San Angelo ISD Participates in Annual Day of Giving, San Angelo Gives, to Support Literacy Initiative

In December 2020, San Angelo ISD launched a community-wide literacy initiative called San Angelo READS! in order to promote and encourage reading and the future-ready learner profile attributes of communicator, collaborator, critical thinker, and creator among our students and greater community. The goal of San Angelo READS! is to increase awareness of the importance of literacy and to inspire a love for reading. 

In the last 4 months since our launch, San Angelo ISD celebrated this wonderful literacy initiative with special reading days each month at our campuses, fun read alouds highlighting community members like roper Ty Harris, the mayor and more, and - importantly - by getting books directly into the hands of young readers! 

To-date we have given over two thousand SAISD students in 1st and 3rd grade books of their very own, and this Wednesday, we will continue the giving for all of our 2nd graders! We also have plans in the works for our kindergarten, 4th and 5th grade students to get their own books this school year as well. This simply would not be possible without the help of various community partners such as the San Angelo Area Foundation, HEB, The United Way of the Concho Valley, Atmos Energy, Diego's Burritos, Lone Star Beef and other community partners who wish to remain anonymous. The generosity of our community provided us the opportunity to extend important enrichment outside the classroom to build literacy skills that our normal operating budgets does not include. Currently, San Angelo READS! has operated solely on donated items and funds and the support of San Angelo.

This is just the beginning! With your needed, generous support through San Angelo Gives, San Angelo READS! will be able to continue our mission to serve the literacy needs of our students and greater community, and support reading in ways above and beyond lessons in classrooms. Here are just a few of the ways we would love to put San Angelo Gives funds to positive work:

• Over the summer months, San Angelo READS! will be providing deserving students with books through our Summer Book Patrol. The Summer Book Patrol will gather a variety of books based on the students reading levels within the household to encourage reading while away from the classroom. These books will be delivered directly to the students household with additional educational resources for the parents and students.
• San Angelo READS! will also continue to provide books during the school year to each of our elementary students by grade level. It is our hope that with community partner donations and funds collected in San Angelo Gives, we can expand our book distribution to our secondary students as well. 

Cultivating a strong culture of reading across our community will result in more confident, empowered, and accomplished readers across all age groups. Your support ensures we can continue providing these important literacy enrichment opportunities for our students to build vital literacy skills which will enhance their future. San Angelo READS! is driven by statistics which show how vitally important literacy is to providing all students with the opportunities to succeed at a young age including that children who do not read on grade level by the end of the third grade only have a 1 in 8 chance of catching up to other students who are reading within their grade level and are 4 times more likely to drop out of school. Thank you so much for your generous support of San Angelo READS! Share how you support San Angelo READS! for San Angelo Gives by changing your profile picture to include our new Facebook frame or sharing your personal message using our hashtag, #SAISDReads.  

Many wonderful nonprofits that support and help our community and students also partake in this annual day of generosity. We thank our community for their support in whatever cause you choose to give, and appreciate the opportunity to be included in the day. Happy Giving San Angelo!