WHY READING MATTERED TO ROSIE...
Rosie came to Australia as a toddler from Austria. She was streetwise, but with a troubled home life, her English literacy wasn’t strong.
When she fell pregnant, she didn’t want the ability to read to hold her son back, so she started reading with him every day.
To her son Rick, she was his reading hero.
Rosie gave her son the gift of reading, imagination and a readiness to learn - but she also grew her own abilities through thousands of moments of shared reading just by being a few words ahead.
Together with evidence-based programs like the Australian edition of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, we know that every Tasmanian can be a child’s reading hero too.
meet our VOLUNTEER board
We’re dedicated to making an impact on Tasmanian literacy, but we won’t solve it in a year, or five… For that reason we’ve assembled a volunteer board who are skilled and focused on building a strong and trusted organisation that makes a measurable impact in the lives of children, their families and our community as a whole.
Rick Marton GAICD
Chair
Rotarian, Business Strategist, Recent President and Director of Relationships Australia Tasmania and Speak Up Stay ChatTY!
Ray Mostogl GAICD
Vice Chair
CEO Tasmanian Minerals, Manufacturing & Energy Council, Director of HILT CRC and Advisor to X-Hemp
Sarah Merridew AM FAICD
Treasurer
Australia Medal for work in Governance in both listed and community organisations including Mystate, TasNetworks, TasRail and RFDS Tasmania
Ashley McPherson
Director (Literacy + Evaluation)
Principal Blackmans Bay Primary School and State Director Australian Literacy Educators’ Association and member of the Australian Book Selection Committee for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.
Eric Gooi
Director (People + Teams)
Secretary / Vice-Chair at Thrive Group Tasmania Inc and Board Member of the Launceston Community Legal Centre.
Jade Howard
Secretary (Community)
Intensive Care Paramedic, Ambulance Tasmania and Mum of 2 ‘Early Years’ Children with skills in project management and a special interest in community development.
Kirsty Dunphey GAICD
Director (Grants + Ambassadors)
Passionate about literacy, Kirsty is an award-winning businesswoman across multiple businesses, including real estate and mortgage broking. Kirsty is a huge bookworm and understands the power of literacy to change lives.
The Board is supported by Linda Harrison in a volunteer accountancy role and the support of over 40 Tasmanians across health, education, justice, community and inclusion.
Our Guiding Principle: Never make a promise you can’t afford to keep.
For this reason, we build our programs to be replicatable, scalable and sustainable.
a special partnership:
united way australia
United Way Australia (UWA) are a trusted non-denominational charity who allow Rosie’s to deliver maximum impact with the lowest possible overhead costs . UWA hold the major license partnership with The Dollywood Foundation and Imagination Library in Australia who supply the automated Book Ordering System.
Their partnership with the support of their donors, allows us to roll out Imagination Library at just $9 per book, packaged and delivered to each home, which is a fraction of the real world cost. They also supply a whole team of experts including evaluation and literacy at no cost to us.
LIKE TO PARTNER WITH US?
Please send an email to hello@rosiesreading.org or via Facebook or Instagram to let us know how you might like to help - this may be as volunteer events crew, public reading programs or simply letterboxing when we launch into new areas.
All volunteers are required to hold a valid Working with Vulnerable People card.
“This program will change lives, and those lives will change communities.”
- Leanne McLean, Former Commissioner for Children and Young People and Director of Peter Underwood Centre for Educational Attainment