Childhood literacy focus of United Way fundraiser

In 1863, in the depths of the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a new national holiday called Thanksgiving. Its original intent was to call upon all Americans to ask God to “commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife” and to “heal the wounds of the nation.”

However, there is a sense among many Americans that the focus of Thanksgiving has drifted too far away from its original themes of compassion and generosity. That it has become merely a day of feasting and football, followed closely by consumer-driven shopping events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Over the past four years, a new social movement called Giving Tuesday has gained national attention as a way to refocus on the philanthropy the season is supposed to represent. Founded by Henry Timms, executive director of a community center in New York City, Giving Tuesday is a social media-driven effort to encourage people to take some time on the first Tuesday following Thanksgiving to give to the charity of their choice.

“There are so many ways to get involved in #GivingTuesday,” Timms said in a recent interview with USA Today. “In addition to making monetary donations, give blood, give a coat, give your time.”

Since its founding in 2012, the national movement has grown to include 30,000 partners in 68 countries. The effort is not limited to a single charitable cause, but applies to any philanthropic effort that inspires people to give generously of their time, energy and financial resources.

In Great Falls, much of the Giving Tuesday effort is being led by United Way of Cascade County.

“What if we have a day where we give back?” said Kim Skornogoski, marketing director for United Way of Cascade County. “Our hope is now that people have bought presents for their families and friends, they’ll help us in buying a present for the students in our community.”

While the United Way represents 32 nonprofit organizations in Cascade County, special emphasis is being given this year to childhood literacy. Throughout the following week, all donations contributed through the United Way of Cascade County website will go toward buying a book for every second-grade student attending classes at Great Falls Public Schools.

“We want to try and get the community engaged in a project that’s near and dear to our hearts,” Skornogoski said of the childhood literacy project. “Reading is something that children of any age can do to be successful in school. Not only does it help them with word recognition and those elements of learning, but it helps them communicate and helps them to listen.”

United Way made a strategic decision to focus its efforts on second-grade students in Cascade County because of statistics showing the increasing importance of grade-level literacy in students advancing into the third grade and beyond.

According to Skornogoski, children unable to read at grade level by the end of fourth grade are four times as likely to drop out of school. In Great Falls, 11 percent of third-graders are in need of intensive reading support, and an additional 13 percent require some level of strategic literacy support.

In total, nearly one in four Great Falls third-graders fall short of their expected literacy level.

“By the time kids reach the third grade, they really need to know how to read,” Skornogoski said. “They need to be able to read to study history, to learn science, in order to learn their math. Everything after that is contingent upon reading, and if kids struggle to read, they’ll struggle in all their other classes. They can start feeling bad about themselves, and it casts a shadow on all their future education.

“This is a very serious issue,” she added, “and it’s a very serious goal of ours to try and increase the number of third-graders reading at grade level.”

The goal is to raise $3,000 before Dec. 7, enough money to buy 850 books and give each second-grader in Great Falls Public Schools a book of their own to take home with them. This year, students will be given one of the books in the “Adventures of Humphrey” series, stories featuring a classroom hamster named Humphrey who takes part in adventures at Mrs. Brisbane’s class and weekend visits at home with one of the students.

Following close on the heels of the Giving Tuesday book drive will be United Way’s Read to Me challenge, where students can win gift certificates based upon their reading accomplishments at home over the Christmas holiday break.

“We wanted to give kids an education activity that would be fun to do over the Christmas break,” Skornogoski said. “Every time they read 20 minutes they can fill out these forms, and then when they come back to school they’ll be entered into a drawing for gift cards to buy more books. The more they read the better the chance they have at getting a prize.”

Five $25 gift cards for books will be awarded at each Great Falls elementary school. The Read To Me challenge also includes tips for parents on how to engage their children in reading and make it more of a family activity.

While childhood literacy is the chosen emphasis of this year’s Giving Tuesday effort, Skornogoski emphasized that the overarching goal is to encourage people to give to whatever charity inspires them.

“If people want to give, we want them to give to something they’re passionate about,” she said. “It’s about setting aside the shopping for a day and really thinking about giving back to your community.”