Project READ

Monday Benefit Dinner for Project READ

Please come to a benefit dinner for Project READ at The Elephant Walk in Waltham.

WHEN? Monday, January 23 at 6:30pm for a cash bar and hors d'oeuvres, to be followed by dinner.

HOW MUCH? $40 per person, including meals tax and gratuity. Fifty percent - 50% - of the restaurant's proceeds go to Project READ

WHAT'S INCLUDED? A passed hors d'oeuvre and a three-course sit-down dinner, along with meals tax, and gratuity. - You can also look forward to an informative presentation about Project READ and its ongoing, important work fostering literacy.

BONUS? The Elephant Walk will donate 50% of any and all restaurant gift cards [valid at all three of our restaurants!], as well as cash bar and additional appetizers, purchased at this event to the Fund!

Please CLICK HERE to be taken to The Elephant Walk in Waltham's online store where you can sign up and pre-pay for yourself and any companions.

About Project READ:

Project READ (Read Each And every Day) is an initiative of the department of Pediatrics at the Cambridge Health Alliance designed to promote early childhood literacy in the pediatric health care setting. At all sites within the Alliance where children are seen—in the Emergency room, at primary care sites for well and sick visits, while waiting with their parents for specialty clinic visits, children are given a brand new, age-appropriate book and their families counseled about the importance of reading aloud.

Pediatricians, family practitioners and nurse practitioners include information about the importance of books and reading during all visits. We are proud to have fostered a culture of literacy throughout the Cambridge Health Alliance, in all sites throughout the 3 communities in which we are located: Somerville, Cambridge and Everett.

In addition, we partner with a number of agencies within the community to foster literacy related activities. Early Head Start in Somerville, the Center for Families of Cambridge and Even Start have all benefited from project READ. We sponsor many literacy-related events in the community for children and families. Volunteers assist with special events and parents offer suggestions for book selection and funding sources.

The program was started in 1998 with support from ROR (Reach Out and Read), the Boston Foundation and the American Academy of Pediatrics. In 1999 we began our collaboration with RIF (Reading is Fundamental) which helped us to expand our program tremendously. Over the years we have also received financial support from a number of community foundations, corporate donors such as Target and a number of generous private individuals.

The Cambridge Health Alliance is the country’s premier academic community based health care system, with over 20 primary care sites and three hospitals based in the cities of Somerville, Cambridge and Everett. Pediatric ambulatory visits exceed 60,000 per year, and we give out over 20,000 books per year. All overhead is contributed by the Department of Pediatrics, and your contribution is used exclusively for the purpose of providing our matching funds for book purchases.

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