Thursday, February 2, 2012

Alabama Gives Day - What If Every Child Could Read?



Today, February 2, marks a statewide initiative to raise much needed donations for Alabama's nonprofit agencies.  Although each and everyone is deserving, I chose a program near and dear to my heart.

STAIR Birmingham's first site was at my church Independent Presbyterian.  Now thanks to willing volunteers there are sites in Ensley, Woodlawn, Norwood and Avondale.

Their website says it all.

STAIR, an acronym for Start the Adventure in Reading, works with second grade children who are reading below grade level in an effort to give those children, who have not been successful in learning to read in first grade, a chance to catch up with their peers.  Research shows the optimum time to master reading skills is by the end of second grade. 

Each child attends STAIR two days a week and meets with a trained volunteer.  The structured lessons engage the student by using phonics, sight words, alphabet review, and games. During the course of the school year, the students develop reading comprehension, vocabulary, and writing skills.  To date, students who complete the STAIR program improve their reading test scores by an average of 96%. 


I have had the privilege of being their photographer for several years and put together a short movie that you can see HERE and also make a much needed and appreciated donation.


http://algives.razoo.com/story/Stair-Of-Birmingham

10 comments:

Olivier said...

beau reportage avec de beaux portraits

Lowell said...

What a great program; and so very important. I taught 8th grade in a less than prosperous area and many of my students had difficulty reading!

Hope all is well with you!

Dave-CostaRicaDailyPhoto.com said...

A very worthwhile cause.

I enjoyed your post of dog yesterday, and your comment about the dog slurping the camera lens. Julie posted a photo of her mother's dog in her Scottsdale Daily Photo site, and just last weekend the dog came up and licked her camera lens.

brattcat said...

a wonderful program beautifully documented.

Janet said...

It's a great day for Alabama!

TheChieftess said...

Great cause!

FancyHorse said...

That is an excellent and worthy cause. I donated to Prodisee Pantry, an organization that provides food for hungry individuals and families in our area. There are so many! Hungry people, and worthy causes!

Virginia said...

Fancy Horse, thank your for donating where you feel it is needed. There are so many in our community that are looking for work, are homeless, need health care. The needs are so great.
Bless you.
V

Daryl said...

what a perfect way to give back, reading feeds the heart, the soul and the mind

Linda said...

So valuable. I wish you every success with this programme.