Books are being donated to Local Schools by Buena Park Rotary
Books are being donated to Local Schools by Buena Park Rotary
The Idea of Reading by 9
No skill is more important to the future of a child, than literacy.
In Southern California, 50% of third-graders cannot read at grade level. Research shows that children who fail to read by the age of nine rarely catch up later. In many cases, these children may never be able to realize their full potential or contribute and participate fully in our society.
Ten years ago, the LA Times launched Reading by 9 in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties. Reading by 9 is a multi-year campaign aimed at helping kindergarten through third-grade students read at grade level by the age of nine. In the 181 school districts, with 2000 public elementary schools, 90 languages are spoken. In the five county regions, over 50% of the more than 2 million kindergartens through third-grade students are below reading level. Southern California students rank among the lowest in the nation in reading skills.
The Reading by 9 vision is that 95% of all children in Southern California will read in English at grade level by age nine. The LA Times partners with The Rotary Club and business, civic, education, government, media and philanthropic organizations to support child literacy initiatives. You may make a donation to the Buena Park Reading by 9 project by sending checks made out to the Rotary Club of Buena Park., (with a notation for Reading by 9) at PO Box 5278 Buena Park, Ca. 90622-5278.
During the Month of May
At the monthly Buena Park and Centralia School Board meetings, a delegation of Rotarians including Buena Park Rotary President Shailesh Shah presented a check for $1,500, which represents the value of children’s books being donated. Both school districts received $1,500 worth of books. In addition, children in the audience received a book to take home. This is the sixth year in which Buena Park Rotary has participated in the Reading-By-9 program. Local Rotary members on the donation committee are, Armie Bailey, Greg Buckner, David Caldwell, Steve Chen, Tony Fonte, Woo Lim, Edwin Lucas, Mike Mahoney, Baron Night, Chris Norby, Jim Pasiley, Tom Polley, Don Prescott, Maha Ryan, Chris & Dennis Salts, Diane & Steve Scheerhorn, Shailesh Shah, Beth & Greg Swift, and George West. Rotary International’s Motto this year is “Rotary Shares.”