May 6, 2021
University Medical Center’s Reach Out and Read program received strong support during the recently completed University of Alabama 2021 Bama Blitz online fundraising campaign.
The early childhood reading program received more than $7,000 in donations, exceeding its fundraising goal. Through Reach Out and Read, which is part of UMC’s Pediatric Clinic in Tuscaloosa, children age 6 months to 5 years receive a brand-new, age-appropriate book during well-child visits.
The UA Bama Blitz fundraising event lasted from noon April 12 through midnight April 15. Bama Blitz is an opportunity for alumni, faculty, staff, students and friends to come together and support UA. Using the power of social media and crowdfunding, donors can give to their favorite cause, college or program.
This is the second year the College of Community Health Sciences, which operates UMC, has made Reach Out and Read its Bama Blitz passion project. The $5,000 fundraising goal was exceeded in 2020 and again this year. All money raised for the program will be used to purchase books for UMC’s youngest patients, to sustain the program and to expand it to other UMC locations.
Donations from last year’s Bama Blitz allowed UMC to purchase 3,000 new books. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, UMC was not able to implement the Reach Out and Read program in fall 2020 as originally planned. The program officially launched in March 2021 and since then has given more than 300 books at well-child visits.
Reach Out and Read research has shown that families served by the program read together more often, and their children enter Kindergarten with larger vocabularies and stronger language skills.
UMC’s Reach Out and Read program relies solely on donations. These gifts help ensure that more children in West Alabama begin life with books and early exposure to stories, language and the joy of reading.
To learn more about UMC’s Reach Out and Read program and how it benefits pediatric patients, or to support the program visit UMC’s Reach Out and Read Page.
