fbpx

Changing Children's Lives With the Gift of Literacy

Changing Children's Lives With the Gift of Literacy

Imagine a young child receiving a book in the mail every month until the age of five. What better way to say reading is important? Children enrolled in the Ferst Program receive a new book every month in the mail until their 5th birthday. There is absolutely no cost (ever) to registered children in participating areas! The program is made possible through the partnership with local, all-volunteer Community Action Teams (CATs).

Ferst Readers is a 501C3 organization whose funding is provided through private donations, corporate sponsorships, and grants. Contact us to help with a local program or get a new one started in your area so that we may work together to bring the gift of literacy to every child from birth-5 years old. Partnering together, we can help prepare every child for success in school and in life.

Donate Now

Watch the full length video by clicking here.

  • Default
  • Title
  • Date
  • Random

  • For Parents

    The single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children. Read More >>>
     

  • Program Overview

    Our Mission: Strengthening communities by providing quality books and literacy resources for children and their families to use at home during the earliest stages of development. Read More >>>

  • Get Involved

    Approximately 61 percent of low-income families do not have a single piece of reading material suitable for a child. Find out how you can help. Read More >>>
     

Read to Me Library

 

The Ferst Readers program was created to foster the love of reading and help develop early literacy skills by giving every child his/her own home library. Every book in our Read to Me Library is thoughtfully selected through a comprehensive review process by a team of experts - PhDs in the field of early childhood education, children’s literature, and family literacy, and representatives from our Community Action Teams with experience as librarians, media specialists, preschool teachers or any field related to young children’s literature. Our goal is to provide the highest quality preschool literature for the benefit of the children enrolled in the Ferst Readers program. In order to achieve these high standards, specific criteria have been established to guide the selection of books for the Ferst Readers Read to Me Library. 

Upon enrollment in the program, every child will receive Read to Me as their first book, and upon their 5th birthday, they will receive Wemberly Worried.

 Read to Me   Wemberly Worried

Reading regularly with your children during their preschool years gives them the biggest boost toward a successful education they will ever receive. Children who start kindergarten with early reading experiences are happier and more successful students all through school. We hope that by receiving the Ferst Readers Read To Me Library collection, your family will spend time sharing the pleasure of reading and learning together!

This represents a partial list of our Read To Me Library®

Participating Communities

We have partners in more than 100 counties and communities in Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Mississippi, Montana, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia.* 

*Not all counties have open registration due to limited funding or because they have target programs. Go to Register a Child at the top of the page to determine if your county is taking online registrations. If your county is not listed, please contact us to find out if we are accepting registrations. You can call 706 343 0177 or email us at .

Alabama Counties: Tallapoosa

Georgia Counties:  Appling, Baldwin, Bibb, Brantley, Brooks, Bulloch, Burke, Butts, Candler, Carroll, Charlton, Chatham, Cherokee, Clarke, Clay, Clayton, Cobb, Coffee, Coweta, Crawford, Crisp, Dade, Dougherty, Emanuel, Evans, Fannin, Fayette, Franklin, Fulton, Gilmer, Glascock, Glynn, Grady, Greene, Hall, Hancock, Haralson, Heard, Henry, Houston, Jackson, Jasper, Jefferson, Jenkins, Johnson, Jones, Lamar, Laurens, Macon, Madison, McDuffie, McIntosh, Meriwether, Morgan, Newton, Peach, Pickens, Pike, Polk, Quitman, Rabun, Richmond, Rockdale, Schley, Screven, Seminole, Spalding, Stewart, Sumter, Talbot, Taliaferro, Tattnall, Taylor, Telfair, Toombs, Towns, Treutlen, Twiggs, Union, Upson, Walton, Washington, Webster, Whitfield, Wilkinson

Florida Counties: Baker, Bradford, Duval, Jacksonville Beach, Englewood, Gadsden, Leon, Marion, Nassau, Pinellas, St. Johns, Volusia

Illinois Counties: Cook

Iowa Counties: Madison

Mississippi Counties: Lincoln

Montana Counties: Cascade

South Carolina Counties: Aiken, Charleston

Texas Counties: Dallas, Collin, Kaufman, Rockwall

Virginia Counties: Shenandoah

Special Partnerships: Engineered Floors, Friends of the Library Clayton County, Parent University of Savannah, NAACP Cherokee County, Northeast Florida Early Learning Coalition, LIV Development, Southern Crescent Habitat, United Alloy

Want to start a program in your area? Contact us to get started by clicking here:

Yes, I want to be a Ferst Readers Volunteer!

Supporters

$200,000 
The J. B. Fuqua Family

$100,000
Dollar General-Lead Corporate Sponsor

$20,000 to $40,000
The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, Inc.
The Home Depot Foundation
Atlanta Charity Clays, Inc.
J.W. Fund
The Lewis Hall and Mildred Sasser Singletary Foundation, Inc.
Tull Charitable Foundation
Georgia-Pacific and Georgia-Pacific Foundation
Community Foundation of South Georgia, Inc.
Pittuloch Foundation

$10,000 to $15,000
Imlay Foundation, Inc.
Williams Family Foundation of Georgia, Inc.
Bloomingdales, Inc.
Artie & Lee Richards
Atlanta Hawks Foundation, Inc.

$5,000- $9,999 
McMaster-Carr Supply Company
Lenora & Alfred Glancy Foundation, Inc.
Wish You Well Foundation
Jeanne Ferst
Peter Abreu
Mike Grimsley
The O'Keefe Family
The Devereaux F. & Dorothy M. McClatchey Foundation, Inc.

$1,000- $4,999
Meredith Corporation
John & Wilhelmina Harland Charitable Foundation
Asset Management Partners, Inc.
Mary & Francis Abreu Charitable Trust
Gay Knox Vaughn
Lois & Lucy Lampkin Foundation
Mr. & Mrs. Alexander G. Morehouse
Celeste Becker
Joe Jones
Bev & Don Chapman
Mrs. Smith Griffith
11 Alive Community Grant
CIBC
Dixie Industrial Finishing Co., Inc.
Mattie Marshall Foundation
Rotary District 6910
Mrs. Deen Day Sanders
Walton EMC
Diane Steinman
Ann Murray
Judie Meeks
Alice Jane Wasdin

In-kind Donors

Atlanta Braves
Atlanta Hawks
Blue Tailed Studio
Copper Mountain Consulting
Dream Team Technologies
Flambeau, Inc.
Georgia Public Broadcasting
IBM
James Madison Conference Center, Madison
Killer Whale Productions
Knock Out Inc.
Metropolitan Literacy Network
Peachtree Publishers
Printing Finishers
Reflections Printing
Start Hosting Now

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
×

Thank you for visiting Ferst Readers!

Ensuring that children develop early literacy skills is one of the most important things we can do - as parents, as teachers - and as a society.

Won't you help us make a difference?

Adopt a reader today!   Make a Donation!