2024 RIF of NOVA Fund- and Fun-Raiser: Book Olympics
With the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games in mind, RIF of NOVA is getting into the act, too! The theme of our 2024 fund- and fun-raiser is: Book Olympics! Letters and emails are being sent to our supporters to help us raise the funds we need to supply new books to 20,000+ deserving children in Northern Virginia. All donations through the end of calendar year will support our Book Olympics initiative.
Your donations to RIF of NOVA purchase new books for over 20,000 children in Title 1 schools and children's centers in the City of Alexandria, and in Arlington, Fairfax, and Prince William counties. Since we are an all-volunteer organization, all donations support this effort. We ask you to give what you can to ensure that kids who need them have books-to-keep in their homes. According to the U.S. Department of Education: “The only behavior measure that correlates significantly with reading scores is the number of books in the home.” Every $4.00 = one book, so please give generously so the children in our community are able to choose at least one new book each year. Your donations go directly to this effort and make all the difference! Your $20 donation = One book each for 4 children Your $100 donation = One book each for 25 children Your $200 donation = One book each for 50 children |
Or send a check to our street address:
Reading is Fundamental of Northern Virginia, Inc. P.O. Box 7012 Arlington, VA 22207-0012 Here are some of the Book Olympics FUN-raising activities!
A Book Olympics Story Board. Share your story about sports! It can be a personal story focusing on your own or a family member's athletic experience or a tribute to a real-life athlete you admire. Maybe you read a book about an athlete who inspired you. Anything relevant to sports can be included. In late fall, five winners will be chosen by the RIF of NOVA board to receive a book store gift certificate. This page is waiting for YOU and your story! Click here to find the NOVA RIF Book Olympics Story Board! Book Olympics book distributions have been held in some of the schools we serve -- complete with flags, games, medals, an Olympics photo booth, and, of course, books galore! Find pics by clicking here! An Olympics and Sports books resource page. It can be found by clicking here. Read through the page to find sports books sure to please any child in your family! And if you have book sites to suggest, please email us at [email protected]. Other sports-related articles are featured on our Celebrating Local Children's Authors page, where you can meet author Barbara Carroll Roberts and learn about her basketball book, Nikki on the Line, and Fred Bowen, author of 28 childens's books about sports. Also see our Books & Blogs page, where you can find a book review about Paralympic swimmer Jessica Long! Click here for that! (Note: Printing services provided by McCabe's Printing Group.) |
Book Olympics book distributions in some of our schools
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A mom relates her son's diving experiences on our Book Olympics Story Board page
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Children's books about the Olympics and sports abound! Check out our Resource page! (Credit -- Publisher: North Star Editions, Author: Chrös McDougall)
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Interested in getting into the Book Olympics spirit?
Learn some fun facts about the real games!
Learn some fun facts about the real games!
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Did you know, for example, that "the last time the Summer Olympics were held in Paris in 1924, women made up 5% of the athletes. One hundred years later, women made up 50% of athletes for the first time ever! The 2024 Paris Olympic Games were the first Games to reach full gender parity. Out of the 10,500 athletes participating in the Games, 5,250 were men and 5,250 women." Click here for more background.
In fact, the 1900 Olympics in Paris were the first Games to include women. Of the 997 athletes who competed, 22 were women, according to the IOC. Tennis and golf were the only sports where women could compete in individual events. However, women could participate in sailing, croquet, and equestrian. For the first time in the history of the Olympic Summer Games, the Opening Ceremony did not take place in a stadium. Paris 2024 broke new ground by bringing sports into the city and the same was true of the Opening Ceremony, held in the heart of the city along its main artery: the Seine. Even the rain could not dampen this amazing spectacle. While the French capital was the epicenter of the Games, competitions were held all around the nation. Matches for one of France’s most popular sports, football (or soccer), were held in existing stadiums across the regions of Bordeaux, Nantes, Lyon, Saint-Etienne, Nice, and Marseille. Marseille also hosted the Games’ sailing events in the Mediterranean Sea. Meanwhile in the north, Lille held team sports like basketball and handball. The Paris Olympics broke in a new sport -- breakdancing! Breaking (or breakdancing) originated in the United States in the 1970s. After its resounding success as an exhibition sport at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires in 2018, the Olympic Committee inaugurated it as a medal event for the Paris Games. However, it will not appear in the 2028 Games in Los Angeles and may never be back. Two sports will debut in Los Angeles: squash and flag football. Three others -- cricket, baseball, and lacrosse -- will return. |
Olympic surfing was held 12 time zones away from Paris! Introduced as an Olympic sport in the Tokyo 2020 Games, surfing returned, but far away from the host city. For the first time in Olympics history, the host city staged an event in one of its overseas territories…12 time zones away! Teahupo’o Beach in Tahiti was the venue for this year’s surfing competition – one of the most impressive wave destinations in the world. Who can forget the iconic image of Brazil's Gabriel Medina as he and his board appeared to float across the waves.
During the 2024 Olympic Games, the D.C. area was well represented. Of the hundreds of athletes who participated for the U.S., more than 20 hailed from the D.C. region in sports including swimming, track, basketball, soccer. triathlon, road cycling, wrestling, fencing, volleyball, rowing, and gymnastics. Who can forget names like Katie Ledecky, Torri Huske, Noah Lyles, Kevin Durant, and many more! 
The name of the Paris 2024 mascot was Olympic Phryge, based on the traditional small Phrygian hats that the mascots are shaped after. The name and design were chosen as symbols of freedom and to represent allegorical figures of the French republic.
Interested in some Olympic history? Here's a blog with some fascinating factoids. Did you know that the first Olympic Games took place in the 8th century BC/BCE in Olympia, Greece. They were held every four years for 12 centuries. Then, in the 4th century AD/CE, all pagan festivals were banned by Emperor Theodosius I, and the Olympics were no more until 1500 years later. |
