Petersen Medical Donates Books to the Reach Out and Read Program

Jean Landon
Marketing Coordinator
www.petersenmedical.com

After the hectic times of the holidays, many find January dull and bleak.  For me, however, I grab a good book and take advantage of the spare time by reading.

It is not a surprise, then, when I discovered through the Reach Out and Read program that 34% of children enter kindergarten without the basic language skills they will need to learn to read that I thought gathering preschool books for the local medical offices supporting the program would be the perfect service opportunity for January.

Reach Out and Read is an evidence-based nonprofit organization that promotes early literacy and school readiness in pediatric exam rooms nationwide by giving new books to children and advice to parents about the importance of reading aloud.

Reach Out and Read builds on the unique relationship between parents and medical providers to develop critical early reading skills in children, beginning at 6 months of age. The 3.9 million families served annually by Reach Out and Read read together more often, and their children enter kindergarten better prepared to succeed, with larger vocabularies, stronger language skills, and a six-month developmental edge over their peers.

The last two weeks of January Petersen Medical employees were encouraged to purchase a book for this program.  It was fun to see all the different books:

Here they are all packaged and ready to go:

Here's to some happy reading for families in Utah!