Jean Dean RIF (Reading Is Fundamental) needs you!

When a child receives a book from Jean Dean RIF-it is usually the FIRST BOOK of any kind in their home ...and we try to serve close to 25,000 children every year. We need your help to continue to put books in children's homes!

According to surveys of sites served, the 3 main benefits of Jean Dean RIF are: 1)Important people in the community coming into the classrooms and showing they care about the children and care about reading 2) the in-kind donation to the sites-- based on the books given to the children and the time spent by volunteers reading- greatly increases the benefits available to the families, and 3) putting books in the home makes "family literacy" possible.

Children need books in their homes to develop an interest in reading and have enough vocabulary to understand what they are asked to do when they get to school. Without books in their homes "family literacy" cannot exist. Reading is the key to learning. Children without access to books early have little chance to do well in school or life. Children with access to books have HOPE of doing well and the tools to help ensure that. We need your funding help to keep giving books to at-risk kids!

In 2011, National RIF, the oldest and largest children's literacy organization in the US was deleted from the federal budget (immediately loosing 80% of its funding) . That meant RIF projects across the nation then lost the ability to apply for RIF federal funds. Jean Dean RIF lost the ability to apply for 30% of its book budget which had been supported by RIF federal grants. In short- our choice in 2012 and beyond will be to widen our fund raising or drastically reduce the children served through Jean Dean RIF. The RIF Advisory Board and Alabama Kiwanis Foundation Board discussed this challenge and decided to make every effort to grow our fund raising so we don't have to stop giving books to 8000 at-risk young children who badly need books in their homes, a third of the children we serve every year in Head Starts and low income state sponsored daycares.

Ours is a "grassroots" effort, started by Kiwanians in support of the Young Child (0-5) Priority One worldwide effort. We have provided over 450,000 at-risk young children well over a million books in the last 20-plus years with one full time person, an occasional part-timer and thousands of faithful volunteers. We serve over 500 sites all over Alabama, including Birmingham, Montgomery, Auburn, Huntsville, Cullman, Mobile, Decatur, and many more. The value of the books given and time spent reading by volunteers has also amounted to an in-kind donation of over $10 million to the sites served which has allowed those programs to justify another $40 million in grant funds to provide additional benefits to the children and their families in these service areas. These results show what individuals working together can do to help. This year -now- we need funding help. All donations to Jean Dean RIF are tax deductible. Please help at any level that is comfortable for you. Any help is much appreciated to make sure "the babies" get their books.

books, literacy, kids, children, reading, education, at-risk, low income, underprivilaged