member Nancy Loliva, who together with Laura Barba

of ProYouth HEART and Ivy

Ruiz, manager of the Ani-mal Care Center, developed

Shelter Buddies. “The Unit-ed Way Community Support

Grant allows over 100 chil-dren the opportunity to be

a Shelter Buddy, improves

literacy, and helps animals find their forever home.”

Read for Life began a unique program called

“Shelter Buddies” in Febru-

ary, which brings young readers together with

adoptable animals. With the help of a grant from

United Way of Tulare County, the program has

expanded to six participat-

ing school sites for the 2017-18 school year.

Shelter Buddies was de-veloped by Read for Life in

cooperation with ProYouth

HEART and the Visalia Ani-mal Care Center. Pro-

Youth’s after-school pro-gram in Goshen was select-

ed for the pilot program, which ran from February

through May.

On designated Tuesdays, second- and third-graders

from Pro-Youth HEART’s after-school programs

come to the Animal Care

Center on the Tulare Coun-

ty-run Loop Bus to spend an hour reading to ani-

mals up for adoption.

Reading to the dogs helps to bring comfort to

shelter animals, and it nurtures empathy in chil-

dren while improving their ability to read.

Read for Life provides

books to each participat-ing ProYouth site, and the

books stay at the site to continue to emphasize

the importance of reading

every day. The Visalia Ani-mal Care Center provides

humane education and oversees the time spent

reading to the animals. Pro- Youth Heart offers a learn-

ing environment that em-

phasizes literacy develop-ment.

“The program has been successful for two- and four

-legged creatures alike,”

said Read for Life board

Read for Life works toward its goal of providing books to

children and break-ing the cycle of illit-eracy through early

intervention, direct service projects and community awareness.

Read for Life helps reopen Farmersville Library

Inside this report

President’s message 2

Books in the NICU 3

Teenage parents 4

Where your donations go

5

RFL map 6

Donors 7

Parent testimonial 8

agricultural community east of Visalia, has experienced

exactly that for over 10

years. Then in 2014 a Collective

It is difficult to imagine any community without the

resources a library offers.

However, Farmersville, a small, rural and primarily

Impact coalition consisting of Read for Life and over

20 local organizations

called Lea Conmigo (Read

Year-end Report

2017

Shelter Buddies promotes reading, animal adoptions

Continued on page 2

Many parents in Tulare County do not read to their

children because their par-

ents did not read to them. This does not mean that

they do not love their chil-dren. They simply do not

have that model of early reading to follow.

Read for Life is working

to break this cycle by let-ting parents and families

know how important it is

for them to begin reading to their children beginning

at birth.

Children who are not read to during their first

years of life are already behind when they enter

Kindergarten. I saw this first hand as a teacher. I

became involved with Read

for Life when I retired be-cause I wanted to help

change the pattern.

Your donations are used to purchase books

along with Books for Ba-

bies packets that Read for Life distributes throughout

Tulare County. We use these to help parents bring

the joy of reading into the lives of many young chil-

dren. When they become

parents, they will have the model to follow of reading

to their children.

Farmersville children in the Boys & Girls

Club painted these

little libraries, which are placed in residen-

tial areas so people can swap books when-

ever they like.

vices include regular week-

ly programming for chil-

dren, story time, crafts, special monthly events,

community outreach and participation in the Tulare

County programming (Summer Reading, etc.)

Read for Life, Boys &

Girls Club, City of Farmers-ville, Tulare County Library

System, Farmersville Uni-fied School District and

HandsOn Central Valley have been significant part-

ners in developing the pro-

gram. “This unique space offers

a place to gather, to share, to grow and to create,”

said Deborah Lagomar-

sino, RFL participant. For information, contact

Deborah at 625-3433.

Farmersville Library Continued from page 1

with Me) worked to re-establish a Tulare County

Library Branch and develop

community connections to ensure children are profi-

cient readers by the third grade.

The City of Farmersville secured a $90,000 Com-

munity Block Development

Grant from the state for library staff, and Lea Con-

migo was awarded a $40,000 grant from the

Ann B. Reimer Charitable

Education Foundation for a library resource center in-

cluding computers, furni-ture, and books.

Thanks to this amazing monetary support, the

doors of the Tulare County

Library Branch of Farmers-ville reopened in April. Ser-

President’s Message by Anne Fulmer

Page 2

‘Just imagine!

Books can

create magic,

but a library

can become

magical!’

Deborah Lagomarsino, Lea Conmigo

Lea

Conmigo members

and local officials

open the

Farmers-ville

Library on April

22.

Little free libraries in Farmersville

Reading to premature babies is so important,

says Michelle Harris, devel-

opmental specialist and lactation nurse at Kaweah

Delta Health Care District. “You’re spending time

with them. They’re learning your voice. Studies have

lined up 10 moms, and the

babies recognize their own mothers,” she explained.

That’s why Michelle feels it’s important to distribute

Books for Babies packets

from Read for Life to moms and babies in the Neonatal

Intensive Care Unit (NICU). The NICU is designed es-

pecially for premature ba-bies and babies who expe-

rience problems at birth.

“Preemies speak a differ-ent language,” Michelle

said. “They show stress in different ways. They don’t

always cry. Sometimes

they arch their back, hic-cup, their face turns pale,

they breathe fast.” Preemies have to learn

to do a lot of things before

they can go home. Con-necting with their mom is

especially important be-

cause they’re usually in an incubator at

first.

“Babies love to hear your voice.

That’s how they con-nect to the world.”

RFL visited the NICU unit six weeks

after little Joshua

was born. He was 10 weeks early and was

finally going to go home that day.

His mom, Cindy

Almaraz, had visited every day, listening

to the advice of Michelle and other

nurses and doctors. “Cindy is an outstanding

mom,” said Michelle. “She’s

really bonded with her ba-by and has learned how to

care for him.” Cindy said she always

reads to Joshua. It was

engrained in her because her mother read to her

when she was little. Michelle has found that

parents appreciate the RFL

Books for Babies packets, which include a board

book, songbook and devel-

opmental cards. “Parents love the devel-

opmental cards. It gives

them a framework for their babies’ milestones,” said

Michelle, explaining that for preemies, you have to sub-

tract the number of weeks they arrived early to deter-

mine milestones.

“Happily, preemies usual-ly make up their weight

and milestones by the time they are 2.”

Michelle said that often

parents don’t realize the importance of reading to

their babies. It might be their fourth

child, and you tell them about reading, and they

look at you surprised,” she

said. Some families don’t have

access to books or don’t realize their importance.

That’s why Michele is hap-

py to send them home with the RFL packets.

Read for Life gives an annual $500 Pass the Word Scholarship funded by Visalia County Center Rota-

ry to a high school senior who has performed a mini-

mum of 50 hours of volunteer service that focuses on improving literacy. This year’s scholarship went to

Claire Stetson, who worked with the Tulare County li-brary summer reading program. Please check our web-

site for more details. Congratulations to two RFL board members, who

were honored this year: Susan Graves was given the

Ruby Award by the Visalia Soroptimists for making ex-traordinary differences in the lives of women and girls,

and George Pilling was named a Hands-on Hero by First 5 Tulare County.

Congratulations to literacy heroes!

Books for Babies packets help new moms in the NICU

Page 3

Cindy reads to her baby in the

Kaweah Delta NICU.

Our Bright Start Par-

ent Infant Program

would like to thank

you for the wonderful

book donation. In

early intervention, as

we focus on assisting

children to meet de-

velopmental mile-

stones, we realize the

vital importance of

building early literacy

skills. Mimi has been

terrific in not only

providing books, but

also relaying infor-

mation as to commu-

nity events and re-

sources regarding

literacy. Thank You!

Thank You!

Stephanie Caldera Parent Liaison

Bright Start Early Intervention Program

When Ann Brodersen started teaching teen par-

enting classes at Visalia

Charter Independent Stud-ies, an alternative high

school, she was impressed when Read for Life came in

to give books and talk to the young mothers about

the importance of reading

to their child. A couple of years later, she joined the

organization. “When I saw how excited

the students were to re-

ceive the books and how for many, those were the

only books they had for their babies, I got involved

in RFL,” she said. “When we distribute

books to the teen moms,

we give a presentation on the importance of reading

with their young children, not waiting until kindergar-

ten and school. We have

also distributed RFL devel-opmental cards and song

books. As the school year goes on, the girls will share

which book is their child's

favorite or share how their child will crawl to books to

read them and choose to sit on their own and look at

books.” RFL’s Teen Parent Pro-

gram provides three books to each parent throughout

the year.

“We emphasize reading and singing to their babies

daily, putting their phones and tech away each day

for a while and giving their child their undivided atten-

tion. We also tell them to

talk to their babies while changing their diapers,

getting them dressed, feeding them, driving in

the car, walking, etc.,” said

Ann. “We have talked about

and watched several Ted

Talks on the brain develop-ment of babies and how

their brain connections are

‘pruned’ if they do not use it. By the time the babies

are eight months or so, you can tell the ones who

are exposed to talking and books on a daily basis.

“When books are distrib-

uted, the girls are excited and have a hard time de-

ciding which book to choose. Many of these girls

grew up with no role mod-

els for the importance of reading at a young age.”

Read for Life has placed a number of book dona-tion boxes in the community and invites people to

donate their gently-used children’s books so that

they can be distributed to families who don’t have books.

The donation boxes are located at ImagineU Chil-dren’s Museum, Greenhouse Montessori, RFL office

at 132 N Conyer in Visalia, Tulare County Office of Education at Doe Avenue and Porterville Unified

School District.

Pictured is Jody Graves, husband of board member Susan Graves, picking up donations.

Donate your gently-used books

Teen Parent Program changes lives of 2 generations

Page 4

“I wanted to get

involved when I

saw the importance

of RFL in changing

lives with the teen

moms and their

children. When

donors give their

money to buy

books for the Teen

Parenting

Program, they are

changing the lives

of two generations,

the moms and their

babies!”

Ann Brodersen, Teen Parening

Program

Ann Brodersen demonstrates to teen moms how to

read to their babies.

Books for Kids Books for Kids had an incredibly busy year! Our

volunteers processed and

delivered over 4,000 books to 46 sites four times a

year—for a total of 16,000 books put in the hands of

children and families.

Every Kaweah Delta Health Care clinic and Fam-

ily Health Care Network site receives new and gen-

tly used books. Our books are given out during health

care appointments. Books

are also in the waiting room so that children and

parents can spend time reading.

Books from our program

can be found at Family Services, CASA, dental of-

fices, battered women’s shelters, facilities that sup-

port people experiencing homelessness and Grand-

mother’s House tutoring

center in Tulare. For more information,

call Cyndy McBee at 559

623-9066. Teen Parenting & Head Start Promoting family literacy, RFL distributed three new

books per year to children

at 10 Teen Parenting pro-grams and all 20 Head

Start Preschools in Tulare County. We are pleased to

serve over 1,100 children

from birth to age five who received more than 3,000

English or bilingual books to hold and call their own.

We know as parents con-tinue to read to their chil-

dren, their school readi-

ness, communication skills and self-confidence will

improve. For more information,

call Deborah Lagomarsino

at 559 625-3433.

Preschool Programs Read for Life donated 1,300 new books to the

following preschool pro-

grams this year: Bright Start Parent Infant Pro-

gram, Visalia Childhood Families’ Head Start Home

Base, TCOE Tulare Home

Based Migrant, TCOE Mi-grant Education, VUSD Mi-

grant Home Base, the Go-shen Family Center, and

Earlimart State and Migrant preschools.

Mimi Boyd and Rose

Rains also presented to teacher and parent groups

and distributed a wealth of valuable information per-

taining to the importance

of reading from birth on. For more information,

call Mimi Boyd at 559 625-1341.

Books for Babies Books for Babies gave out over 1,000 packets to

new and expectant parents throughout Tulare County.

The packets include a board book, a songbook

and developmental cards.

Packets are distributed to Kaweah Delta Health Care

District Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU); Save the

Children’s Early Steps to

School programs in Strath-more, Farmersville, Tipton,

Poplar and Alpaugh; Wood-lake Paths to Literacy; Care

Pregnancy; Pixley Medical

Clinic and Family Health Care Network’s childbirth

classes in Visalia and Por-terville.

For more information, call Anne Fulmer at 559

303-4751.

Promoting literacy in the community

Read for Life programs: Where your donations go

Page 5

The American

Academy of

Pediatrics has

revised their

guidelines to

include a greater

emphasis on

parents and care

givers promoting

literacy with their

child.

Karen Vanni , who is in charge of the teen parent

program in Porterville, is taking Read for Life on the road. Her volunteers hosted a booth at the Family

Health Care Network Health Fair in Terra Bella and the Business Expo in Porterville.

Read for Life was started in 1989 by five local women concerned about the low

literacy rate in Tulare County. They began by working with a few teen parenting

programs and now supply books and literacy information to over 90 sites. Thank

you to Tamara Lagomarsino for creating this map.

Where are your book donations distributed?

Page 6

brary was coming togeth-er.

“Our board enjoyed the

tour of the Farmersville library last April, and I

think I speak for everyone on our board when I say

that we were quite im-pressed with the re-

sources and programs

that RFL and the Tulare County Library Foundation

are offering,” said board

nan, Karen Carlstrom, John Colbert and Nan Mensinga,

Phyllis Coring, Chuck and

Debra Dichiera, Joanne Carter Dudley, Denise

Fletcher, Patricia Foster, Peter and Ruth Golombek,

Dr. Kathryn Hall, John and Pat Hansen, Janice Helge-

son, Mimi Hoffman, Susan

Kreps, Wayne and Sally Lovejoy, Susan and Robert

Machado, Bruce and Ve-ronica McDermott, Lee and

Lynn Mirviss, Carol Enns

and Don Nikkel, Donna Orozco, Debbie Patton,

Sharon Peck, Rita Peña, Rosalie Powell, Rose and

Dale Rains, Barbara and Thomas Rayner, John Red-

den, Steve and Carmella

Renton, Marla and Ed Reyes, Ed and Becky Rich-

ert, Angie Rizzo, Diane Post and Paul Schommer

MD, George and Judith

Skaff, Donna and Barry Sommer, Drew and Leslie

Sorenson, Mike and Vickie Torres, Carol and Stanley

Trapp, Cassie L. Travo

Other generous donors Aaron and Norma Lee Ave-dian, Joan Avedian, Raj

$25,000 Donation Ann B. Reimers Charitable Educational Foundation

$1000 and up AGSOURCE Services—

Lagomarsino Group, Tom and Ann Brodersen, City of

Visalia, Susan and Jody Graves, Joellen Wilson,

Sharon Woolman

$500 and up Robert and Anne Havard, Doug and Cyndy McBee,

Cydney and Dan Oster, Armida and Guadalupe

Picon, George and Carol

Pilling, Gary and Connie Ruddell, Valley Yoga - Holly

Jones, Visalia County Cen-ter Rotary Club

$250 and up Michael and Mimi Boyd, Tony and Melanie Casares,

Cindy Delain, Mark and Anne Fulmer, Beth and

Stephen Mc Auliff, Deane

Reed, Joy and Rich Sakai, Eric and Kathy Shannon,

Paul and Linda Thomton

$100 and up Donna Bailey, Lynn and

Gerry Beckers, Larry and

Erlene Benevento, Char-lene Blunt, Maryanne Bran-

Basra , Sandy and Paul Bennett, John and Susan

Booker, Al and Jo Anne

Branco, Nancy Bravante, Marsha Brooks-Smith, Wal-

lace & Darlene Byars, Gary and Marilyn Cascarano,

Michelle Chenal-Ducey, Janis and David Christo-

pher, Dayna Crandall, Gin-

ger Curtis, Chuck and Carol Delap, Donna Denham,

Patti Fiormonte, Keren Friedman, Elaine Geeting,

Deborah Goodson, Tom

and Mary Gray, C. Richard and Donna Hamilton, Gina

Haycock, Don Holzem, Joan Huffaker, Mary Ann

and Doug Lawrence, Nancy Loliva, Joyanne Lukes, Alan

and Dorothy Malkasian,

Donna Mekeel, Grace Me-raz, David and Betty Miller,

Patricia Moore , Marie and Milton Morrison, Brian and

Judy Newton, Sandra J.

O'Dell, Phyllis Ogden, Anne Parlier, Marsha Peltzer,

Debra Phillips, Melinda Pill-ing, Monica R. Pizura, Jim

and Bonnie Preston, Con-

suelo Romo, Monica and Mike Rook, Patricia Rosen-

berg, Janet Sward and Warren Sargent, Edith

Thank you to our 2017 donors

Page 7

The Ann B. Reimers Edu-

cational Charitable Founda-tion donated $25,000 to

Read for Life this year to support all RFL’s programs.

Their board first got in-

volved when it donated $40,000 to buy books, com-

puters and furniture for the Farmersville Library project.

In April 2016, they toured the facility and were im-

pressed with how the li-

Ann B. Reimers Foundation donates $25,000

Schroeder, Rosemary

Shelton, Steve and Ruth Sibbett, Rich and Andrea

Sigmund, Phillip and To-ni Simons, Elaine Stet-

son, Don and Jonnie

Stone, Stephanie and Bill Thiessen, Gale Thomas,

Claudine Velosa, Matt and Carole Warmerdam,

James and Virginia Wil-son

member Elissa Watts.

Ann Burke Reimers was a long-time orange

grower in Lemon Cove and philanthropist. She

was a selfless woman

always ready to serve, supporting numerous

local charities.

Each year RFL pro-

vides books to special projects. RFL continues

to provide books for Children's Path to Litera-

cy in Woodlake and the

local Kids 4 Christmas project. This year books

also were given to the Migrant Farmworker

Women’s Conference. If your organization

would like books to give

to young children, please fill out the Request for

Support form on our website:

www.readforlife.org.

Special projects

Adamaris Reyes and daughter Itzel

love to read together.

Parent explains how Read for Life has helped her

P.O. Box 3342 Visalia, CA 93278 www.readforlife.org

Parents ultimately become their child’s first teacher. Teen parent

Adamaris Reyes from the Porter-

ville Prospect Education Center understands this concept as she

reads to her daughter Itzel. “The books from Read for Life

have really helped Itzel. She is not quite three years old, and she

can name all the pictures in the

books we get,” Adamaris said. “Itzel loves to ‘read’ to me! Her

favorite books are the ABC books because she can name all the pic-

tures.

“Thank you, Read for Life, for giving my daughter hours of fun

and helping her to be so smart!”

Board Members

Anne Fulmer, President, Books for Babies

Ann Brodersen, Vice-President

Deborah Lagomarsino, Teenage Parenting

Cydney Oster, Treasurer

Susan Graves, Secretary, Past President

Nancy Loliva, Public Relations Chair,

Shelter Buddies

Cyndy McBee, Books for Kids

Beth McAuliff, Volunteer Coordinator

Karen Vanni, Southern Tulare County Coordinator

Donna Orozco, Newsletter

Teresa Ramos

Rose Rains

Deborah Sierra Retired Board Members

George Pilling, Book Purchaser

Mimi Boyd, Corresponding Secretary, Preschool Program

Rita Peña, Woodlake Liaison

Joy Sakai, Honorary Member

Learn more about us on the web www.readforlife.org

Email us at rfl@readforlife.org

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