Media:  Click Here

	2006-2007 Sponsors

                          Carter & Associates * Coldwell Banker * Genuine Parts
                               Georgia-Pacific * Kroger * Margaret Mitchell House
                       Sheltering Arms Board of Directors * Wachovia * WXIA-TV

Click here for Operation StoryBook's Wish List.

Sign Up to Volunteer for Operation StoryBook.

What is Operation StoryBook?  

• Read-A-Thon:  On September 14, 2007, VIPs, volunteers, and
  professional storytellers spent the day reading to children in Sheltering Arms' 16 neighborhood centers around metro Atlanta.  An evening reception at the Margaret Mitchell House celebrated the kick-off of Operation StoryBook 2007-2008.  Come back soon for details of our 2008 Operation StoryBook events!
• Children's StoryBook Club:  2300 children will receive a new book every month for a year for their home libraries.  Classroom and enrichment activities, such as field trips and visiting performers, will explore the unique themes, values, and cultures presented in each month's book selection. 
• Family of Readers:  Storytelling workshops, parent book clubs, and special family literacy events will help parents show children the importance they place on reading and will give them the skills to engage their children as emerging readers.

How Can I Help?

1. Be a Corporate or Civic Sponsor.  This is not your typical black-tie fundraiser. As a sponsor, you will do well by doing good.  You will help lay the foundation for a better-educated Atlanta workforce in the future, and your employees and customers will become involved in a personal, visible way as readers at Sheltering Arms centers.  With many sponsorship levels, branding opportunities, and sponsor benefits, we can tailor a sponsor package to meet your needs.  Sponsor a single event, year-round, or multi-year.  Become a metro-wide sponsor for maximum exposure, or target your efforts by sponsoring a local Sheltering Arms center.  Sponsorships range from $550 to $100,000.  For details, email Jason Lowery.
2. Provide a Child with Books for a Year.  Your individual donation of $36 will provide one child with 12 months of books as part of our Children's StoryBook Club.  Click here to make your online contribution now.
3. Be an Operation StoryBook  Volunteer.  Volunteers are needed to help us plan and launch our first year of Operation StoryBook and to be readers at our September 14th Read-A-Thon event.  Contact Angel Paschall.
4. Be a Reading Pal.  Volunteer as an individual or a group to read to children at Sheltering Arms or to use your special skills as a performer, storyteller, or puppeteer to make a story come to life.  Contact your nearest Sheltering Arms center to sign up. 
5. Be a Cyber-Supporter.  Donate a book online by making a purchase from our wish list at Amazon.com and having it shipped directly to Sheltering Arms. 
6. Organize a Book Drive.  Conduct an Operation StoryBook book drive with your workplace, house of worship, civic group, or school group. For ideas on age-appropriate books, visit our online wish list at Amazon.com. 
7. Open Doors.  Do you know someone at a philanthropic foundation who would be interested in funding our literacy programs?  Do you have media contacts or speaking opportunities that will help us promote Operation StoryBook?  Can you put us in touch with businesses that would like to donate inkind items, or performers willing to share their time?  If so, email Jason. 
8. Hold Your Own Read-A-Thon.  Kids, challenge your class or Scout group to hold a Read-A-Thon to benefit Sheltering Arms' Operation StoryBook.  For every book you read, collect pledges from family and friends to be donated to Sheltering Arms. 
9. Host a Field Trip or Reading Party.  Work with your family or group to sponsor a field trip for Sheltering Arms children to performances based on favorite children's books.  Or organize a party celebrating the theme and characters from your favorite children's book. 
10. Tell Your Friends About Operation StoryBook.

Why?

In metro Atlanta, an estimated 395,000 adults are not in the workforce due to illiteracy, a fact that costs $1.7 million in low productivity, unrealized tax revenues, lowered purchasing power, welfare, crime, and other social ills (Atlanta 2000--Its Changing Job Market and the Employment Readiness of the Workplace, Southeastern Regional Office of the National Alliance of Business & U.S. Department of Labor Employment & Training Administration).  Since 90% of brain development occurs before age 3, building a love of reading in young children is one of the most effective ways to prevent adult illiteracy and its ill effects. Unfortunately, research shows that nearly 2/3 of low income families have no books in the home, one of the strongest predictors of future reading ability.  ("The Literacy Crisis: False Claims, Real Solutions,"  Jeff McQuillan, 1998.)  Sheltering Arms' Operation StoryBook is working to close that gap.  Money raised from Operation StoryBook supports the Children's StoryBook Club book donation program as well as child care scholarships for low-income working families.

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