Feeling Good

The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others. -Mahatma Gandhi

Those who know me personally most likely know that I am currently serving as the President of the Suncoast Chapter of the Society for Technical Communication.

The STC is a “professional association that advances the arts and sciences of technical communication. Its 20,000+ members include technical writers, editors, graphic designers, multimedia artists, Web and intranet page information designers, translators and others whose work involves making technical information understandable and available to those who need it.”

In my current role, I’ve been working to heighten the awareness of how each of us has within us the ability to impact the lives of countless others around us and in our community. To strengthen our ties to the Tampa community, I’ve proposed a community service project that’s been received with a great deal of enthusiasm by my fellow communicators.

Reach Out and Read®, the organization we have chosen to support, is a “…national non-profit organization that promotes early literacy by giving new books to children and advice to parents about the importance of reading aloud in pediatric exam rooms across the nation.” In an attempt to promote pediatric literacy, the Read Out and Read® model trains pediatricians and other clinicians in a three part effort:

1. “At every well-child check-up, doctors and nurses encourage parents to read aloud to their young children, and offer age-appropriate tips and encouragement. Parents who may have difficulty reading are encouraged to invent their own stories to go with picture books and spend time naming objects with their children.”
2. “Providers give every child between the ages of six months and five years a new, developmentally appropriate children’s book to keep.”
3. “In literacy rich waiting room environments, often with volunteer readers, parents and children learn about the pleasures and techniques of looking at books together.”

Some of the reasons we have chosen to support Reach Out and Read® include:

1. As professional communicators, we recognize that reading is one of the keys to a successful future for all children.
2. Reach Out and Read® has been consistently recognized for its excellence by Charity Navigator, having received the highest ranking awarded by that organization.
3. Reach Out and Read® was awarded the Independent Charities Seal of Excellence by the Independent Charities of America.
4. The Reach Out and Read® model provides a very concrete method for directly impacting the lives of the children in the Tampa area both in an immediate way as well as an ongoing basis.

Because of the final point above, our concept is to raise funds in a multi-year effort allowing us to both donate immediately as well as ultimately establish a self-sustaining fund from which donations will be made on an ongoing basis.

We are currently working out the details that will encompass both individual fund raising efforts as well as corporate sponsorships and I know that we will successfully see this to fruition. The seeds that we will plant in the coming months and years will touch untold lives and have far-reaching and unimaginable impacts. I am extremely excited to watch this process unfold.

Just imagine what may be possible from something that started as a simple thought.

“How can I make a difference?”