Ready Readers - A St. Louis charity providing free children's books to preschool kids and promoting reading readiness for at-risk children.

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Who We Are

Mission Statement

Board of Directors

Financial Info

Annual Report

WHO WE ARE

Ready Readers - Inspiring at-risk preschool children to become readers.

We are an award-winning, non-sectarian, not-for-profit Missouri corporation. View an overview of Ready Readers as presented on KMOV TV's Angels' 4 series:KMOV

Our sole mission is to inspire preschool children from low-income communities to become readers. Mission Statement

We achieve our mission by sending trained volunteers to read aloud every week at the same time and place to the same preschool children, so that the readers and children form strong bonds. We also give the children award-winning, personalized new books at least 6-7 times a year. Volunteers affix bookplates with the names of the children, read the book to the children, give each child a copy of that same book, and then read the book together with the children.

We encourage groups to hold book drives for us. Through book drives, we obtain new and gently used books, which we give to underserved area preschools for classroom use. We are also collecting books to help the preschools begin their own small lending libraries, so that children can take more books home regularly.

Our 450 trained volunteers are now reading weekly to 6,500 low-income children, ages 2-5, in 105 Head Starts and similar preschool programs in our area. We will give the children over 40,000 high-quality new books (6 per child) during this fiscal year (7/08-6/09). Many of the children attending their programs this summer also received a seventh new book.

Our readers are people of all ages and from all walks of life. All of us love to read, enjoy spending time with young children, and care deeply about literacy in our community and in our country.

All of our adult readers have completed high school. Most also hold at least one college degree. About 25% are or have been teachers. About 30% are over the age of 60.

Many of our adult readers are coming to us from civic-minded corporations that release employees to volunteer for an hour a week to help us excite low-income children about becoming readers. Current participating companies are Talx, a division of Equifax; Enterprise Rent-A-Car; Emerson Motors; LarsonAllen, LLC; S.M. Wilson & Co., St. Louis County Library and The Booksource. We are actively seeking additional readers from area companies.

Over half of our readers are students, who come to us from area high schools, colleges and graduate schools. This year, the St. Louis College of Pharmacy is partnering with us by involving their 200 seniors in Ready Readers as part of their experiential learning curriculum. These students are also teaching our children about good health and hygiene! We also have, once again, many new and returning readers from St. Louis University, Washington University School of Law, the University of Missouri at St. Louis, and Fontbonne. And we have both new and returning readers from De Smet Jesuit High School, Ladue High School, Parkway Central High School, and Westminster Christian Academy.

We provide new readers with initial and ongoing training, including a free professional video, in which experienced readers demonstrate and teach how to select books preschoolers love; how to prepare in advance to read to a group of young children; how to capture and hold the group's attention; and how to maximize the pleasure of reading aloud. The video concludes by showing an experienced reader, who implements all of the above hints while reading a book from beginning to end.

Additional training includes five free workshops provided at regular intervals, mentoring, and on-site coaching.

People interested in contributing to Ready Readers and/or volunteering to join us as readers may do so on this web site under the sections entitled Contact and How You Can Help.

You can donate to us or download an application to volunteer by clicking onto "How You Can Help."

INTERNET PRIVACY POLICY

Ready Readers does not collect or share any information about visitors to this web site and does not share information about its volunteers except as expressly specified on the face of the volunteers' Application Form. Except as specified therein, Ready Readers strictly limits access to personal information contained on its Application Form to its management personnel. An individual may inform Ready Readers that he/she does not wish his/her personal information to be shared outside the organization by contacting Ready Readers by telephone or in writing.

MISSION STATEMENT

Studies show that children under five years old, who are regularly exposed to reading aloud, and who have easy access to books, develop a readiness to read and an enthusiasm for reading superior to that of other children. We saw a need in the St. Louis area for a non-sectarian program that offers an ongoing "read-aloud" experience and regular gifts of new books to at-risk preschool children in our area. Ready Readers was formed to help meet this need.

Our mission:

To inspire preschool children from low-income communities to want to become readers by reading aloud to them and by increasing their exposure to quality books and stimulating reading-related activities.

Our goals/objectives are 1) to motivate preschool children from low-income communities to want to learn to read by regularly reading high-quality books aloud to them in a classroom setting and by giving each child at least six new, high-quality books each school year for further enjoyment at home; (2) to enhance reading readiness in preschool children from low-income communities by modeling appropriate reading techniques and listening skills, as well as by teaching pre-literacy skills; (3) to foster positive relationships between preschool children from low-income communities and their volunteer leaders by recruiting and training passionate volunteers committed to reading aloud weekly for at least one entire semester; (4) to provide preschool children from low-income communities with access to additional quality books by distributing new and gently used books to their teachers for classroom use.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Karen Berger
Vice President; Development Committee Chair, Ready Readers

CEO and President, Quality Medical Publishing, Inc.; author, editor and lecturer; former Editor-In-Chief, Medical Division, C.V. Mosby Publishing Company; former Special School District tutor; former high school teacher; former researcher, Washington University Urban and Regional Studies Program

Jim Bogart
Development Committee member, Ready Readers

Manager, Development and Foundation, St. Louis County Library District; former Vice President, Government Relations, Charter Communications; former Vice President, St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association; former Director of Planning and Programs, Missouri Supreme Court; Co-founder, St. Louis Sports Commission; Co-founder and Board member, Foster and Adoptive Care Coalition; Past President, St. Louis Economic Council; Co-founder and Board member, St. Louis Olympic Festival (1994); United Way Allocations Committee; past member, St. Louis County Library Board of Trustees; past President, St. Louis County Library Foundation; Leadership St. Louis Program Graduate (FOCUS St. Louis); Mentor St. Louis participant; member, Clarkson Eyecare Foundation; The Big Read Advisory Committee

Harvey Citerman, C.P.A.
Treasurer; Finance Committee Chair, Ready Readers

Principal, LarsonAllen, LLP; former Principal, Citerman & Tumbarello, P.C.; former Partner, Touche Ross & Co.; Treasurer and Board member, Missouri Coalition for the Environment; former Treasurer and Board member for the following agencies: Jewish Community Centers Association, Life Skills Foundation, and Missouri Arts & Education Council; Ready Readers volunteer reader

Catherine Essner

Supervisor of the College Writing Center at St. Louis Community College at Meramec; former Lead Teacher, Urban Strategies; Teacher and Writing Specialist, St. Louis Community College-Meramec; former Development Associate and Volunteer Coordinator, Children's Home Society of Missouri; former Teach for America Corps Member, Sumner High School

Susan Kalishman Goldberg
Secretary; Development Committee member; volunteer reader, Ready Readers

Marketing Consultant; Board of Directors, The Scholarship Foundation of St. Louis; Vice-Chair and Board of Directors, Barnes-Jewish Hospital Foundation; Nominating Committee Chair and Board of Directors, The Magic House; former Marketing Director of the Regional Arts Commission - St. Louis; Holiday Inn Worldwide; Atlanta Olympic Committee; Turner Broadcasting and Ralston Purina; former first grade teacher; Ready Readers volunteer reader

Nahid Hashemi, Ph. D.

Executive Director of Early Childhood Education, St. Louis Public Schools; former Coordinator for Parents as Teachers Program, St. Louis Public Schools; former National Trainer and State Trainer, Parents as Teachers National Center; author of research project, "Attachment and Its Effect on Violence," with Dr. Constantino, published 2001 in The Journal of Child Abuse and Neglect; former instructor of Early Childhood Education at Maryville University and Washington University.

Sandy Jaffe
Books Committee member; Program Oversight Committee member, Ready Readers

CEO and founder of The Booksource; President, American Wholesale Booksellers Association; Board member, Alzheimer�s Association; Board member, The Big Read; Past President, Educational Paperback Association; Past Board member, Mid County YMCA.; past Board member, Talking Tapes/Textbooks on Tape.

Elizabeth M. Kaplan

Certified Public Accountant and Vice President, The St. Louis Trust Company.

Linda MacCarthy Finerty
Books Committee Chair; volunteer reader, Ready Readers

Certified Financial Planner; former bank officer; Board member, The Magic House Children's Museum; Board member, Missouri Botanical Gardens; Treasurer and board member, AIM High; former member, St. Louis Art Museum Friends' Board; former Board member, Moneta Foundation; former Board member, Junior League; former Board member, Eliot Chapel Nusery School

Lisa D. McLaughlin, Atty.
Governance Committee member; Development Committee member, Ready Readers

Shareholder (Partner), Polsinelli, Shalton, Flanigan, Suelthaus; Chancellor, Missouri Conference of the United Methodist Church; Trustee, Missouri United Methodist Foundation; Trustee, Kappa Alpha Theta Foundation; Board Member, Boys & Girls Town of Missouri; Chair, Planned Giving Cabinet, Barnes-Jewish Hospital Foundation; Board Member, Central Institute for the Deaf; Board Member and Executive Committee Member, Mary Institute & Saint Louis Country Day School; Past Treasurer, American Red Cross, Missouri Area Chapter; Past Board Member, Epworth Children's & Family Services; Past Board Member, Gifted Resource Council; Past Treasurer, Saint Louis University Library Associates; Past Board Member, St. Louis Planned Giving Council; Past Chair, Gift and Bequest Council, Saint Louis University; Past Member, Planned Giving Advisory Committee, Saint Louis Art Museum; Past President of the Board, Past Capital Campaign Chairman, Campbell House Museum.

Susan (Suzie) W. Nall
Program Oversight Committee member; Books Committee member, Ready Readers

Professor Emeritus, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIU); former Department Chair, Assistant Dean of the Graduate School, and Director of Early Childhood Education, SIU. Consultant to numerous early childhood programs with an emphasis in early literacy, program development, and all day kindergarten. Board member, Metro Theatre Co; Board member, Women of Achievement; Advisory Committee, Webster University Early Childhood Program; Advisory Committee, University City Children�s Center; Co-Founder, National All Day Kindergarten Network; Founder, Pre-K FORUM in Southern Illinois; Founder, the Leadership FORUM; Founder, Early Childhood Symposium; Woman of Achievement,2002; Outstanding Alumna, Webster University; Love of Children Award, St. Louis Association for the Education of Young Children; and Outstanding Service Award, Missouri Association for the Education of Young Children.

Carole K. Olsen

Teacher, King of Kings Lutheran Preschool; former President, Parents' Club Association, Rossman School; former Board Member, Rossman School; former Teacher, The Churchill School; former Tutorial Supervisor, The Churchill School Summer Program; former Supervisor and teacher, De La Salle High School, New Orleans, Louisiana; Volunteer, Girl Scouts of America; Volunteer, Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra.

Keisha I. Patrick

Attorney, Federal Reserve Bacnk of St. Louis; former Business Litigation Associate, Thompson Coburn LLP; former Law Clerk, the Hon. Carol E. Jackson, Chief Judge, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri; former Extern Law Clerk, the Hon. Ronnie L. White, Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Missouri; former Publications Assistant, Supreme Court of Missouri; Intellectual Property Intern, Blackwell Sanders Paper Martin LLP; former Intern Features Writer, St. Petersburg (Fla.)Times; former Co-Editor-In-Chief, Civil Rights Justice, Newsletter for the Civil Rights Law Section of the National Bar Association; former Allocations Panel Member, Charmaine Chapman Society Member of the United Way of Greater St. Louis; St. Louis Business Journal's 30 Under 30 (2009).

Suzanne Siteman Phillips
Development Committee member, Ready Readers

Author/Essayist; Assistant Director of Education, Boston Center for Adult Education (1990-1993); Host Family Program Coordinator, Washington University (1989-89); Distribution Committee, Siteman Family Foundation (2001-present); Zoofari (2007); Spirit of St. Louis Fund (2006-present)

Steven R. Stout
Board Chair/President, Ready Readers

Founder and Co-owner, KASS-MSO, Inc.; Founder and President, Endeavors of St. Louis, LLC; former CEO and Local Board Chair,Tenet Deaconness Health System; Tenet Deaconness Health System Board of Directors; Board Chair, Emmaus Homes, Inc.; Officer and committee member, Parkway United Church of Christ

Laura Barlow Winter

Independent consultant to non-profit organizations including Center of Creative Arts (COCA) and Fair St. Louis/Celebrate St. Louis...LIVE on the Levee. Former Program Associate, Danforth Foundation; former Vice President of Communications and Executive Editor, St. Louis Commerce Magazine for the St. Louis Regional Commerce and Growth Association (RCGA). Advisory Board Member, Urban Studio Cafe; Member of the Daughters of Charity Foundation Program Committee; Member, Greater St. Louis Regional Empowerment Zone Community Council.

M. Lynn Yearwood
Governance Committee member; Development Committee member, Ready Readers

Consultant, Business and Non-Profit Management; former COO and VP of Information Technology, Healthlink; former VP Operations, General American Life Insurance Company/Great West Assurance Company; former English/Speech/Drama high school teacher and school administrator; former adjunct community college faculty; Board member, Saint Louis Charter School; Volunteer with Social Ventures Partners, United Way allocations committee, Springboard for Learning/Young Audiences of St. Louis and BoardLink.

FINANCIAL INFORMATION

09-10 Budget

Financial Statements 2008-2009

07-08 Tax Forms