsohn, principal investigator of the original study:
"The key take-home message to me is that when parents read and play with their children when their children are very young--we're talking about birth to 3 year olds--it has really large impacts on their children's behavior," Dr. Mendelsohn said. And this is not just about families at risk. "All families need to know when they read, when they play with their children, they're helping them learn to control their own behavior," he said, so that they will come to school able to manage the business of paying attention and learning.
We hope you will check out the article and learn more about the results of this important work and another dimension in which sharing books and imaginative play have profound benefits for children and families.
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About Reach Out and Read Washington State
Reach Out and Read gives young children a foundation for success by incorporating books into pediatric care and encouraging families to read aloud together.
Our evidence-
based proven program leverages the influence of children's doctors and makes literacy promotion
a standard part of well-child checkups from birth through 5 years. Reach Out and Read
supports parents as their child's first teacher and helps children be ready for
kindergarten.
Through 222 programs in 31 counties, 1,750 medical providers serve an estimated
125,000 children and their families across Washington. Reach Out and Read
Washington State is part of Reach Out and Read, Inc., a national not-for
profit 501(c)3
organization.
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