The Reading Is FUN  Program

Congratulations to Al Magid who is one of the two winners of the annual Schenectady County Senior Citizen Award, for his work with the Reading is Fun Program!!  Way to go Al we are proud of you!!

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In addition to being chosen Schenectday Couty Senior Citizen Award Al also has been chosen from awardees from all over the state as one of the three awardees statewide, who will receive special recognition for their "exemplary service" as senior-citizen volunteers. The designations are made by the governor and the chairs of the NY State Senate and Assembly Committees on Aging.

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See information below:

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The Reading Is Fun Program (RIF): Building its reputation along with its effectiveness. 

 

Annually the Schenectady County Department of Senior and Long Term Care Services honors several senior citizens for their outstanding volunteer work, by presenting them with

the Senior Citizen of the Year Award. Al is a 2017 awardee in Schenectady County. Recognition of that award within the county will take place (1) by the County Legislature,

in the County Office Building in Schenectady, on Tuesday, May 9, 6:30 pm and (2) at the Fenimore Gallery, Proctors Theatre in Schenectady, on Thursday, May 18, 1-3 pm.

 

The awards are bestowed annually in May by counties throughout NY State. The 2017 honorees from all around the state will come together in the Hart Lounge at The Egg in the

NY Empire State Mall in Albany for a luncheon (for 200 guests) sponsored by the Governor's Office for the Aging, on Tuesday, May 9, for the Office for the Aging's annual statewide

Older New Yorkers' Day celebration, which is a component of the nation's Older Americans Month celebration. The luncheon will be at 12 noon; the awards-recognition ceremony

at 1 pm. Among all the awardees statewide, three will receive special recognition for their "exemplary service" as senior-citizen volunteers. The designations are made by the governor and the chairs of the NY State Senate and Assembly Committees on Aging. Al is one of the three statewide 2017 senior-citizen awardees.

 

Both the Schenectady County and NY State senior-citizen awards are to honor him for having founded The Reading Is Fun Program (RIF) in Schenectady in December 2012 and for working since then as RIF's executive director, along with many dedicated RIF volunteers, to continue building RIF as an all-volunteer early-childhood ed/literacy program. RIF's mission is to help teach foundational reading-readiness and conversational skills and vocabulary to needy 4-9 year olds, in pre-K, Kindergarten, and Grades 1-3, in the Schenectady City School District. Currently, nearly 100 RIF volunteers are working one-on-one once weekly for an hour with more than 150 children in 11 of the 12 district elementary schools. The number of

RIF volunteers and of children they serve on the reading front is expected to continue growing in the years ahead, along with RIF's reputation. Concurrently, the scope of RIF activities is expected to broaden. Apropos, with funds it raises RIF expects to mount in Schenectady each year in May or June, beginning in 2018, a citywide Grand Reading Jamboree, with varied

'fun activities' keyed to early childhood literacy. A major objective of the annual Grand Reading Jamboree will be to encourage and mobilize parents and other caregivers to join with RIF in helping to get and keep the city's 4-9 year olds on the reading track. In these ways, RIF hopes to achieve a permanent place in the civic firmament of Schenectady.