The Gift of Reading 2008
Presented by the Mercury News and RAFT
November 12 through December 10, 2008
Updated: Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Resource Area For Teaching (RAFT) joins the Mercury News Gift of Reading program (GOR) to improve literacy.
RAFT will partner with the San Jose Mercury News on the 21st annual Gift of Reading campaign. Gift of Reading seeks to improve literacy in our community by bringing the magic of books to under-served children. Between November 12 and December 10 we will gather and distribute thousands of new and “like new” books.

Gift of Reading’s goal is to help support literacy in our community by providing books to under-served children and by helping teachers build classroom libraries for the children they teach – ultimately increasing the children’s chances at long-term academic success.

To Donate Books
These will be the only holiday gifts for many needy children, so please give new or like-new books, as you'd want your own children to receive. We are especially in need of pre-school elementary age appropriate books. Books in Spanish or Vietnamese are also valuable. Since they will be sorted by age group, please do not wrap the books. Donate your own favorite titles or choose from the list of this year's Suggested Books.

Drop-off Locations.

Individual Book Donations
From November 12 to December 10 individually donated books should be dropped off at a local donation site.

For an updated list of donation sites go to
Drop Off Location


To Donate Cash
All funds collected will go directly toward purchasing additional books to be donated. You can make an online donation at raft.net on your credit/debit card. Or you can mail us your check or money order, made payable to "RAFT Gift of Reading".

Gift of Reading,
c/o RAFT
1355 Ridder Park Drive
San Jose, CA 95131

Volunteer to help sort books
Email volunteers@raft.net

Deadlines
Please make your donation of books or cash before December 10, 2008, so we can sort the books and deliver them by Christmas.

Gift Of Reading Hotline
408.213.7217

raft@raft.net

Quotes from past recipients:

“ Thank you for your donation of books. The foster youth we serve often do not have the opportunity to own their own books and it was a pleasure to give them books – especially those separated from their families during the holidays. Thank you.”
- Daniel Thayer Russell, EE’s Residential Group Homes, Inc.

“Various children in the homework centers wrote to us that they enjoy reading books but had never before been able to own one. Now it is theirs.”
- David Fong, IEEE