2008 Bank of America
Chicago Marathon

Join the Rock For Reading Marathon Team for the
upcoming 2008 Bank of
America Chicago Marathon.
Click here for more information.

A Note from our Board

We are now entering our fifth year!  It is hard to believe how much we have grown and the impact that we have had in supporting small, community programs and creating awareness about literacy issues in the Chicago area.

Last year was one of transformation that helped build the foundation of our organization for future growth and success.  We hired our first part-time staff person, began strategic planning to cover 2008-2010 and raised $184,000 and collected over 53,000 new and gently used books. 

2007 Highlights

Creating a Nation of Readers book donation program was launched in April in lead partnership with Weigl Publishing and Book Worm Angels.  With book donations from Weigl Publishing, Free Spirit and Learner Publishing over 42,000 new books were distributed, reaching thousands of students from low-income households throughout Chicagoland.  To aid in sorting and distributing these books, Rock For Reading hosted its first ever Sort-a-thon.  With our non-profit partner Open Books, we engaged over 50 volunteers for a day of unpacking, sorting and delivering these much needed books. 

In January Rock For Reading partnered with Wilmette School District 39 in our first Read-a-thon.  3,700 students from across Wilmette spent the day reading while raising over $50,000 and 7,000 books for Rock For Reading. 

We hosted our first Literacy Reception at the Harold Washington Library in April 2007. Corporate, community and individual partners came together in support of literacy and enjoyed a performance from Alice Peacock and a keynote address from Advisory Board Member, Rick Telander, a nationally syndicated columnist, before Rock For Reading dispensed our 2007 grants. 

 Fleet Feet invited Rock For Reading to be the non-profit partner for their ever-favorite Elvis is Alive 5k that was on August 11th.   Besides for raising money, our participation in this event raised awareness.  Rock For Reading appeared in the Red Eye, WMAQ-TV, Chicago Magazine, WLS-TV and WLS-TV.

Running for Reading continued to be alive in October as Rock For Reading was one of 85 official charities of the Chicago Marathon.  Rock For Reading raised over $20,000 with a team of 21 runners.

Rock For Reading 2007: A Concert for Literacy starring David Gray was held on December 8 at the Park West.  The concert sold out in 2 minutes and raised over $50,000 for Rock For Reading.  WXRT and Jam Productions partnered with us in promoting the event.  Everyone in attendance learned more about Rock For Reading, the state of literacy in Chicago and ways that they can get involved.

We are thrilled that we were able to expand our number of grantees and increase our number of partners that helped us reach our goals.  To all of our partners and supporters, thank you for joining us in the pursuit of a literate society and believing that reading enriches all of our lives.