New Promising Pages website to lauch in March! Stay tuned!
Promising Pages is an official 501(c)3 charity.
New Warehouse Space
|
|
 A huge thank you to Carolina Business Interiors for providing Promising Pages with amazing sorting and wrapping party space and for the "big check!" This partnership will allow us to run even bigger book drives, form other necessary partnerships, and deliver way more wrapped books to kids who need them. We are well on our way to collect 1 million books in 2012! For more picture of the warehouse, visit our Facebook page. |
|
"Magic Book Parties" |
In The Media |
|
Promising Pages hosts free "Magic Book Parties" for at risk youth.
|
 A "literary first," 5/11/11
|
We Give Hope |
 Help us collect new and gently used children's books for kids who have few, if any at home.
Promising Pages estimates there are more than 60,000 kids growing up without books in the Greater Charlotte area alone. Yet there are hundreds of thousands of books sitting on shelves unread, after other kids have outgrown them. Let's turn those pages over to new hands and make a positive difference in our community. |
Mission: |
Our Mission is to level the playing field and offer all kids a fair shot at life, by giving them the tools they need to succeed at an early age. |
Our Mascots |
 Our Mascots "Erm the Bookworm," and "Erma the Bookworma" deliver donated Promising Pages books to kids as wrapped presents.
We are currently looking for volunteers to play Erm or Erma. It's a one-time, 45 minute commitment. It's incredibly powerful to see what we do so up-close and personal. The smiles on the children's faces have the power to forever change your perspective on life. |
How Many Books... |
 ...did you have when you were growing up?
This simple inquiry from a teacher was the start of a 5 year long personal and professional journey that eventually inspired a television reporter to launch Promising Pages. "I don't know, like a hundred?, " was this reporter's answer to the educator who had turned the tables on her during an interview about a school book drive in Charlottesville, Virginia. "These kids have 3 or 4," she said, "How interested do you think they are in learning?" (Read More) |
What is one thing we can give right now, that will not only brighten a child's day but the rest of his or her life?
The Facts |
| Well documented, quantifiable research supports the need for Promising Pages in our community. Considering starting a chapter, or mini-chapter in your city.
Fact: If you have children's books at your home that your own kids have out grown, we need them. We also need wrapping paper and tape. Please donate now. Here's why... (Promising Pages)
Fact: When the State of Arizona projects how many prison beds it will need, it factors in the number of kids who read well in fourth grade. (Arizona Republic (9-15-2004) Ad by SheaHomes Inc.)
Fact: 60 percent of America's prison inmates are illiterate and 85% of all juvenile offenders have reading problems. (U.S. Department of Education)
Fact: Children who have not developed basic literacy skills by the time they enter school are 3 - 4 times more likely to drop out in later years. (National Adult Literacy Survey, (1002) NCES, U.S. Department of Education)
Fact: The educational careers of 25 to 40 percent of American children are imperiled because they don't read well enough, quickly enough, or easily enough. (Committee on Preventing Reading Difficulties, National Research Council, 1998)
Fact: Disadvantaged students in the first grade have a vocabulary that is approximately half that of an advantaged student (2,900 and 5,800 respectively). (Graves, 1986 / White, Graves & Slater, 1990)
Books, tape, wrapping paper? For a drop of location near you, click here. |
How Promising Pages Works
1. You donate new or gently used children's books.
2. We get to work cleaning and sanitizing the pages (holistically!), then wrapping the books up as gifts for the little ones.
3. We pass the books along to local social service agencies who already have established relationships with the families we are aiming to serve. We distribute the books as presents though our mascots "Erm the Book Worm," and "Erma the Book Worma."
4. Kids and tots enjoy the colors/pictures/letters and words creating a positive association with books at our "Book Parties." Their imaginations and cognitive abilities are jump-started and a life- long love of learning begins to unfold.
How have books helped to shape your life? Share your story.
“Volunteers do not necessarily have the time; they just have the heart.”
--Elizabeth Andrew
