The giving of gifts is a significant part of the upcoming holiday season. The gift of reading is a gift that is precious to receive and a wonderful gift to give. Both the adult learner recipient and the tutor giver find great joy in the sharing of this gift.
"Sharing the Precious Gift of Reading" is a multi-faceted holiday literacy event brought to you by READ/Orange County (READ/OC) and the Friends of READ/ Orange County (FROC) in partnership with the Barnes & Noble (B & N) store located in the Metro Pointe Shopping Center in Costa Mesa at 901 B South Coast Drive. This celebration of literacy event and major fundraiser will be held in the store each day from 9 AM to 9 PM on Friday, November 30; Saturday, December 1; and Sunday, December 2.
Present and former adult learners from the READ/Orange County literacy program will participate in daily panel discussion presentations and share their personal stories about the difficulties that they faced as an adult who could not read and how their lives have changed since receiving the gift of reading. The panels are scheduled for Friday, November 30 at 7:00 PM; Saturday, December 1, and Sunday December 2, at 3:00 PM. The audience will be invited to ask questions at the conclusion of their presentations. Staff and volunteers from READ/OC will also be on hand to also answer questions and handout written information about our program. The print and broadcast media will be invited to attend.

We will also be participating in a Barnes & Noble Bookfair fundraiser event during these three days that will benefit FROC with a minimum donation of 15% of the total dollar sales during the three day event that are generated by customers who present the special Bookfair voucher form at the checkout. The special Bookfair voucher forms will be available at READ/OC headquarters and electronically on both the READ/OC and FROC websites for downloading and printing.

Volunteers from READ/OC and FROC will be manning the courtesy Holiday Gift Wrap table at the front of the store each day of the event wrapping the store purchases of the customer at no charge. Customers will be informed that they can make a cash donation to FROC in return for this service if they wish to. This is a great opportunity to talk to the customer and answer questions about the READ/OC literacy program and recruit potential tutors while you are wrapping the books.

The children involved in the READ/OC program will be the beneficiaries of the books purchased by customers and donated to us during the event. B & N will have displays of many of the books from our list of preferred books for customers to purchase and donate. You can participate in this "Sharing the gift of reading" event and help by: - Attending one of the presentations to show support for the learners. - Encouraging your learner to attend with you. - Signing up to volunteer for a three hour shift for the Holiday Gift Wrap. - Buying book/music gifts at this store during the event using the voucher (doc) (gif). - Distributing copies of the Bookfair voucher to friends, family, and at work. For more information go to our website at www.readoc.org or call READ/OC at 714-566-3070 to sign up to help.