Creating Reading Magic

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Time spent in hospital can be very traumatising, especially for children. So, to help make spending a night at Starship or Whangarei Hospital Children’s Ward a bit more memorable and pleasant, Barfoot & Thompson is providing every child spending a night or more there with a new book to read and take home with them – that adds up to about 15,000 books every year. For some children this is the first book they ever own.

Called The Magic of Reading, this programme has been going for about four years and has been very popular with the young patients. Just recently we had this feedback from a parent:

“My toddler had an MRI at Starship. Following the procedure, she was presented with a box of books and told she could pick one to take home. We were told Barfoot & Thompson sponsor these. I just wanted to thank you and let you know that your money is well spent and most appreciated - it was a delightful way to end the day, and as far as my daughter is concerned, hospital is a great place to go"

Feedback like this is always appreciated as it shows that a small gesture can really go a long way and brightens somebody’s hospital experience.


 
Barfoot & Thompson sponsorship ambassador Keven Mealamu brightens the day for some young patients at Whangarei Hospital.

To enhance this programme we also have a second programme we run in aid of Starship. This is a bit different in that we actually invite classrooms of children to write a short story for a competition called The Barfoot & Thompson Young Author’s Challenge. Classrooms from all over Auckland and Northland will be getting their heads together to help us create a great read for kids of all ages.  Our judges will be choosing eight winning short stories to publish and we’ll get rugby hero, Keven Mealamu, to illustrate the book.

This competition was developed four years ago to introduce school kids to the magic of reading and raise additional funds for the Starship Foundation. It’s been a great success. Since 2008, we’ve published three fantastic kid’s books that have raised an amazing $80,000 for the Starship Foundation.

Barfoot & Thompson will fund the production of the finished book.  As well as providing copies free of charge to the Magic of Reading programme at Starship, the book will also be offered for sale with all proceeds benefiting the Starship Foundation.

Barfoot & Thompson is a Five Star Sponsor of the Starship Foundation, one of five companies committed to supporting the Foundation at the highest level.   

Find out more about our Five Star Sponsorship here

Read more about The Barfoot & Thompson Young Authors’ Challenge here

Read about Keven Mealamu’s visit to Whangarei Children’s Hospital
 

Published 12th May 2011

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