Instructions for Read-to-Feed This Year

Here are the instructions for the read-a-thon this year. These are the instructions that went home last week. We hope that your family considers participating in Read-to-Feed this year. It runs from now until April 17th.

Kicking off the 2009 Read-a-Thon for Heifer!

Hi everyone: The Thornton Creek School read-a-thon fundraiser, that benefits the Heifer organization, is running now through April 17th, 2009. We'll be posting instructions soon with all of the details.

For now, you can just start keeping track of the books that your children are reading. They should also start lining up sponsors to contribute a fixed amount to the charity by the page, the book, or for each amount of time spent reading. We were really successful last year, and we hope to expand the effort even further this year. We hope that you consider participating.

Off we go!

Philip Bell & Judy Ruha
(parents of children in Rooms 9 and 11)

Thank you all! We raised $1307 for Heifer International!

Hi everyone: By getting sponsors for books they read, our children raised money to buy livestock for struggling families in other parts of the world who need an ongoing source of income. Our Read-to-Feed fund-raiser is now officially over for this year, and we have tallied all of the pledges. With 21 children (18 families) participating from across the school we raised $1307.75 to benefit the important work of Heifer International. Based on the poll results from those participating, we will ask that our contribution symbolically represent: 1 heifer (cow), 1 sheep, 1 llama, a flock of ducks and geese, a group of bees, 1 goat, 1 trio of rabbits, 1 water buffalo, and one flock of chicks! We're certain that the good folks at Heifer will use the money wisely.

Thank to everyone who participated and helped make it happen. Please look forward to participating next year in Read-to-Feed as we hope to make this an annual event at Thornton Creek. All input on how to improve the fund-raiser is encouraged.

Time for Participants to Vote for Animals!

The pledges are in and have been added up! Thornton Creek readers have raised a very impressive $1,107 for Heifer International’s Read-to-Feed program!! It really shows how contributions can add up when people pitch in for a good cause. We want to thank all of the children who participated — your pledges will help impoverished families around the world. Thanks also to the friends and families who supported the readers’ efforts.

Now it’s time for the participants to choose the animals we’d like our money to symbolically go towards. Please vote your preferences in the poll to the right by March 31st. If you want more information on the animals and their uses, check out the booklet that went home at the start of the fundraiser or go on-line to www.readtofeed.org under “animal gifts”.

Please vote only if you participated in Read-to-Feed. If you weren’t able to participate this year, we’re hoping to do it again next year! As always, questions can be directed to Judy or Phil at ruhabell@yahoo.com.

The fundraiser is now over...

Please turn in pledges to your classrooms or the office. Thanks to everyone for their participation and support!

Keep reading! The fundraiser runs through the end of the month

We hope that your child is reading up a storm as part of the Read-to-Feed charity fundraiser—a read-a-thon that raises money for impoverished families around the world.

As we approach the end of the fundraiser, please keep in mind:

• That your child should continue reading and keeping track of her/his reading until the end of February.
  
• After February 29th, your child should collect the pledges from their sponsors—in the form of checks if at all possible. Checks should be made payable to “Heifer International: Read to Feed”.
  
• Put the pledge checks into the white Read-to-Feed envelope that went home earlier in the month, and place it into the Read-to-Feed folder hanging in each classroom by March 7th.
  
• After we gather all of the pledges, all participants will decide what type of livestock we would like to buy for families in need. We plan to do this by posting an online poll on this web site.
  

World Map of Underweight Children

Here's a map from the World Mapper project. In this data visualization, territory size in the map shows the proportion of all underweight children in the world that live there. See the map page for more detail.

"Poor nutrition is implicated in more than half of all child deaths worldwide - a proportion unmatched by any infectious disease since the Black Death." Jean-Louis Sarbib, 2006