Service With a Smile

butterfly wings

By Pat Kelly

It was one of those late winter days recently when spring weather has blown in over the prairie, so I decided to drop off some used clothing and holiday decorations at Savers donation center. I pulled into the drive-through at the Crystal Lake store and an attendant in his lime green tee-shirt walked up to my car. Only this day, he was wearing a pair of lime green children’s butterfly wings to accessorize his shirt.

“Hello Mr. Butterfly!” I exclaimed through my open window.

“These came in with a donation this morning and I decided to put them on to liven things up here at the donation center,” J.S. told me.

“Well, you sure brightened my day. These donations are for the A to Z Literacy Movement donation drive,” I replied.

After taking my boxes into the building, J.S. returned with my receipt and a Savers punch card.

“On behalf of A to Z and Savers, we thank you for your donation,” he declared.

What a pleasant guy, I thought to myself as I drove away. What an asset J.S. is to Savers and indirectly, to A to Z.

Remember anytime year round you can bring used clothing, books, household items and linens to the drop off center at Savers’ Crystal Lake location and mention our organization by name. A to Z will be paid by the pound for what you give. Sorry, we cannot be paid for furniture, tires or liquids.

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Crystal Lake Central Juniors Creating *Books in Bags*

A to Z Literacy Movement is grateful to Mrs. Welder’s English class of Crystal Lake Central juniors for once again taking on the wonderful project of *Books in Bags*. Each CLC student chooses a fiction or nonfiction picture book and practices reading and rereading the book aloud. The students then head to the school library to record their reading with Mrs. Nelson, Crystal Lake Central’s librarian.  Once the recording is complete, the students create a short comprehension check and discussion guide with questions and prompts to be answered or discussed by students in our Zambian partner schools. The *Books in Bags* are a fantastic asset to any classroom or library listening station, and we are really excited about this year’s selection of picture books. Thank you so much to the teachers and students involved in this literacy project!

Tomorrow Night

Have plans for tomorrow night? If not, why not come out to the Park Place at 7:00 for a fantastic evening of trivia fun and laughs with a great group of people. You can head to the website for tickets or buy them at the door. Don’t have enough folks for a whole table? No worries – we have plenty of space for you. Any questions? Feel free to email mal@atozliteracy.org

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Join the Team

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The A to Z Literacy Movement team would like to invite YOU to join us. We meet once a month for about an hour and a half to talk about what’s happening within the organization and brainstorm ideas on ways to meet our goals and fulfill our mission. Our meetings take place on the first Monday evening of the month at 7:00. It’s always informal, popcorn is always served, and there’s always something to celebrate. All ideas are welcome and appreciated, so please consider joining us sometime soon! Feel free to email Mal to let her know you are coming – mal@atozliteracy.org

Here are the upcoming meeting dates:

Monday, March 7th at 7:00

Monday, April 4th at 7:00

Monday, May 2nd at 7:00

Monday, June 6th at 7:00

The Gift of Time

By Kalan Gott

I have been in Las Vegas with my family for three and half years and it has been a long time since I got to support A to Z.  Having two kids in two and half years resulted in time just disappearing. I couldn’t stop considering the concept of “time.” It was around the holidays that I started thinking that sharing time seemed like a good gift.  More for everyone, right?  I gifted my time to the A to Z Literacy Movement and getting books into the hands of kids who need them.  By doing this time-sharing became contagious. Staff members from Clark County School District gave time to create flyers and collection boxes, my kids gave up play time to sit and sort through books (they loved it), and my husband gave time trying for a month to find someone in the Las Vegas postal system who knew how to ship an M bag to Zambia.  Getting back to sharing my time illuminated how precious it is.  Thank you to Mal Keenan for showing me how to make my time meaningful. Thank you to the beautiful teachers and students of Zambia for giving their time to training and learning more about literacy.  Thank you to authors and illustrators everywhere for their masterpieces that allow us to imagine amazing adventures, accomplishments, and lives we can create with all this time.  What will you imagine, accomplish, or create with your time?

Looking Back at 2015

annual report 2015

“Literacy is a bridge from misery to hope.” – Kofi Annan

With the holidays over and the January deep freeze settling in, A to Z is proud to look back at 2015 and celebrate many accomplishments. As you view our annual report above, you’ll notice we shipped 57 boxes of children’s books to four different countries in 2015 while donating 27 boxes to local groups in here McHenry county. That’s about 6,000 books in all!  88% of contributions to our nonprofit went to program expenses which included funding for four Zambian student scholarships, six months of school lunch, professional development for over 150 Zambian teachers, and a yearly salary for one teacher. A to Z is grateful to you for continuing to believe in our mission and we are humbled with your generosity. We believe books provide the “what can be…” in life for so many children in impoverished communities, helping them to see the world through different lenses. Without you, we would not be able to promote the love of reading and increase literacy levels around the world. Thank you. Thank you! Thank you.

Trivia Night 2016

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Just How Many Boxes?

As 2015 wraps up, A to Z Literacy Movement wanted to share a few numbers and a bit of information about the boxes of children’s books we shipped and gave away this year.
Globally: 57 boxes of books made their way to Zambia, Ghana, Swaziland, and the Dominican Republic.
Locally: 27 boxes of books were shared with children in McHenry County.
Without your generous and continued support, we could not have donated the 84 boxes of children’s books to schools, churches, and other nonprofits who are working to increase the love of reading in children. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Kids Making a Difference

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Recently, I had the privilege of sharing the work of A to Z Literacy Movement with 5th grade students at Woods Creek Elementary School in Crystal Lake. The boys and girls had been studying Nigeria as part of their Extended Curriculum in Language Arts and wanted to learn more about African culture. After my visit, the Woods Creek students performed a Nigerian play in each of the classrooms with the central message of “friends help friends”.  Additionally, they hosted a Coins for a Cause collection and raised over $200. When the collection was complete, the kids were so excited to see how they indeed made a difference!
A very special thank you to Extended Curriculum teacher Gail Kelley for wanting to share the world with her students and for believing in the mission of A to Z Literacy Movement.

‘Tis the Season for Books

through jane's eyes     gravity

“Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading, to make reading one of his deep and continuing needs, is good for him.”- Maya Angelou

Yearly, the Glacier Ridge PTA organizes a Scholastic book fair at holiday time. Students create personal book “wish lists.”  For two evenings, families come to support the love of reading and to purchase books.  In conjunction with the book fair, a charity is chosen to participate in the All for Books program; this year A to Z Literacy was the lucky recipient.  As students and parents purchase books and make “wish lists” come true, they donate money to All for Books.  At the end of the book fair, we purchase books.  Similarly, the Crystal Lake Dawnbreakers Rotary supports nonprofit organizations.  This past week A to Z was blessed with a donation to ship books to Africa. ‘Tis the season for giving books. Because of so many, books are in the hands of children: here and in impoverished areas of Africa. Thank you to all for helping children form a habit of reading.

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