For the third year in a row, participants in the 2025 UTHealth Houston Half Marathon and 10K have the opportunity to donate to Reach Out and Read Texas.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for runners to support children’s literacy,” said Jocelyn McConnell, MEd, director of Reach Out and Read Texas.

There is a universal similarity between running and reading. Children learning to read hit milestones much like runners training for a race.

“Runners set goals. Each step, practice, and milestone will advance them toward their ultimate goal,” McConnell said. “Similarly, for young children, each book and reading interaction helps build toward literacy milestones and healthy growth and development.”

With each donation of $3.50, Reach Out and Read Texas can purchase a book for a child between birth and 5 years old.

“This cost allows us to offer a broad range of books for the children we serve,” McConnell said.

Reach Out and Read Texas, which operates out of the Children’s Learning Institute at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, plays a special role in providing books to children through UT Physicians pediatric clinics.

“By prescribing books during well-child visits, families are encouraged to read aloud together, clinicians promote positive interactions, and reading during the exam provides developmental surveillance and guidance,” McConnell said.

Thousands of books were distributed to children in UT Physicians clinics across the Greater Houston area in 2024.

UT Physicians Reach Out and Read Clinics	# of Books Distributed in 2024
UT Physicians Pediatric Primary Care – Texas Medical Center	2,956
UT Physicians Multispecialty – Cinco Ranch	Started in Nov 2024. 900 per year anticipated.
UT Physicians Multispecialty – Greens	2,168
UT Physicians Multispecialty – The Heights	2,339
UT Physicians Multispecialty – International District	3,500
UT Physicians Multispecialty – Rosenberg	354
UT Physicians Multispecialty – Sienna	1,067
UT Physicians High Risk Children’s Clinic	345
UT Physicians Dan L Duncan Children’s Neurodevelopmental Clinic at the Children’s Learning Institute	458

Generous donations from participants in the 2024 UTHealth Houston Half Marathon and 10K enabled the purchase of 256 books.

“We are thankful for each donation,” McConnell said. “Nurturing language-rich interactions like shared reading gives young children a foundation for success, building early language and literacy skills and teaching curiosity, patience, and empathy. Reach Out and Read envisions a world where every child has the relationships essential to learn and thrive, and each book given represents one step toward achieving that goal.”

UTHealth Houston students and employees get a $10 registration discount by signing up with their university email, choosing “UTHealth Houston (Official)” as their team, and using the code 10UTHEALTH25 at checkout.

Other perks of joining Team UTHealth Houston include an automatic fan club of supporters who will cheer, “You can do this!”, meetups for members to exercise together, training plans, cool UTHealth Houston swag (think a team technical shirt, hat, and more), tips from the 2025 race’s official physicians, and a membership discount to the UTHealth Houston Recreation Center. Just show your race entry confirmation email by Oct. 31 for a 15% discount on one quarterly Rec Center membership.

For more information about the university’s official team for the half marathon and 10K, please email [email protected].

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