Words Alive Harnesses Power of Community to Raise More than $110,000

BY VIKKI BOWES-MOK, WORDS ALIVE VOLUNTEER

Words Alive was chosen to participate in the 2023-24 Champions For Youth Campaign, hosted by The Century Club and Farmers Insurance. 

Source: The Century Club of San Diego

“We are so grateful to have had the opportunity to be part of the Champions for Youth campaign,” said Tracy Dahlkamp, MPA, Donor Engagement Manager for Words Alive, who oversaw this year’s campaign. “This is our sixth year participating but our strongest year yet!”

Champions for Youth is an exciting peer-to-peer fundraising campaign that ran from November 28 – January 28. Peer-to-peer fundraising allows Words Alive’s supporters to tap their immediate social circles, such as friends, co-workers, and family members. This year Words Alive had 38 people volunteer to create fundraising pages compared to 32 people in 2022-23.

“The opportunity to participate in the campaign was a fun and exciting way to share with friends the extraordinary mission of Words Alive!,” said Brian Fidler, a Words Alive board member. “So many of the people who made contributions wrote heartfelt and supportive notes of admiration for the work of Words Alive. My wife even organized a pickle ball fundraiser, which drew support far beyond the minimum requested donations.”

The work of the Fidlers along with other supporters generated 627 unique donations, which was first place in number of unique donations. These donations raised $59,281 for Words Alive. This impressive amount made Words Alive eligible for the Farmers Cares Bonus Pool. The 2024 Farmers Cares Bonus Pool is $235,000 and Words Alive received $52,834 in bonus funds, for a grand total of $112,115. This means for every $1 raised Words Alive actually received $1.89.

“What we find truly remarkable, and humbling, is the exceptional dedication of our volunteers who willingly take on the responsibility of fundraising on our behalf,” said Dahlkamp with a grateful smile. “Beyond generously giving their time to our program throughout the year, many amazing volunteers created their own peer-to-peer fundraising pages and enthusiastically raised thousands of dollars on our behalf. It’s so special for us to engage with our volunteers in this way and we are so grateful to be part of it!”

The Words Alive Reader: April 19, 2021

Welcome to The Words Alive Reader, a regular newsletter keeping you up-to-date with the latest in how we've been connecting children, teens, and families to the power of reading. What have we been up to and how can you help? Read on to find out!

13-Year-Old Aden Raises More Than $1,200 for Words Alive

A picture of Aden reading a book.

"I want to make sure others can enjoy the pleasure of reading without barriers standing in their way." — Aden

Words Alive would like to thank Aden for hosting a readathon with three of her friends to raise money for us, all the way from Washington, D.C.! As part of her Bat Mitzvah project, she has already raised over $1,200 to support our mission—more than double her initial $500 goal. Aden and her friends have already documented 3,369 minutes read. We are so inspired by her example and grateful for her support. Learn more about the project and help Aden reach her new $1,500 goal here!

Family Literacy Program with DEEP

A screenshot from one of our Family Literacy Program sessions.

We were excited to welcome 40 children (from 29 families) to the latest wave of our Family Literacy Program! Thanks to Diamond Educational Excellence Partnership (DEEP) and our dedicated volunteers, we shared six weeks of early literacy programming in Spanish and English with parents and their preschool age kids. We had a blast reading, singing, and doing crafts together, and are looking forward to many more Family Literacy Program sessions in the future. In the meantime, if you’re looking for literacy resources for the little ones in your life, visit our website!

Highlighting Asian American and Pacific Islander Stories

A graphic with a collage of some of the AAPI authors we featured and their books.

We know that authentic, diverse representation in the stories we read is a powerful way to combat hatred and build community. We use our social media platforms (@WordsAliveSD) to spotlight authors who represent the lived experiences of the children, teens, and families we serve.

Recently we've been proud to share the voices of authors from the Asian American and Pacific Islander community, such as Jenny Han, Kelly Yang, Randy Ribay, and more. For our latest blog post, we've compiled these spotlights as a resource to help all of us diversify the books we're reading. Check it out here!

Thank You, UCSD!

Three volunteers from UCSD jump for joy in front of a van packed with learning kit supplies.

Thank you to the dozens of UC San Diego students who took time out of their spring break to assemble learning kits with craft supplies, books and reading activities for us!  Learning Kits are stocked with the tools students need to succeed: pens and pencils, stationery, scissors, and, of course, new books. If you’d like to help, check out our Amazon wishlist to help us provide even more learning kits to students and families.

Join Us This Thursday For Our Volunteer Appreciation Celebration

A graphic that says “You’re Invited! Words Alive’s 12th Annual Volunteer Appreciation Celebration, Presented by EY.” In the bottom half, it says “Thursday, April 22 at 4PM PT. Sign up to join us for an optional breakout session to participate in the 2021 Art & Lit project!”

We want to celebrate you! You are invited to Words Alive's 12th Annual Volunteer Appreciation Celebration, presented by EY. The event takes place this week on Thursday, April 22nd at 4 pm PT.

Join us as we reflect on a year of incredible contributions from volunteers all across San Diego, the United States, and the world! ​​​​​​​During the hour-long event, join us as we present service awards to distinguished volunteers in our community and hear from organization and community leaders about the impact we made over the past year. There will also be a sneak-preview of our 2021 Art & Lit Experience.

Meet Fellow Volunteers at the Welcome Wagon

All aboard the Welcome Wagon! New to Words Alive or looking to meet other volunteers? Want to know what teams like the Curriculum Crew and Social Media Squad have been up to recently?

Come to this monthly event to meet new and veteran volunteers, learn more about each team and the projects they work on, and have fun! The next Welcome Wagon is leaving the station on Thursday, April 29th at 3pm PT.

Text that reads “MEET FELLOW VOLUNTEERS AT THE WORDS ALIVE WELCOME WAGON: Thursday, April 29th at 3 pm PT” over a floral blue, orange, and pink background.

Donate here to support Words Alive!

This newsletter, in addition to our blog and social media content, is written by us, a cohort of volunteers! Do you love writing and have an interest in helping Words Alive create this type of content? We'd love your help! Email to learn more.

- Zoe, Eli, Nia and Titiksha, Words Alive Storytelling Team

The Words Alive Reader: November 16th, 2020

Welcome to The Words Alive Reader, a regular newsletter keeping you up-to-date with the latest in how we've been connecting children, teens, and families to the power of reading. What have we been up to and how can you help? Read on to find out!

This newsletter, in addition to our blog and social media content, is written by us, a cohort of volunteers! Do you love writing and have an interest in helping Words Alive create this type of content? We'd love your help! Email to learn more.

- Zoe, Eli and Titiksha, Words Alive Storytelling Team

Processing the Election With the Power of Writing

Red, blue, and purple word bubbles made of paper spell “Be The Change.”

In our last edition of The Words Alive Reader, we shared about the launch of our virtual Read Aloud Program — we now have 33 classrooms participating! This week, we want to share something else we've been working hard on: Write Now, a digital space for teens to cope and connect with current events through writing.

As emotions run high over everything that's going on in our country right now, we're highlighting several of our Write Now prompts that feel especially fitting for this moment. Use them with your students or children, or try them for yourself. We hope that they empower everyone to reflect and respond in healthy ways to current events. 

Explore positive ways to respond to the news, remember to take a self-compassion news break, and, finally, think about ways to be the change you wish to see in the world.

2020 Authors Event & Fundraiser: Success!

Screenshots of Ayad Akhtar, Dr. Seth Lerer, and an image of Homeland Elegies. Text reads: “Annual Authors Event — Featuring Ayad Akhtar in conversation with Dr. Seth Lerer.”

With an entirely new, online format, this year's Annual Authors Event and Fundraiser was an adventure for all of us! We are grateful for everyone who came together to make this event a success.

More than 250 attendees joined us from all over the country, raising $77,000 to connect children, teens, and families to the power of reading. It brought us so much joy to see our community come together in this way.

If you missed the event, don't worry! You can still support us by purchasing access to the prerecorded conversation between Seth and Ayad through the end of 2020. Thank you for supporting Words Alive! 

Write Now with Susan Meissner

A picture of Susan Meissner in front of posters of her books.

Susan Meissner is an acclaimed author, a San Diego local, a Words Alive volunteer, AND one of the authors in this year's Authors Auction! At our latest Write Now workshop for teen writers, brought to you by Words Alive and the San Diego Public Library, she had plenty of advice for aspiring writers, especially when it comes to tackling the familiar enemy known as writers’ block. “It’s kind of like when you go into a pool, or the ocean, and the water is kind of cold, but stay in it, and your body finally acclimates,” she said. It’s all about persistence!

Find the full workshop, along with other exclusive videos from published authors, on our website!

Plot Twist: Logan Holland

A picture of Logan Holland.

Our volunteers come from all different kinds of backgrounds, proving that great books impact us all. Take Logan Holland, for example: a graduate student in biology at UC San Diego. The lessons she draws from her favorite books go hand-in-hand with her studies. As Logan puts it, “I wanted to understand humans biochemically, and then figuratively with literature.”

To read more about Logan’s unique perspective on the intersection of science and literature, and learn why she volunteers with Words Alive, check out Plot Twist, our new blog series! Keep an eye out for more stories in the future on the Words Alive blog.

Join the Words Alive Page Turners!

Graphic illustrating the “Life Cycle of a Page Turners Book.” Through Page Turners, new books are (1) discovered, (2) read, (3) reviewed, and (4) loved by our program participants!

We launched Page Turners in January so volunteers could help us choose the books we read with our students. Since then, more than 600 volunteers have joined Page Turners, contributing nearly 1,900 hours of service! This has allowed us to add 30 new books into our programming, with the knowledge that students will be engaging with high-quality titles our Page Turners have already read and loved. Some of our students at Monarch School are even reviewing books for Page Turners! Through this program, they're taking ownership of what they read in a very tangible way.

Are you interested in joining a community of passionate readers who are helping us read and review books? Visit our website to learn more.

Donate here to support Words Alive!

The Words Alive Reader: September 23, 2020

Welcome to The Words Alive Reader, a regular newsletter keeping you up-to-date with the latest in how we've been connecting children, teens, and families to the power of reading. What have we been up to and how can you help? Read on to find out!

This newsletter, in addition to our blog and social media content, is written by us, a cohort of volunteers! Do you love writing and have an interest in helping Words Alive create this type of content? We'd love your help! Email to learn more.

- Zoe, Eli and Titiksha, Words Alive Storytelling Team

SNEAK PEEK: 2020 Annual Authors Event!

Text that reads: "Annual Authors Event: Featuring Ayad Akhtar in conversation with Dr. Seth Lerer” above a photo of Ayad and the cover of his book Homeland Elegies

We're so thrilled to announce the author for this year's (virtual) Authors Event & Fundraiser: Pulitzer Prize-winning author and playwright, Ayad Akhtar! 

Be on the lookout for an invitation—with links to a very special Authors Auction and Mission Marketplace—coming to your inbox very soon!

Books for Lindsay Community School

A woman holding up books stands next to boxes of books in front of a painting of a woman and the words Lindsay Community School.

We have been working with Lindsay Community School, a school dedicated to helping pregnant and parenting teens, for our entire 20+ year history! We recently donated books to Lindsay and were so happy to receive this wonderful response from Dawn Miller, Head Teacher!

"The girls and their children were THRILLED - what a beautiful collection of books! So exciting to see the students reading with their babies and children...Cannot thank you enough for helping us bring a little bit of joy to our families in these heavy times."

If you would like to support more collaborations like this one, you can donate to Words Alive here! 

Hello From Our New Storytelling Intern!

A picture of Zoe.

"Hi everyone! My name is Zoe and I am the Storytelling Intern at Words Alive. I have loved reading for as long as I can remember, and I'm so excited to share that love with others by telling the Words Alive story! If you're reading this newsletter, you have a unique perspective to share on what Words Alive brings to the world, and I want to hear all about it. You can reach me at [email protected]!"

Zoe got involved with Words Alive as a volunteer, like many of you! If you currently volunteer with us, we encourage you to add your volunteer position to your LinkedIn profile. Showcase your leadership skills and help us reach more people at the same time!

#WriteNow

Colorful balls of tissue paper representing emotions spread upward from a gray silhouette of a person in profile.

To help teens cope and connect with current events, we’ve started #WriteNow, a collection of writing prompts that provide inspiration in this difficult time. This week, we challenge teens to write a story in just ten sentences, ask them to think about the emotions they’re dealing with right now, and encourage them to reflect on how they handle conflicts.

Check out our latest prompts:

1. 10-Sentence Story

2. Emotions in Common

3. A Call for Equity

Now in 9 Languages!

Text that reads: “Help us support literacy in families’ home languages!” above images of literacy resources in Spanish, Arabic, and Haitian Creole.

Words Alive is now providing resources for students and families in 9 different languages: English, Spanish, Farsi, Arabic, Haitian Creole, Burmese, Karen, Amharic, and Portuguese! We want to ensure that we are supporting and providing curriculum to families in their home languages.

Are you interested in helping even more families build healthy reading habits and skill sets? Volunteer as a translator for our Translation Station! To learn more, visit our website. 

Donate Here to Support Words Alive!

Join Us & Become a Champion for Reading!

By Jennifer Van Pelt

November 27th was #GivingTuesday, a day to start the holiday season by donating to nonprofits as an act of philanthropy. Gaining more support each year, there was an estimated $274 million given to nonprofits in the United States on Giving Tuesday in 2017. Words Alive is joining in the season by launching our exciting new peer-to-peer fundraising campaign, Champions for Youth.

An image of a young child in our Read Aloud Program holding up a copy of “Are You My Mother?” and smiling at the camera. The image has text that says “Join us and become a champion for reading.”

What is Peer-to-Peer Fundraising?

Peer-to-Peer fundraising is a social form of campaigning that focuses on building relationships with our supporter’s closest network -- their friends, family, or coworkers. As a non-profit, much of our time is spent writing extensive grant requests to donors and organizations. However, nothing compares to when our existing supporters reach out to their own social circle and seek connections that we would not otherwise be able to make. You are much more likely to support a cause that is important to a close family member or friend than from someone you have never met -- which is why we are so excited to get your support for our new campaign!

What is the Champions For Youth Campaign?

Champions for Youth is the key charitable initiative of the 2019 Farmers Insurance Open. Administering the program is the Century Club of San Diego, who selected 10 organizations that support youth and their families to participate. Words Alive will receive 100% of each donation with the potential to earn bonus money from the Farmers Cares Bonus Pool (which contains $260,000), based on the amount of donors and money we receive in relation to the other participating charities. For example, when 150 people donate at least $10 to our campaign, we’ll earn a bonus of at least $10,000 on top of what we’ve already raised. Incentives such as these continue throughout the campaign!

How do I Get Involved in the Campaign?

An image of Read Aloud Program students exploring a book together with Words Alive volunteer Sharon Gruby! A $100 donation to our Champions for Youth campaign provides 75 new books for children to take home and build their libraries.

There are two ways to get involved: you can donate directly on our campaign page or become a fundraiser for Words Alive. By becoming a fundraiser, you are directly participating in the peer-to-peer aspect of the campaign by helping Words Alive reach new potential supporters that we wouldn’t normally be able to reach. To help realize the impact that certain donations have, the following show how important a small or large donation can be to children in need:

$10 Helps support one child in the Read Aloud Program for a month

$25 Provides a Kindergarten Readiness Tool Kit for a child

$50 Helps send a scholarship recipient to a workshop

$100 Provides a set of 5 brand new, diverse, and relevant books for a teen

A graphic featuring a quote from one of our Champions for Youth donors: “I am very pleased with the work that Words Alive has championed, and I am impressed with all the young people they have been able to help. It's a great work - helping children read more can change their lives forever, and helping students get through college when they otherwise would not be able to, is an immesurable gift! Well done.” - Alesa Gibbs

Our goal is to raise $60,000 dollars throughout the campaign, which will allow us to serve 300 students and families with high-quality programs. At Words Alive, we know that when children and their families are fully prepared to confidently approach and embrace their education, and when young adults are equipped with the knowledge and support to pursue higher education, they have the power to embody the true meaning of success. This all starts with reading and giving our communities the tools to thrive. Some of our supporters have gotten a head start on fundraising and have received the following comments from donors within their social circles:

“I am very pleased with the work that Words Alive has championed, and I am impressed with all the young people they have been able to help. It's a great work - helping children read more can change their lives forever…”

“Thank you for spending your time opening a new and, hopefully, kinder world for these kids!”

“Reading has always been important to me. I started reading very young and fell in love with the adventures in Narnia and the Shire. I hope that my small contribution can help a child build the skills they need to enjoy the beauty of literature.”

If you are interested in learning more about our participation in Champions for Youth or would like to see our training dates that support you in carrying out peer-to-peer fundraising, visit our page here.

Sources:

https://philanthropynewsdigest.org/news/2017-givingtuesday-raises-estimated-274-million-for-nonprofits

https://www.causevox.com/blog/peer-to-peer-fundraising-primer/

Fund a Mind, Transform a Life

By Jennifer Van Pelt & Sara Mortensen

The 15th Annual Author’s Luncheon & Fundraiser is coming up on October 19th and this year our signature fundraising event theme is: Fund a Mind, Transform a Life. This event is important to our organization in many ways, but the most important is this: the Author’s Luncheon & Fundraiser provides a significant amount of our income and allows us to continue to deliver high-quality literacy programs all over San Diego. When you buy a ticket to the event, donate towards a silent auction item, or contribute in the ballroom on the day-of, you are helping us fund the minds and transform the lives of the students and families we serve.

Every dollar you donate at the Author's Luncheon & Fundraiser helps to fund the minds and transform the lives of the students and families we serve.

Fund a Mind

Literacy is a foundational skill that is so easily taken for granted by many, yet nearly 450,000 San Diego County residents are considered illiterate. Literacy is a skill that is shown to not only have a relationship to someone’s socioeconomic status and earning capabilities, but can also transform one’s life by allowing them a well-rounded and fulfilling education that enables them to effectively communicate and participate in the communities around them.

According to the EARLY WARNING! Why Reading by the End of Third Grade Matters report by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, up until the third grade, most children are learning to read. Beginning in the fourth grade, however, they are reading to learn, using their skills to gain more information in subjects such as math and science, to solve problems, to think critically about what they are learning, and to act upon and share that knowledge in the world around them. This turning point at the end of the third grade is why growing amounts of resources are being directed towards children in Kindergarten through third grade.

An image of one of our Read Aloud Program volunteers reading to a classroom at Golden Hill School.

In fact, research like this is the reason why we have strategically designed our Read Aloud Program to target this age range. Reading aloud to young children is the most important thing we can do to help them become motivated, strong readers and in the Words Alive Read Aloud Program trained volunteers read aloud each week to approximately 4,300 children from early childhood education and Title 1 - eligible elementary school sites across San Diego.

Additionally, research from Yale University has indicated that three-quarters of students who are “poor readers” in third grade will remain “poor readers” in high school. Not surprisingly, students with relatively low literacy achievement tend to have more behavioral and social problems in subsequent grades. By focusing on providing additional literacy resources during these key years, it is helping to ensure that these children have the tools to succeed in following years.

Transform a Life

Effective literacy education needs to reach more than just the students that are between Kindergarten and third grade, however. An article published on WCNC states that reading to your child, even in the womb, can activate brain development, increase vocabulary by 24 months, and decrease risk of speech delay. Though this is a known fact amongst experts and doctors, not all parents are aware of the importance this holds on their child’s future success. Educating families as a whole on when to read to their children and what techniques they can use is equally important. Literacy skills can start building from an early age and are building blocks for reading proficiency by the end of third grade.

An image of one of the kids in our Family Literacy Program standing in front of a huge cutout of the Hungry caterpillar!

Words Alive’s Family Literacy Program aims to empower parents as agents of change and advocates for their families by meeting parents where they are and giving them the "ah-ha!" moments that lead to deeper engagement with their children. Parents in the program attend seven workshops, receiving approximately ten hours of parent education covering early literacy development topics specific to preschool age children. Each workshop includes a tailored information session and skill-building exercises for parents, a group story time, and guided activities for parents and children.

As we know here at Words Alive, literacy goes beyond the simple act of reading words off a page and interpreting their meaning. Dr. Berninger, Professor Emerita of Educational Psychology at the University of Washington mentioned in a New York Times article, “Literacy involves all aspects of language, including our oral language, what we hear and say, and our written language, what we read and write.” She called it “language by ear, mouth, eye and hand.” As children grow and  develop, they cannot be denied the resources that allow them to learn these skills.

All of our programs at Words Alive aim to , ensure that children are able to build the skills that can transform their lives and help them become well-rounded individuals with the power to change their communities for the better.

Simply put: Words Alive uses all donations to fund the minds of children, which helps them transform their lives. Join us for our Author’s Luncheon & Fundraiser, where you can enjoy a wonderful afternoon while knowing that your actions are making a difference in the state of literacy education in your community.

Click here for more information, and to purchase tickets or a table for the 15th Annual Author’s Luncheon & Fundraiser.

Sources:

www.aecf.org

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/16/well/family/literacy-builds-life-skills-as-well-as-language-skills.html

https://hechingerreport.org/how-to-help-struggling-young-readers/

https://www.wcnc.com/article/news/why-you-should-read-read-read-to-young-children/275-573777471

Author's Luncheon "Going Green"

In an effort to help the environment and direct as much of our budget as possible towards programs Words Alive will be sending electronic or e-mail invitations this year. Make sure that we have you, and all of your friends', e-mail addresses by Monday, September 5. We want to make sure everyone gets our invitation that will be going out next week. 

We are going to have another exciting, sell out event, with author Jodi Picoult. A limited number of individual tickets will go on sale Saturday, September 10, 2016. Sponsorship opportunities are still available and we are happy to design an experience that best represents your partnership with Words Alive. Please visit our event page for all of the details.