RIF as one of the "10 charities chat make a difference in the 

 lives of children and families." 



Highlights of the Year 



In 1997 Dr. William E. Trueheart was named RIF president 

 by the RIF Board of Directors after the retirement of Ruth 

 Graves. A former president of Bryant College in Rhode Is- 

 land, Dr. Trueheart has held numerous positions in higher 

 education, including Assistant Dean and Director of the 

 Master of Public Administration Program at Harvard's John 

 F. Kennedy School of Government. 



In April First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton invited 

 children to celebrate "Reading Is Fun Week" in the East 

 Room of the White House. The program included a National 

 Awards ceremony honoring the winners of the RIF National 

 Poster Contest and the National Reading Celebration, two 

 reading incentive programs underwritten by the Metropolitan 

 Life Foundation. 



After the ceremony, the children were treated to appearan- 

 ces by Miss America Tara Holland; actor Larry Sellars, who 

 talked about the art of Native American storytelling; Indiana 

 Pacers' guard Reggie Miller, who recited a poem about 

 baseball; and award-winning author-illustrator Tomie de 

 Paola, who demonstrated how he illustrates children's books. 

 Special guests at the RIF Week celebration included U.S. 

 Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley and two members of 

 Congress, Representatives William Goodling of Pennsylvania 

 and Tom Sawyer of Ohio. 



In response to the Presidents' Summit for America's Fu- 

 ture, Reading Is Fundamental pledged to serve an additional 

 1.5 million children by the end of the year 2000. RIF Chair- 

 man Lynda Robb, who served as cochairman of the Presidents' 

 Summit, was named cochairman of the successor organization, 

 "America's Promise: The Alliance for Youth." 



As 1997 drew to a close, RIF was well on its way to becom- 

 ing an international program. For the second year, Great 

 Britain's National Literacy Trust sponsored "RIF, United 

 Kingdom" to promote children's literacy in the British Isles. 

 Meanwhile Fundacion Leer, a nonprofit group in Buenos 

 Aires, is bringing "Leer es Fundamentals — Reading Is Fun- 

 damental" to the children of Argentina. Both organizations 

 have signed license agreements with RIF and are motivating 

 children to read through book events and special activities. 



In November Visa U.S-A. and RIF launched "Read Me a 

 Story," a major national campaign to raise awareness of the impor- 

 tance of reading aloud to children and to raise Si million for RIF. 



Actor Danny Glover, the "Read Me a Story" spokesman, 

 kicked off a 15,000-mile cross-country bus tour, in which a 

 cast of 10 favorite storybook characters stopped off in 61 cities 

 and 33 states to read aloud to children at schools, hospitals, 

 and shopping malls. Along the way, 41 mayors and governors 

 declared "Read Me a Story" Day in their cities and states. The 

 story bus tour ended in San Francisco on December 23, with 

 Glover leading the largest read-aloud event ever during 

 halftime at a San Francisco 49ers— Detroit Lions game. 



"Read Me a Story" was also a triumph for RIF volunteers, 

 who had been challenged to set a world record by reading a 

 million stories to children during the months of November 

 and December. When the final count was tallied, RIF volun- 

 teers had far exceeded the goal of one million stories by offer- 

 ing 1.5 million children the chance to listen to nearly four 

 million stories. 



In 1997 the National Basketball Association joined RIF in 

 recognizing March as NBA Reading Month. At a RIF project 

 in West Harlem, NBA Commissioner David Stern and Hall 

 of Famer Bob Lanier joined RIF staff in kicking off the month 

 with a "Reading Time Out" for third graders. This was followed 

 by other "Reading Time Out" events across the country, in 

 which NBA team players and mascots read some of their 

 favorite stories aloud to RIF children. 



In Southern California the Los Angeles Lakers and South- 

 west Airlines sponsored a "Shaq Read 34 Challenge," which 

 had more than 5,000 children pledging to read 34 books 

 apiece during the month (Shaquille O'Neal's jersey number is 

 34). Those who met the challenge were honored by Shaquille 

 during a halftime ceremony at a Lakers game. 



In the meantime NBA-produced public service an- 

 nouncements for RIF continued to reach millions of viewers 

 throughout the year. Each PSA features an NBA superscar ur- 

 ging kids to read. 



The Miss America Organization and RIF joined forces to 

 hold nationwide "Literacy Town Hall" meetings in which 

 Miss America titleholders in each state moderated open dis- 

 cussions with RIF third graders on what reading means to 

 them. The meetings showed what motivates third graders to 

 read and whether they had ready access to books. The third 

 graders also put together some practical advice for President 

 Clinton on what he could do to help build a nation of readers. 

 For example, a third grader in Alamo, Tex. called on the presi- 

 dent to "continue to support the RIF program. What will 

 help me read more," she said, "is to get more books." 



Over the last 31 years, RIF has given hundreds of thousands 

 of Native American children the chance to choose and keep 

 cheir own books. The children come from dozens of Tribes, in- 

 cluding those of the Apache, Arapahoe, Blackfeet, Cherokee, 

 Chippewa, Choctaw, Hopi, Navajo, Oneida, Sioux, and Yaqui. 

 RIF draws on the interests of the children by holding book 

 events with Native American chemes and by featuring titles 

 with which the children can identify. 



Another asset is RIF's special gift for working with parents. 

 A volunteer in New Mexico tells us chat mothers and fathers 

 are raising money for RIF books by selling candy, pickles, and 

 popcorn after school. Many of these parents cannot read. Yet 

 they have found a way to help their children become readers. 



To serve more Native American children, RIF has formed 

 partnerships with the private sector. Fourteen years ago, the 

 New York Life Foundation joined RIF in launching a wide- 

 ranging program that is now serving 20,449 Native American 

 children in 14 states. RIF has also formed a partnership with 

 the Cerimon Fund, which supports RIF programs for more 



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