Read-a-Thon

The Roberta Klingher Memorial Read-a-Thon is a county-wide event coordinated by Child Care Resources of Rockland (CCRR) annually during the month of April.

With this project we are looking to raise community awareness about the importance of promoting literacy skills in young children on a countywide scale by bringing together members of the community from all walks of life. CCRR recruits volunteers from the community to read to children in family based child care programs, child care centers, school age care programs, family resource centers and libraries throughout the month.

The volunteers will have the opportunity to read to about 1500 children. The books that the volunteers use will be left at the programs so that the children can enjoy hearing the books read to them again and again.

All participating programs will receive information about the importance of reading aloud to children for their staff and parents. With help from our sponsors, there is also an opportunity for child care programs to enter a drawing to win a fully equipped library.

About Our Funder

The Roberta Klingher Memorial Fund was established in September 2006 honoring Roberta Klingher who passed away suddenly in July 2006.  Roberta, known as Bobbi, was a mother, grandmother, wife, counselor, teacher and artist.  She used to say she was a people person - she needed people, enjoyed their company, and wanted to reach out to help them. She had a passion for young children and was an early childhood teacher and then one of the earliest Education Coordinators of the Head Start program in Nyack. She saw early literacy and language development in young children as a key to later success in school and life for them.

Bobbi had a very close association with Child Care Resources of Rockland. She served as the President and for many years sat on its Board of Directors. After careful consideration her family chose to honor her and continue her legacy of caring for others by establishing an annual event in her name - The Roberta Klingher Memorial Read-a-Thon.

How You Can Help…

The Roberta Klingher Memorial Read-a-Thon encourages individuals and agencies to contribute.  The contributions will help purchase the following:

             A library for a child care program in Rockland County.  The library will consist of
             books, furniture and other literacy items to create a comfortable reading area where children 

             will be encouraged to read and/or be read to.  Additionally, this funding will help buy books to

             give to readers who will read at child care programs in Rockland County. These books will be     

             read  to over 1,500 children and will be left at the program for the children to enjoy over and over  

             again. The library will have a plaque permanently mounted which identifies the sponsor and all 

             books will have a sticker with the sponsor’s name and logo.

	Click here if you are a child care program and would like a volunteer come to read at your program. (PDF file) Child care programs, check back here to print additional Parent/Family Volunteer Reader Letters. Check back here if you would like to volunteer to read and more information on this event.
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