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The Children’s Reading Foundation

Closing the achievement gap will help 

Bradley County reach a very important 

goal — to have all students reading at 

or above grade level by the time they 

reach the third grade. Reaching that 

goal will set students up for positive, 

productive futures. Readers are lead-

ers, and we are producing our future 

community’s.”

Dr. Linda Cash

Director of Schools 

Bradley County (Tennessee) 

It feels like a dream come true to find a 

program with 20 years of research and 

that meets the needs of families!”

Lorraine Verploegen

Executive Director 

Plant a Seed…READ! (Montana)

READ Up gave an instant boost to the 

summer reading program at the local 

library. The families looked forward to 

the story times and we see families 

coming back more frequently.”

Mary Salyer

Co-Executive Director

The Children’s Reading Foundation

of Appalachia (Virginia)

The Okanogan Children’s Reading 

Foundation is ‘no parent left behind.’ 

The parents in the community we serve 

are just as excited to learn what the kids 

are learning because so many parents 

never had the chance to learn.”

Joy McCulley

Executive Director

The Children’s Reading Foundation

 of Okanogan (Washington)

We had seen a dramatic decline in 

readiness skills concerning our incom-

ing kindergarten students over the past 

five years. READY! was a way for us to 

give our incoming kindergarten students 

a jump start on basic skills before they 

enter kindergarten here at Sharpstein.”

Matt Bona 

Principal of Sharpstein Elementary

Walla Walla School District (Washington)

The work you do makes the most 

important level of education – early 

education – available to places where 

it is most needed. If it doesn’t happen 

there, it won’t be easy to happen at all. 

So, thank you for what you are doing.” 

Ann Rohovec

President

The Children’s Reading Foundation 

of Doña Ana County (New Mexico)

Memorable Moments

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