Nurture 15 At-Risk Atlanta Preschoolers for a Year

Dear Friend of Sheltering Arms,

Census data this month showed that Georgia ranks third in child poverty in the United States, up two slots from last year.  Research has proven that early education and literacy can help children in poverty break that cycle as adults.  Economists have tied early education to a better educated workforce, increased economic development, lower crime rates, and higher property values for our communities.  Programs like Sheltering Arms have been shown to provide a return of as much as $17 for every $1 invested, due in part to reduced costs of incarceration, remediation, and public assistance. 

Each year, Sheltering Arms' Operation StoryBook gets the community involved in setting our youngest citizens on the path to a promising future.  Operation StoryBook builds strong readers and a strong future workforce from the cradle by providing over 2500 children—most from low-income working families--with 12 new books for their home libraries over the next year. Early learning and parent education programs bring these books alive for Sheltering Arms’ children and their families.

On September 15 & 16, more than 800 community and corporate volunteers and VIPs helped Sheltering Arms kick off our sixth year of Operation StoryBook with a two-day Read-A-Thon in our 16 centers.  Georgia's First Lady Sandra Deal, Grammy winning artists J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League and Cassius D. Kalb, Billboard Top 40 performer Tyra B, elected and corporate leaders, philanthropists, and many others shared their favorite books and stories with our young children.  Our Corporate Reading Challenge winner, AT&T, provided more than 200 volunteers and joined Target and other local businesses as a sponsor of the event, raising $100,000 to provide early learning and child care tuition scholarships to children from low-income working families.  The children spent the week exploring music and other cultures through the Indian folktale, "The Drum," and received their own personal copy of the book to take home on Friday, after hearing and seeing it performed by August House storytellers, the great gig DANCE Ensemble, and drummers from The Children's School and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket Marching Band.   

Events like Operation StoryBook's Read-A-Thon create excitement about reading in our children, and use books as a window to a rich understanding of our world and their place in it.  If you were not able to be with us this month for Operation StoryBook, there are still opportunities for you to participate.  On October 6, Sheltering Arms centers will participate in JumpStart's Read for the Record, a national attempt to break a world's record for the most people reading "Llama, Llama Red Pajama" in one day.  And in November and December, we host our annual community-wide Books & Bears Drive, providing a new stuffed animal and children's book to each of our 2500 children for the holidays.  If you'd like to participate in either of these, just send an email to Jason at jlowery@shelteringarmsforkids.com.

The work we do each day, preparing 2500 young children for their best future, is only possible because you are part of the Sheltering Arms family of supporters.  Thank you so much.

Yours Truly,

Paige

Links:

• Operation StoryBook 2011: Thank You!
• Preschool: The Best Job Training Program (NPR)
• Economist Links Early Education & Property Values