Make Way for Books is honored to be the primary beneficiary of the Tucson Classics Car Show presented by Rotary Club of Tucson.
Each year, the Rotary Club of Tucson works hard to put on the Tucson Classics Car Show and raise funding to benefit our community. Rotary Club of Tucson Foundation raised nearly $181,000 for local nonprofit organizations through its 2019 Tucson Classics Car show!
The 2019 Tucson Classics Car Show raised generous funding to support a number of nonprofit organizations in Tucson, including Make Way for Books, Interfaith Community Services, and the Reid Park Zoo.
As the primary beneficiary, Make Way for Books was thrilled to receive a generous grant of $65,271 to support our family literacy strategy which impacts children and families without access to high-quality early education.
Our family literacy strategy is an innovative, two-generation approach where children and parents learn together and both gain important skills. Each week, children experience books and literacy activities that foster their emergent literacy and language skills. Parents gain skills and confidence to support their children’s early literacy and language development.
A participating parent shared,
“They build so much of their brain at such a young age. My daughter is a year and a half old. When she sees a family in a book, she says ‘mom’ and ‘dad.’ She understands the emotions ‘happy’ and ‘sad.’ She also smiles and laughs when there’s a happy book. It has been a wonderful experience coming here. We love getting books, discovering new stories. We come back because we want to keep learning.”
As a result of Make Way for Books’ programming, 99% of participating young children gain emergent literacy and language skills that are essential for school readiness and future successful reading.
This work is only possible thanks to the hard work and generosity of our community.
According to Jenny Volpe, Chief Executive Officer of Make Way for Books, “Rotarians take hard work, steadfast dedication, and service to a new level. Their incredible generosity translates into opportunity our youngest children. Rotary Club of Tucson is helping to change the literacy landscape of Tucson and ensuring more children in our community have the chance to read and succeed. We cannot thank Rotary Club of Tucson enough!”