Helping people plan for the future is what Jennifer Pierce loves most about her role as a tax attorney for Mitchell Williams’ business group.
Her passion for helping others reaches beyond just balancing the books, though. The native of Saratoga – and Junior League of Little Rock sustainer – spends much of her spare time volunteering with local organizations, among them Reach Out and Read Arkansas, a nonprofit dedicated to improving the future of our children by ending the cycle of illiteracy.
The imaginative Pierce, who as a child longed to be an astronaut, says she can’t remember a time when she didn’t want to curl up with a good book. “Being read to as a child is something that I, like many of us, took for granted. Illiteracy affects so many individuals, families and communities,” she says. “ROR helps Arkansas’ youngest children succeed in school by partnering with doctors to prescribe books and encourage families to read together.”
Considered to be the gold standard of care by the American Academy of Pediatrics, ROR is a medical model based on developmental research showing that infants, toddlers and preschoolers who are given rich levels of verbal and print stimulation have better social, emotional and cognitive outcomes.
Beginning at the 6-month checkup and continuing until the child is 5, ROR health care providers start each exam by handing the child an age-appropriate book and using it as a tool to assess the child’s motor, language and social-emotional development.
Part of a national model developed in 1989, ROR Arkansas was established in 2001 when Dr. Chad Rodgers began the first ROR clinic at Arkansas Children’s Hospital. In 2002, he and Peggy Sissel-Phelan founded a small nonprofit to better promote the ROR model across the state. By the end of 2007, 12 providers were in place and 36,000 books had been distributed.
Then in 2008, the Blue and You Foundation awarded the nonprofit a $42,000 grant to further expand the ROR model. From January 2008 to July 2012, more than 195,000 books were distributed to families at well child visits.
Pierce first got involved with ROR through her employer Mitchell Williams, a law firm with a long history of giving back to the community. “We believe it is our responsibility to play an active, positive role in the communities in which we work and live,” Pierce says. “The Take Time to Give program is our firm’s community service initiative that provides support to civic and charitable organizations through financial contribution, volunteer hours and pro bono legal services.” Each year the firm chooses a primary charity with which to work, and ROR was the chosen nonprofit for 2012.
Without hesitation, Pierce dove in headfirst with ROR, agreeing to chair the organization’s primary fundraising event this October.
Titled “Once Upon a Time,” Pierce says the event name is in recognition of the power and promise that books hold for young children. The event design and details are inspired this year by Shel Silverstein’s best-selling book, “The Giving Tree.”
Once Upon a Time will be held from 7-10 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 26, at Pleasant Valley Country Club. Tickets are $50 per person, and the evening will include heavy hors d’oeuvres, cocktails, musical entertainment from The B Flats and some unique opportunities to support ROR.
“We are partnering with local artists, art teachers and art students to create ‘trees’ in support of children’s literacy,” Pierce says. “The trees will be unique, original works by the artists, art teachers and students – each reflective of their individual artistic style. All of the trees will be on display and auctioned off at the event.”
Attendees will also have the opportunity to fulfill the book requirements for a child. “For $50 you can sponsor the book needs for one child at a ROR clinic,” Pierce explains. That figure equates to about 12 books, or one per well child visit.
Once Upon A Time, a benefit for Reach Out and Read Arkansas
when: 7-11 p.m., Friday, Oct. 26
where: Pleasant Valley Country Club
tickets: $50 per person
For more information about the event or to volunteer with ROR, visit ReachOutAndReadArkansas.org.