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WHAT IS FOOD FOR THOUGHT?
Something for you to think about and…
Food for Thought is an exciting new program We Read Together is trying to launch in the summer of 2017. Our goal is to tackle two of the major challenges facing disadvantaged children during the summer: The Summer Slide and Malnutrition.
According to The National Summer Learning Association, by high school two-thirds of the achievement gap between lower income students and their counterparts can be attributed to summer learning loss or “The Summer Slide.” The Summer Slide occurs because disadvantaged children are less likely to have the opportunity to engage in activities that continue to build their academic skills or stimulate them intellectually.
Malnutrition is, quite simply, the lack of proper nutrition due to not having food to eat or not having access to quality food that provides the proper nutrients. According to the Food for Thought report published by Save the Children, malnourished children are 19% less likely to be able to read by age 8 and earn 20% less over the course of their lives. Furthermore, a paper published by Wilder Research showed that giving students proper nutrition leads to higher test scores, reduced disciplinary actions, reduced aggression, increased attention span, and improved cognition.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN SCHOOL GETS OUT?
Most low income students can expect to receive a free or reduced cost lunch and breakfast at school. Those are often the only nutritionally balanced meals those students receive in a given day.
That means that when school isn’t in session, low income students lose their best source of nutrition and intellectual stimulation.
That is developmentally disastrous.
WHAT IS WE READ TOGETHER GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?
It’s simple. We Read Together is going to go to where the kids are and give them FREE learning and FREE food.
Our host libraries are always full of children of all ages during the summer. They come for the computers, the books, the social environment, or simply because it’s the only building around they can hang out in with air conditioning.
We are going to host sets of classes for kids ages 4-15 (divided by reading level) and we’re going make sure that every kid in every class gets at least one well-balanced meal. We’re also going to make sure that, in addition to the books we read in class, each child goes home with two more books to read on their own time. All this at zero cost to parents, students, and libraries.
WHAT DO WE NEED YOU TO DO?
We Read Together will need to pay for books, food, and insurance costs in order to help all these kids.
All of our instructors work on a volunteer basis. We’re designing the curriculum for free. We’re teaching the classes for free. We’re giving up our summers to help make these kids’ lives better.
What we’re asking you to do is pledge a monthly amount in order to support us. No support is too small, but in order to make this work and make this into a program that can be sustained, we NEED to have $600 per month added to our budget.
That’s not much and I believe that you can help us make this happen. Please click the pledge button and help us change some lives.
Need more incentive? Include your email (we’ll contact you) with your pledge and get one of these awesome We Read Together T-Shirts!