Help Children Foster a Love For Books with Reading to Kids
Reading to Kids' reading clubs meets the second Saturday of each month from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon at seven elementary schools near downtown Los Angeles. The children are divided into several small groups by grade level. Pairs of volunteers are assigned to each of these "reading club" groups. Volunteers are needed to read a pre-assigned book during a ninety-minute session, which also includes an arts and crafts project related to the book being read. At the end of the session, volunteers provide each child with a book of his or her own as a reward for attending. Arts & Crafts Throughout the reading club sessions, teachers roam from classroom to classroom to facilitate book discussions and to assist in arts and crafts projects. In addition, while the reading clubs are taking place, teachers provide training to the parents of the attending children on how to continue the benefits of the reading club by reading to their children at home. All volunteers must be 18+.
Support American Youth Literacy Foundation’s Mission to Save Children From an Illiterate Life
ALL SUMMER LONG! American Youth Literacy Foundation's mission is to save millions of children from an illiterate life by creating a game-changing app that will independently teach children how to read! For the past seventeen years they have taught thousands of underprivileged and underserved children how to read. Now its time to teach millions!
Help Kids Become Better Readers and Donate to Reading to Kids
ALL SUMMER LONG! Financial support from foundations, corporations, organizations, and individuals allows Reading to Kids to maintain and expand the reading club program, purchase teacher-selected books for elementary school libraries in low-income communities, and fund book donations directly to children to aid them in developing their own home libraries.
Featured Projects
Join Big Sunday for our Accessible Wednesday at 10am Event
Big Sunday,
passion@bigsunday.org,
(323) 549-9944
A spin-off of our flagship weekly event TM@10, Accessible Wednesdays @ 10 (AW@10 for short) hosts volunteers every Wednesday to work on hands-on projects to help local nonprofits. The difference? The projects we do on Wednesdays are specially geared to be accessible to folks of all ability levels! Our guests of honor at each AW@10 are groups of volunteers with intellectual and developmental disabilities from some of our partner organizations like AbilityFirst, ETTA, PassAbility, Partners For Potential, and Arroyo Development Services. At Big Sunday, we firmly believe that everyone has something to give, and that everyone has fun helping others! Anyone and everyone is invited to join us for AW@10, whether it’s with a group or as an individual who wants to help out and hang out with some of the best volunteers in the business. From assembling goodie bags for unhoused people and their dogs to decorating pumpkins for underserved kids at Halloween, there’s always something fun going on at AW@10.
Create Mosaic Suns With Big Sunday at our Art Tuesdays
Big Sunday,
josh@bigsunday.org,
(323) 549-9944
Every Tuesday, volunteers join us at Big Sunday HQ to decorate mosaics in the shape of a sun. These beautiful works of art are then donated to schools, shelters, food banks – anywhere in need of a little more sunshine and warmth! This wonderful project is the brainchild of our old friend Cathy Weiss and led by Cathy and our own Big Sunday staff. You don’t need to be a brilliant artist to participate – just friendly and sincere. Just about everybody who’s worked on one tells us the mosaic suns are their favorite Big Sunday project!
Join Big Sunday for our Thursday Morning at 10am Events
Big Sunday,
nicolo@bigsunday.org,
(323) 549-9944
TM@10 (Thursday Morning @ 10) is not only one of our favorite programs, but it’s one of our most popular, too! Every Thursday morning from 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM, volunteers gather at Big Sunday HQ to work on hands-on projects that help local nonprofits. We’ve assembled birthday gifts for folks in shelters, written letters to soldiers stationed overseas, packed backpacks for ex-gang members starting college, made fleece blankets for shelter kittens, and done about a thousand other fun and meaningful things. In classic Big Sunday fashion, it’s a great way for people to meet new people, work together, and enjoy some laughs while helping someone else. It’s no wonder we have so many regulars who come every single week! We’re regularly joined by groups like AbilityFirst, Partners For Potential, and of course the famous TM Ladies! Projects we’ve worked on have benefited organizations like Covenant House, Carlos Santa Ana Academy, PATH, Exceptional Children’s Foundation, Angelus Plaza, and countless others. This week we will be sorting and packing clothing for donations.
Immerse Yourself in a Sound Bath Experience at Big Sunday’s Wellness Mondays
Big Sunday,
alondra@bigsunday.org,
(323) 549-9944
New for the summer of ’25: Stop in and come to a special session in the name of happiness, wholeness, and feeling better. Lay down and close your eyes as The Soundbath Center co-founder Jamie Bechtold performs on gongs and crystal singing bowls to generate an atmosphere of relaxing, meditative calm. You can immerse yourself in healing frequencies, take a well-deserved rest, or simply enjoy the soundscape. If you've never felt the soothing, healing effects of a sound bath, you owe it to yourself to check this one out. As the sound bath is best experienced laying down, please bring a blanket and/or yoga mat. All Wellness Mondays are FREE for all participants!
Celebrate Midsummer and Join Big Sunday for Karaoke Night!
Big Sunday,
nicolo@bigsunday.org,
(323) 549-9944
Mark your calendars: Big Sunday's Karaoke Night will be held Thursday, July 24th from 6:00pm-8:00pm! What better way to celebrate midsummer – and to forget the world’s troubles – than a night of karaoke. And get this: It will be with live musicians, The Pop Rocks Band! The snacks are on us. Price of admission: At least one item for our Back to School Week collection. (No, you don’t have to sing. And no, you don’t have to be a good singer. Trust us. Big Sunday's Karaoke will be held in our headquarters: 1741 N Cherokee Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90028. There is meter parking and street parking around our office or you can park at the public parking garage right across the street from our building! Please note that the parking garage across the street has a fee of $12. If you have any questions, please contact: Nicolo at nicolo@bigsunday.org! Hope to see you there!
Come Along On The Donut Crawl! – Big Sunday’s Friday Field Trips
Big Sunday,
nicolo@bigsunday.org,
(323) 549-9944
For the past few summers, we've had many adventures with all kinds of nice people – vets, foster youth, people experiencing homelessness – all over the city. Including our now-famous Donut Crawl! Here's what it is: We're renting a very cool party bus. It will be leaving from our HQ in Hollywood. We've invited nice but struggling folks from all over town with all kinds of challenges. Then again, we all have some kind of challenges. We'll all get on the bus. We'll be picking up and sampling donuts from donut stores around town, and, together, making our own, unassailable list of which are best in numerous categories. Even better (as if anything could possibly be better than sampling donuts from all over town), we'll also be enjoying one another's company! Please note that there are two Crawls – one from 9:30-11, and another from 11-12:30.
Get Flexible at Goat Yoga – Big Sunday’s Wellness Mondays
Big Sunday,
alondra@bigsunday.org,
(323) 549-9944
New for the summer of ’25: Stop in and come to a special session in the name of happiness, wholeness, and feeling better. Back by popular demand! Work out with the only trained yoga goats in the country! The goats are your helpers during a yoga class for all ages and skill levels. They help you deepen stretches, improve your core strength, test balance, and give you a goat massage at the end! There will be one hour of yoga, followed by an hour of chilling with the goats!
Let’s Go Bowling – Big Sunday’s Friday Field Trips
Big Sunday,
nicolo@bigsunday.org,
(323) 549-9944
For the past few summers, we've had many adventures with all kinds of nice people – vets, foster youth, people experiencing homelessness – all over the city. One of our oldest and most beloved is Bowling! Every year, we head out to Corbin Bowl in Tarzana for a day full of strikes, spares, gutterballs, and pizza! It's a great old bowling alley with fun retro vibes, and best of all it's free. We hope you'll join us to share in the community spirit. Please note that this event is not at Big Sunday HQ in Hollywood – we'll meet you out there in beautiful Tarzana! If you'd like to bring a large group, please contact nicolo@bigsunday.org.
Show Off Your Smarts at Big Sunday’s Trivia Night!
Big Sunday,
nicolo@bigsunday.org,
(323) 549-9944
Test your knowledge (trivia) and test your reflexes (buzzer) on another memorable Big Sunday Trivia Night, hosted by our own Nico and Madison. The snacks are on us for this, too! Price of admission: At least one item for our Back to School Week collection. (And no, we won’t think less of you if you know more facts about sitcoms than you do about botany.) There will be awesome prizes and totally good vibes!