Giving Tuesday
We really admire the resilience, agility, and adaptability of the kids we work with. The longer we do this, the harder we try to be more like them! This is shaping up to be a very challenging year, and those are the exact qualities we'll be relying on as we move forward without a hiccup to grow in our work.
This is a big week for Team Long Run. A big chunk of our annual operating budget comes in during our Giving Tuesday campaign. We’re hoping to raise $30,000. Please join us in our work by giving today. Thank you!
Every $300 we raise supports a classroom book distribution, every $15,000 covers our work at an average elementary school here in rural Maine.
We've reverse-engineered opportunity, and it begins with the letter A*
Increased opportunity has always been closely linked with education. Greater academic success begins with early academic success. The kids who start behind almost always stay behind. Imagine showing up to a race and hearing the starter's pistol fire while you're still taking off your sweats.
At Team Long Run, we work every day to give economically challenged kids the tools they need to reach the starting line shoulder-to-shoulder. It starts with pre-literacy (*knowing your alphabet before kindergarten) and in the blink of an eye matures into early literacy. You learn to read, then you read to learn. Early academic success leads to subsequent academic success... doors begin to open.
With the right tools, kids can build a better life for themselves
We've found those tools, and have been getting them into kids' hands for six years. To date, Team Long Run has gotten 17,000 children's books into homes in some of the most economically challenged communities in Maine. Towns where generational poverty took root in the '70's when the mills closed.
Why books? Books in the home are by far the single biggest contributing factor to increased literacy, and the books we've shared are often the only books in the house. We also provide active play programs that are fun and easy to implement. An active kid is much more likely to be ready to learn.
We don't do this alone. We work with Head Start centers and the educators at Title One schools (schools where over 85% of the kids are living under the federal poverty line). These allies are the experts, and we try to learn from them every day.
A window into the work
Here's a video that chronicles "a day in the life" as we head up and visit a Head Start center near Farmington, Maine. Please enjoy, and feel free to fast forward some of the driving - it was a long day in the car!
