November 19th, 2008
ROR Colorado Wins Prestigious El Pomar Award For Excellence in Education Category
Reach Out and Read Colorado was named the winner of the Education category at the El Pomar Awards of Excellence ceremony November 19th in Colorado Springs, receiving a $15,000 prize. During the ceremony at Pikes Peak Center for the Performing Arts, awards were presented in 11 different categories and winners was revealed at the ceremony. The other finalists in the Education category were Junior Achievement of Southern Colorado, Inc. and KIPP Sunshine Peak Academy (winner of the Spencer and Julie Penrose Award as the outstanding nonprofit of the year). Participating ROR Clinic, Clinica Tepeyac was also a winner that night when it was named winner in the Self-Supporting Category. Those on hand to celebrate are pictured on the left. They were: (Back Row l-r) Jayson Goldinger, Board Member Heather Duncan, Board Member Peter Konrad, Medical Director Dr. Steve Vogler, Program Coordinator Melissa Elgersma, Hal Logan. (Front Row l-r) Executive Director Megan Wilson, Trainer Magdalena Aguayo, Board Chair Ann Logan, and Breakfast Committee co-Chair Honey Goldberg.
November 12th, 2008
Dr. Edward L. Shore Presents 2nd Annual Ann M. Logan Lecture
A crowd of nearly 200 gathered at Denver Health's Rita Bass Trauma and EMS Education Insititute to hear a lecture by Dr. Edward L. Schor on collaborations around early childhood. Edward L. Schor, M.D., Vice President, leads the Commonwealth Fund's Child Development and Preventive Care program. Dr. Schor, a pediatrician, has held a number of positions in pediatric practice, academic pediatrics, health services research, and public health. He is editor of the book Caring for Your School-Age Child, and has chaired both the Committee on Early Childhood, Adoption and Dependent care and the national Task Force on the Family for the American Academy of Pediatrics. He also has served on the Maternal and Child Health Bureau Child Health Survey Technical Panel, consulted for the National Center for Infancy and Early Childhood Health Policy, and co-chaired the IHCI/National Initiative for Children's Healthcare Quality on the topic of improving health care for children in foster care. He received the 2006 John C. MacQueen Award from the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs.
The Ann M. Logan Lecture Series on Early Childhood Development, created by the Denver Health Foundation is designed to recognize the outstanding contribution of Ann Logan in the area of children’s literacy and to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas to ensure a healthy start for all of Denver’s children.
October 15th, 2008
5th Annual Benefit Breakfast Most Successful Yet
On Wednesday, October 15th a crowd of 300 gathered at the beautiful Denver Botanic Gardens to celebrate another great year of Reach Out and Read and hear a hilarious parody of a Dr. Seuss classic read by Colorado First Lady Jeannie Ritter and Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper (in his 5th appearance!). The 5th Annual Benefit Breakfast raised over $100,000 thanks in part to our generous donors as well as Lead Event Sponsor Qwest and Supporting Sponsors FirstBank, GreenbergTraurig, Rivington Capital Advisors, LLC; Denver Health Foundation; Ehrhardt, Keefe, Steiner, and Hottman, PC; Rothgerber, Johnson, and Lyons, LLP; The Children's Hospital, Lyndia K. and Cannon Y. Harvey; Ann and Hal Logan; T & R Fund; Smashburger; and Gary-Williams Energy Corporation. A big thank you also to our generous In-Kind Sponsors: Merrill Corporation, Tattered Cover Bookstore, Trevor Brown Photography, Peet's Coffee and Tea (Cherry Creek), and The Duffeyroll Cafe.
September 24th, 2008
All Colorado's Family Medicine Residency Programs Now Actively Participating in ROR
Rose Family Medicine joined the ranks of Family Medicine Residency programs participating in ROR, making it the final program to do so. Currently, all seven of Colorado's Family Medicine Residency program participate, including: Southern Colorado Family Medicine, Bruner Family Medicine (at Exempla St. Joseph's), Fort Collins Family Medicine, Swedish Family Medicine, St. Mary's Family Practice, and St. Anthony's Family Medicine.
August 19th, 2008
Congressman Perlmutter Visits Tri-County Health Department
 Congressman Ed Perlmutter of Colorado’s 7th Congressional District visited Tri-County Health Department’s Aurora office to read to children and learn more about Reach Out and Read. After being greeted by Tri-County Executive Director Dr. Richard L. Vogt, Perlmutter read to a group of 15 preschool children. He was lead on a tour of the clinic by Nurse Manager Lynn Trefren. A BIG thank you to Marian Greenway, Tri-County’s ROR Coordinator for organizing this visit.
August 14th, 2008
TownCenter Booksellers & Author Bruce Ducker Introduce ROR to Roaring Fork Valley
 Local author and longtime ROR supporter Bruce Ducker read from his latest critically acclaimed novel “Dizzying Heights: The Aspen Novel.” Bruce, ROR CO Northwest Regional Coordinator Carol Federman, and local ROR provider Dr. Elizabeth Flood of Mountain Family Health Centers also discussed ROR at the Basalt bookstore event.
August 12th, 2008
Peak Vista Community Health Centers First to Adopt Reach Out Read in El Paso County
 Reach Out and Read Colorado welcomes a new member to the team; Colorado Springs’ Peak Vista Community Health Centers unveiled its ROR program at a press conference on Tuesday, July 12 at the Pediatric Health Center. Speakers included Nancy Maday, Children's Services Supervisor from Pikes Peak Library District; Megan Wilson, Executive Director of Reach Out and Read Colorado; Dr. Kathleen Foote, Peak Vista Pediatrician; BJ Scott, Peak Vista President and CEO; and Dr. Terry Bishop, Superintendent of Colorado Springs School District 11.
Press conference topics ranged from the developmental importance of reading to children and how Reach Out and Read at Peak Vista will positively impact school systems in Colorado Springs while building the foundation for the community’s future leaders. The event concluded with Dr. Bishop reading stories to a handful of children gathered in the waiting area.
Peak Vista is the first health center in El Paso County to adopt Reach Out and Read.
July 2008
Qwest’s INROADS Interns 2nd Annual Project Big Success
For the second year, INROADS interns with Qwest had a very successful service project benefiting ROR CO. The group hosted a book drive that yielded over 7,000 books nationally (nearly 3,000 in Colorado alone!). In addition the interns organized volunteer readers for 40 hours of reading at Inner City Health Center, Rock Mountain Youth Clinics Denver office, and Denver Health’s Eastside Clinic. The three clinics were also recipients of the books gathered during the drive. The group also raised nearly $700 for ROR Colorado.
May 02, 2008
ROR Co-founder Dr. Barry Zuckerman to Receive Robert F. Kennedy Children’s Action Corps Embracing the Legacy Award
For his work in connecting impoverished children in greater Boston to legal services, food, shelter and health care, Dr. Barry Zuckerman, chief of pediatrics at Boston Medical Center and founder of the Medical Legal Partnership for Children, will be honored on June 11 with The Robert F. Kennedy Children’s Action Corps Embracing the Legacy Award. The award will be presented at the JFK Library by Kathleen Kennedy Towsend, the eldest daughter of Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Kennedy’s 11 children.
Since 1972, Zuckerman has cared for thousands of poor children as a pediatrician at Boston Medical Center, seeing the connection between illness and poverty firsthand. As a doctor who treated poor children, Zuckerman recognized that children – particularly children of low income families -- needed lawyers as part of their healthcare team, since so many of the problems they face have legal – as opposed to medical – remedies. Zuckerman founded the Family Advocacy Program at Boston Medical Center in 1993.
April 29th, 2008
Three National Milestones for Reach Out and Read
More than 50,000 doctors have given 20 million free books to America’s youngest children living in poverty, thanks to Reach Out and Read. Partnering with doctors to give free books to children and literacy advice to their parents at check-ups, Reach Out and Read now reaches 25 percent of low-income U.S. infants, toddlers and preschoolers. The children’s literacy program recently reached all three milestones. This year, American doctors will give 5.4 million new books to 3.3 million low-income families in all 50 states, Washington D.C., Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. International programs have been started in Africa, Italy, Israel, the Philippines, England, and Canada.
March 29th, 2008
Denver Newspaper Agency ACTS for ROR CO
 On March 29th, volunteers from Denver Newspaper Agency’s ACTS (Assisting the Community Through Service) program came to the ROR CO office and generously gave their time to sort and package books for our clinics. Says participant Rick “Worm” Charbonneau, Denver Newspaper Agency’s State Circulation Manager, “What an amazing project! With one day’s worth of work, we were able to reach out and touch young people all across Colorado. We are very proud to have been part of this effort to help enable young people in their everyday reading efforts.” Charbonneau also arranged for the delivery of sorted books to many ROR programs statewide.
February 2008
Rocky Mountain PBS Book Drive Yields Over 3,500 books
 Rocky Mountain PBS viewers, Borders customers, and LolliLocks Kids Salon patrons collected over 3,500 books for Reach Out and Read Colorado during February’s Reading Roundup Book Drive. As a special treat, Clifford the Big Red Dog visited Borders and LolliLocks locations across the front range to meet his fans. The books will be distributed to clinics across the state. A BIG thank you to Deborah Brunner, Development Events Manager for Rocky Mountain PBS for all her hard work in organizing this very successful event.
December 2007
Tattered Cover Book Store Hosts Holiday Book Drive
 Every December, Tattered Cover Book Store customers are invited to donate new or gently-used books to benefit Reach Out and Read Colorado. Tattered Cover and Shea Homes, their partner on the Holiday Book Drive, match donations by purchasing one new book for every 10 donated. In addition to the Holiday Book Drive, the Tattered Cover partners with Colorado State Bank and Trust to conduct a second book drive each June.
December 10th, 2007
Reach Out and Read Receives Social Capitalist Award
Fast Company magazine and Monitor Group announced today that they awarded one of its fifth annual Social Capitalist Awards to Reach Out and Read. Boston-based Reach Out and Read joins 44 non-profits who were recognized for using the tools of business to solve the world’s most pressing social problems – ranging from poor healthcare in developing nations to unequal education access, homelessness, unemployment and substance abuse in the United States – and who have demonstrated a consistent and unusually large impact on society.
For five years, Fast Company has partnered with global consulting firm Monitor Group to identify, evaluate, and celebrate top-performing nonprofit organizations. The Awards assess social entrepreneurial organizations of different sizes and ages across social sectors as an explicit effort to further performance measurement and accountability in the social sector in a highly rigorous, data driven, comparative approach. Organizations are rated on five critical components: social impact, entrepreneurship, innovation, aspiration and growth, and sustainability, based on an application that included two years of operating and audited financial data, a statement of mission and objectives, and answers to a survey to assess strategy and activities. Winners were selected by an independent advisory board of sector experts. In addition to the winners, the board also picked four high-potential organizations as “rising stars.”
December 1, 2007
Rocky Mountain News publisher John Temple dedicates his weekly article to ROR Colorado!
October 10th, 2007
4th Annual Benefit Breakfast a Record Breaker
 A sellout crowd of over 340 ROR Colorado supporters gathered at the Denver Botanic Gardens for the 4th Annual Benefit Breakfast. Attendees dined on green eggs and ham while listening to a parody of the beloved book read by Colorado First Lady Jeannie Ritter and Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper. The event marked the fourth appearance of Mayor Hickenlooper and the first for Mrs. Ritter. This year’s event broke attendance and fundraising records netting $89,000. All of which will be used to purchase beautiful new, age-appropriate books for children at the more than 100 ROR clinics statewide. Event sponsors were Qwest, 1st Bank, The Children’s Hospital, Marty Erzinger at Citi Family Office, Rivington Capital Advisors, LLC; The Chatham Foundation and Merrill Corporation. In-kind supporters were Trevor Brown, Jr. Photography, Tattered Cover Bookstore and Peet’s Coffee & Tea.
July 25th, 2007
Denver Health Celebrates 10 Years of ROR with 4 First Ladies
 On July 25, 2007 Denver Health celebrated 10 years of ROR. A large crowd, including eager preschoolers, were on hand to celebrate that Denver Health has sent low-income children home with over 140,000 new, high quality books since 1997. Former Colorado First Ladies Dottie Lamm, Bea Romer and Frances Owens joined current First Lady Jeannie Ritter in reading to the children and supporting Reach Out and Read. Read The Denver Post article on this great event!
July, 17th, 2007
Reach Out and Read Receives UNESCO 2007 Literacy Prize
Reach Out and Read, (ROR) a program in which medical providers give books to low-income children ages six months to five years at check-ups and advise their parents about the importance of reading aloud was awarded a UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) Confucius Prize for Literacy for its work within the U.S. healthcare system.
The awards were announced by the UNESCO Director-General, Koïchiro Matsuura, on the recommendation of an international jury. The theme for this year’s prize was "Literacy and Health", in particular, literacy related to general health care, nutrition, family and reproductive health and health-related community development. Other recipients were literacy programs in China, Nigeria, Senegal, and the United Republic of Tanzania.
 May 2007
Clifford Visits Denver Health to Support Book Fair for ROR
In May, Clifford the Big Red Dog visited the Scholastic Book Fair at Denver Health. Employees and visitors to the hospital purchased books for their families at a table set up in the lobby. A portion of the profits from the book fair will benefit Reach Out and Read at Denver Health.
 April 10th, 2007
Rep. Marilyn Musgrave Visits Monfort Children's Clinic
On April 10th, 2007 Representative Marilyn Musgrave visited Monfort Children's Clinic in Greeley. Rep. Mugrave read to a group of about 10 children, toured the facility and met clinic staff.
|
