Raising a Reader started as a local book sharing club and grew into a national network that serves low-income families throughout California and 35 other states!

The Raising a Reader program allows each student to bring home a red bag filled with high-quality, developmentally appropriate, multilingual and multicultural children’s books each week. The children experience regular read-alouds in the classroom which keep them excited about reading and sharing the red bag with their families.

Each class goes at a designated time, is transported by a spacious bus and stays for one hour. During their visit, the librarian picks three or four books to read aloud to the children, and incorporates song and hand movements to keep the children engaged.

Once story time is over, each child is allowed to pick one book to take back to their classroom and they even get to check it out with their very own library card!

The monthly field trip is indeed an enriching expereince that the children always look forward to.

For the last few years, Fenton’s Creamery Oakland has chosen Saint Vincent’s Day Home to be their Charity of the Month in December donating 20% of the proceeds from their “Sundae of the Month” to our program.

This year’s response by the public was fantastic…both from those who learned of the Day Home for the first time while dining at Fenton’s, and the many long time Day Home supporters who made a special trip to support the fundraiser.

Above you see Pre-K-2 teacher Joan Phillips delighting in her Saint Vincent’s Day Home Sundae (upper right), Sister Ann Maureen (lower right) discovering her “second calling” as a soda fountain attendant and teacher Manyu Li and with her son Gavin. They were among the more than Day Home staff and families who took a trip to Fenton’s on December 23.

We would like to express our overwhelming gratitude to Fenton’s and all the staff for promoting our organization with such enthusiasm!

Fenton’s sign photo credit: Fenton’s Creamery

We would also like to thank Bishop O’Dowd High School, The Claremont Hotel, The Colombo Club Ladies Auxilary, Morgan Stanley, Smith Barney and Sisters of the Holy Family for donating generous amounts of food, clothing, toys and bikes. These donations allowed us to provide numerous families with several items to make their holiday extra special.

Finally, we would like to thank Saint Vincent Board Member Rene Boisvert for once again bringing Santa and his Elves to the Day Home.  Santa and his troupe spent the day visiting the classrooms, taking pictures and listening to the holiday wishes of each and every child. It was a truly magical day that was a delight to the children!

A $6.5 Million Goal

The Centennial Campaign will provide funds to support students, family literacy, teachers, an education continuum, and energy‐ saving capital projects that will carry the Day Home into a second century of success. Our goal is to raise $6.5 million

The campaign will be three years in length, with five‐year pledges accepted. The comprehensive campaign will give donors the option of directing their gifts to specific purposes and time frames: donations for immediate use, over a specified period of time, or placed in the board‐restricted reserve fund. (At the board’s direction, earnings or corpus from this reserve fund can be allocated to the organization’s annual needs, reserved to grow the fund, and/or distributed for immediate use.)

For example, a donor giving a $50,000 gift could designate $10,000 for Day Home scholarships over 5 years, $10,000 to support immediate Educational Continuum scholarships, and a $30,000 endowment named for her mother to go into the restricted reserves. A look at the simple power of compounding illustrated in the chart demonstrates how prudent reserves create long‐term sustainability.

Centennial Campaign Components

The Children’s Fund: $2 Million

The Children’s Fund is the heart and soul of Saint Vincent’s plans for the next century. The Children’s Fund provides the Day Home with maximum flexibility to use funds where they are most needed, whether for daily school costs, health, or emergency services for family crises.

Home for the Next Century: $1 Million

This fund will launch our 148‐ year‐old Victorian home into its next 100 years. The Day Home is already at the limit of its electricity allocation. This fund will allow Saint Vincent’s to install a solar energy system, lighting retrofits, high‐ efficiency windows, a rainwater harvest system, a “smart” irrigation system, grey water recycling, low‐flow retrofit kits, insulation and other energy‐saving strategies that are both environmentally responsible and fiscally wise.

Educational Continuum: $1 Million

After receiving a solid educational foundation at the Day Home, children entering the Oakland school system often have great difficulty maintaining the gains and momentum achieved while at Saint Vincent’s. The goal is to raise $1 million for scholarship awards so that Day Home graduates can continue their educations at local private or charter elementary schools. The awards would also assist with the purchase of books, uniforms and other costs that families cannot afford.

The Master Teacher Fund: $1 Million

Society tends to compensate teachers by the age of the children they teach, and the younger the children, the less the teacher earns, even with the same qualifications. A pre‐school teacher with a BA degree in Alameda County earns about $34,153 for a full year. The mean public school salary in Oakland is $54,328 for an academic year of 9‐10 months. Saint Vincent’s believes that younger children deserve the best possible teachers, and that an investment made when students are young achieves the highest return. The Master Teacher Fund would provide professional development opportunities and competitive benefits that will help increase retention rates, education levels, and the professional quality and effectiveness of our teachers.

The Family Literacy Fund: $500,000

The family literacy project is crucial to the success of both children and their families. Invested at 4%, this fund would immediately produce $20,000 annually to undergird the family literacy project.

Contribute What You Can

It will take the efforts of everyone who believes in the mission of the Day Home to ensure our Centennial Campaign is a success. Please do what you can and contribute. We have a secure online donation process, can accept securities, stock, and real estate, review our giving options and choose one that works with your financial plans.

For an in depth look at Saint Vincent’s Day Home and our goals for the future, please review our Centennial Campaign Presentation (PDF).

In his second appearance st Saint Vincent’s, Asheba (which means “the creative one”) shared his message to “love and be proud of who you are” through his music. His enthusiasm and love for children is evident as he engaged our kids and staff members in singing and dancing.

He truly is a star in the eyes of Saint Vincent’s Day Home.

Thank you, Asheba, for your gifts of music, songs and your love of sharing your talents with Saint Vincent’s and many others.