About this fundraiser:

Did you know that children develop new language exponentially between 14 and 46 months after birth? In other words, the building blocks of language are absorbed the fastest and most efficiently long before children even enter the classroom!

Amazing right? Well, did you know that the home environment impacts linguistic aptitude? In fact, reading as a leisure time activity has been found to influence language expression, language reception, impacts the prefrontal cortex (the area that controls development of self control) and can even predict mental health, and projected income of a household!

Research shows that:
*Children from low socioeconomic status develop smaller vocabularies and a more limited command of grammar by the time they enter preschool.
*Early home literacy environments influence kindergarteners’ vocabulary and conceptual knowledge, which, in turn, predicted printed word recognition, a precursor to strong reading
*It can be predicted that if a child is not reading proficiently in the 4th grade, he or she will have approximately a 78% chance of not catching up.
*2/3 of students who can not read proficiently by the end of 4th grade will end up in jail or on welfare.
*For each $5,000 in extra income annually, vocabulary is raised an average of 2 points on a standard scale vocabulary measurement.
*Problems with literacy curtail people’s access to resources that would allow them to avoid risks or minimize consequences of mental health problems.


As you can see, reading to your children and exposing them to literature has tremendous influence on their long-term health and welfare!

FIER believes that children are the most treasured, precious and wise investment in any parents’ life and so, we’d like to invite you to contribute to our initiative: Reading to Babies Zero to Three!

Here’s how it works:

1) A set of four age-appropriate books will be mailed to babies 0-3 years of age per year
2) Parents will designate a minimum of 10 minutes of reading time for babies ages 0-3 years old
3) Parents will read each book for the year repeatedly to expose babies to sound, gestures, enunciate the words by reading with expression and gesture
4) A sample reading video is provided as an example
5) FIER collects correspondence such as messages, emails, or calls with feedback to a set of observational questions to note progress!

Donate now and help families enrich the lives of their children through the wonders of literature!

“There are many little ways to enlarge your world. Love of books is the best of all.”
– Jacqueline Kennedy

Your donations will help pay for:

• Books purchased for families
• Shipping Cost