Local drug store chain reaches out to promote reading

By Joe Kuttenkuler

WHAT:            The Rite Aid Foundation will present a $7,500 check to representatives from Reach Out and Read of Virginia and Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center’s pediatric emergency department. The money will be used to purchase books for all pediatric areas of the medical center.

Reach Out and Read of Virginia is a statewide coalition of healthcare providers that works to promote literacy through pediatric primary care by encouraging parents to read aloud to their children daily. ROR targets children living in poverty between six-months and five-years of age.

Pediatricians and early childhood specialists founded Reach Out and Read in 1989. Since then the organization has grown to serve more than 1.7 million children in all 50 states. Virginia has ROR programs in 45 hospitals and health centers with 500 physicians and nurses trained to provide literary guidance.

                   Founded in 2001, the Rite Aid Foundation is dedicated to helping people in the communities Rite Aid serves to lead happier, healthier lives. Rite Aid operates stores in 28 states and the District of Columbia.

WHO:              VCU Medical Center pediatric emergency department staff, representatives from Rite Aid and Reach Out and Read of Virginia.

WHERE:        VCU Medical Center’s pediatric emergency department, Main Hospital Basement, 1250 E. Marshall St.

WHEN:         11:00 a.m., Tuesday, July 13