Everybody Wins DC

We've been opening those Association Book Drive Challenge boxes and getting books into kids' hands! This week, CTIA joined EWDC at Thomson Elementary School to help students select some of the Challenge books to take home as gifts this holiday season. Thank you CTIA for being part of the 2024 Challenge and helping kids build engaging home libraries filled with stories they want to read!

Today, we're celebrating Yashika Okon's ten years with EWDC. Reflecting on her time with and impact on EWDC, Yashika says: "Ten years ago, I walked into Ludlow Taylor Elementary School as a part-time EWDC program coordinator, eager to support students and their mentors for weekly reading sessions and watch the new friendships blossom. Right away, I saw the positive impact Power Readers had on our students. They were eager to attend; growing more confident as readers, building relationships with their mentors, and discovering joy in books. By the end of that first year, I knew that EWDC was truly special and that it had the potential to do amazing things for kids. Today, I am proud to serve as EWDC’s Senior Program Manager, helping bring our programs to life in communities across the DC area. In my decade with EWDC, we’ve helped nearly 5,000 Power Readers students learn, grow, and thrive. But EWDC is so much more than just that. We’ve put 250,000 free books into the hands of children, connected thousands of volunteers to meaningful service opportunities, and provided 20,000 mentoring hours to hundreds of classrooms across DC, Maryland, and Virginia. With your support, we can do even more." To support the award-winning programs that Yashika has spent a decade working on, go to bit.ly/EWDC-EOY-2024. Thank you, Yashika, for your dedication to our students and our programs!

Congratulations to American Investment Council (AIC) and National Retail Federation for winning this year's Association Book Drive Challenge! American Investment Council won the Team Award (most books donated per employee), and National Retail Federation won Literacy Leader (most books donated overall) for the second year in a row. Overall, we had 23 teams participate in this year's Challenge, and their combined donations and contributions brought in 10,771 books. This is an incredible feat, making this year's Challenge our largest to-date in terms of participation and impact! A special thank you to Mike Sommers and the rest of the API - American Petroleum Institute team for cohosting the Challenge and making all of this possible. Thank you to everyone who participated in this year's Association Book Drive Challenge for supporting the true winners: our students. We're looking forward to doing even more together in 2025! American Bankers Association American Beverage Association American Exploration & Production Council (AXPC) American Forest & Paper Association American Investment Council (AIC) API - American Petroleum Institute ASAE: The Center for Association Leadership Beer Institute Council for Responsible Nutrition CTIA Edison Electric Institute Financial Services Forum Finseca Interstate Natural Gas Association of America International Franchise Association Mortgage Bankers Association National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors National Retail Federation Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA) Recycled Materials Association (ReMA) Trial Lawyers Association of Metropolitan Washington DC U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association U.S. Travel Association

All hands were on deck yesterday at Recycled Materials Association (ReMA)! ReMA is participating for the very first time in this year’s Association Book Drive Challenge. As part of their participation, they hosted a book processing event yesterday at their offices. Thank you to ReMA for your enthusiasm and support. As we wrap up this year’s Challenge, we’d like to thank all of our participating teams for making this the largest Challenge to-date — stay tuned to find out who won it all next week!

CTIA is a group that does it all! They partner with us year-round with Power Readers mentors, regular deliveries to our Little Free Libraries, book drives, and service activities. Most recently, they hosted a book processing event at their offices as part of their participation in our Association Book Drive Challenge. We’d like to thank the wonderful team at CTIA for their support — they truly go above and beyond for our programs and our students!

Please join us in welcoming Kate Doty Hanniford and Scott Campbell to our Board of Directors! Kate, a Partner at Alston & Bird, says, "I am deeply honored to join the Board of Directors for Everybody Wins DC. Their commitment to fostering literacy and social-emotional growth in children is truly inspiring. I look forward to contributing to their mission and helping to create a brighter future for the children in our community." Scott is the Founder & Leadership Coach at Seminal Coaching. About joining EWDC's Board, he says, "I initially became aware of EWDC [through the Association Book Drive Challenge]. Through donating I learned more about EWDC’s mission, which compelled me to become a Power Readers Mentor volunteer. I am thrilled to be joining the EWDC Board and hope to utilize both my volunteer learnings and professional experience to contribute to EWDC’s continued impact." Thank you to both Kate and Scott for dedicating yourselves to our mission and supporting our students!

For almost 30 years, EWDC has used books to help children become stronger readers, build self-confidence, and learn about the world beyond their own borders. But we also do something else, something unique. We spread joy. When kids like reading, they read more. And when they read more, they do better in school and in life. That’s why we make our programs fun. Each Power Readers session, StoryTime read-aloud, and Book Project giveaway is filled with smiles and laughter as our students have a joyful experience that’s centered on books. In fact, our students are having so much fun they don’t even realize that they’re building the literacy and social-emotional skills that will help them succeed. This giving season, you can bring a smile to a child’s face by donating to EWDC’s end-of-year campaign. It’s only with your support that we’ll hit our goal of $75,000, funds that will help us reach 5,000 students this year at no cost to families or schools. Spread the joy of reading by making your gift today at bit.ly/EWDC-EOY-2024.

Congratulations to Recycled Materials Association (ReMA) and API - American Petroleum Institute for taking the lead in Week 4 of our Association Book Drive Challenge! We'd also like to give a special thank you to API - American Petroleum Institute for not only co-hosting the Challenge every year, but for working hard to give back through service. Last week, API employees processed books they donated from the Challenge so they're ready to go into students' hands. Thank you to Mike Sommers and the rest of the API team for your boundless generosity and support!

We were thrilled to spend today at Nationals Park with Washington Nationals staff to process the 1,000 books they generously donated to us. These books will go into our students’ hands as they head home for winter break and help bring them holiday cheer. Thank you to our friends at the Nationals for this gift and for a day full of reading joy!

Thanks to your generosity this Giving Tuesday, we have successfully filled this bookcase with 250 stories for our students! These stories will elevate and celebrate our students’ voices, communities, and perspectives, and give them the tools they need to succeed and enrich their lives. For every shelf we fill, there’s still a student whose bookshelf at home remains empty. Just because we reached our Giving Tuesday goal doesn’t mean the need ends — in fact, our work together is just beginning. If you haven’t donated already, please consider giving to students in need at https://lnkd.in/ekHkGrPa. Thank you for your support!