Read. Feed. Repeat.

Listen up, Read to Feed® fans: We are at it again! Instead of designating just one month to Read to Feed like we did last year, we’re launching a new campaign to last through Spring. And we are excited to announce that this year, we have a matching gift opportunity for Read to Feed students!

An anonymous donor has made available $30,000 in matching funds for the East Africa Dairy Development project. That means that Read to Feed students can DOUBLE THEIR GIFT! 

We think it is a fantastic opportunity for students to make a difference, so we tried to answer some of the questions you might have:

So, for those of you unfamiliar, you migh be wondering, what is Read to Feed?

Read to Feed, at its simplest, is a “read-a-thon”: students enlist pledges from sponsors for the reading they complete. Depending on their Read to Feed leader (usually a teacher or a parent) they could receive pledges per book, per chapter or per unit of time (for example, 20 minutes is ONE unit of time for pledge purposes). Of course, sponsors can pledge a flat amount, too! 

A READATHON? Is that all?
It could be—but if you REALLY want to engage your students, take advantage of the classroom resources we have as well—lesson plans, posters, magazine-style student guides. All of these resources can be accessed for FREE. We also have books, buttons, pencils and other fun items available via shop.heifer.org

So how do you get to double your Read to Feed gifts?

In order to be eligible to earn matching funds a Read to Feed leader (a teacher or parent, for example) must create a Read to Feed fundraising page via www.readtofeed.org.  The funds received by their team online or via postal mail will count toward the matching grant. Our goal is to reach $30,000 in Read to Feed fundraising so we can take advantage of every dollar of matching funds that have been made available to us.

The sooner your students start reading and earning funds from their sponsors, the faster we can put those funds to work helping families in East Africa! Our campaign will run until the goal of $30,000 has been met OR until June 1, 2015, whichever comes first.

How do I get started?

It's easy Just create your fundraising page. Then follow the links to order your resources. Ask your students to find sponsors for their reading.  And then encourage your students to read and read and read! 

Jen Girten is Heifer's Manager of Education Program Development