What We Do

Read To Me International Foundation is devoted to improving children's literacy. Its mission is to promote the love and joy of reading aloud to children.

Active on the islands of Oahu, Hawaii, Molokai, and Kauai, Read To Me International shares its message on the importance of reading to children by involving community volunteers and partner organizations at a grassroots level. This is particularly true on Kauai and the other neighbor islands, where its efforts are totally volunteer driven.

Read To Me International fulfills its mission through public education, community events and programs.

Public Education

Read To Me educates the public about the importance of reading aloud to children through the following vehicles:

• Licensure of multi-media ads (TV, radio, print) promoting reading aloud to children
• Bi-monthly newsletters
• Website
• Presentations for parents at schools and preschools; presentations and workshops for community organizations and service providers
• Facebook and Twitter
• Public service announcements

Community Events

Read To Me participates in the community through the following:

• Biennial Read To Me Conference for parents, educators and family service providers in odd years (2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009)
• Read-alouds at schools, preschools, and community events
• Sponsorship of literacy events such as the Run & Read for Literacy for Windward Oahu Complex Schools and the Kauai Keiki Story Festival
• Neighbor island volunteer speakers bureau, and community presentations for schools and community groups
  

Programs

Read To Me conducts the following programs:

• Fathers Bridging the Miles

  Read To Me International's Fathers Bridging the Miles program provides children of incarcerated fathers an exciting way to develop a love for reading.

  In recent years, Hawaii inmates have increasingly been transferred to contracted correctional facilities on the mainland. Because of Hawaii's geographical isolation, these transfers are often thousands of miles away and several time zones away. For fathers who have been sent far away from home, maintaining meaningful relationships with their children is next to impossible.

  Fathers Bridging the Miles allows inmates to read children's books onto CD and mail the recorded reading and a copy of the book to their children bimonthly. By listening to the recorded readings of these stories, children are able to maintain a bond with their incarcerated father and experience a passionate engagement with books and literature.

  Click here to read a featured newspaper article on Fathers Bridging the Miles.

• Prison Literacy Project
  
  Inmates select age-appropriate children's stories and record stories onto cassettes for their children. The books and tapes are sent to their children along with handwritten messages on the inside covers of the books.
  
  This program currently serves Waiawa Correctional Center, Women's Community Correctional Center and Laumaka Work Furlough Center on Oahu, Kauai Community Correctional Center, Maui Community Correctional Center and Hawaii Correctional Center.