Cheers to 1,000 volunteers!
Lead to Read KC met a huge milestone when our 1,000th Reading Mentor joined the team of Reading Mentors in the second grade class at Center Elementary. A special thank you to Austin Orme and the entire Labconco Corporation team for helping us reach this historic number!
You can be our next volunteer! We have a waiting list of classrooms and students ready for their very own Reading Mentors. Join us today!
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Help us end the year strong
Look at what we’ve accomplished throughout 2022, thanks to your support!
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But there is more to do.
The number of third grade students reading proficiently, however, remains a challenge; reading proficiency is below 25% at many of the schools we serve. Too many students are not reading as well as they could be, and unfortunately, much of the pre-pandemic gains in reading have been erased, making our work even more critical.
With your help, we can expand the reach of our programs in 2023 to serve more children and shrink our waiting list. Help a child build a brighter future by donating today at leadtoreadkc.org/donate.
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Some of Kansas City's own builders are sharing their professions and inspiring young readers to build dreams through Lead to Read KC's Done in a Day program.
The program is a one-day event where volunteers from the business community read the book, Someone Builds the Dream, by Lisa Wheeler, with students and talk about careers involved in building a variety of projects in a city. Most recently, JE Dunn and Country Club Bank employees met with fourth graders at Faxon Elementary. Up next, Turner Construction and Henderson Engineers!
Lead to Read KC is seeking more business partners to help children develop a love of reading and inspire curiosity about STEM professions. Interested in this one-hour Done-in-a Day volunteer experience? Email pauly@leadtoreadkc.org
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High school students keep young readers in the game
When Lead to Read KC asked the football programs at Rockhurst and Shawnee Mission East high schools to get in the game, they scored more than 4,000 books for the Patrick Mahomes initiative Read for 15. Students from St. James Academy also brought their A-game to sort and box the books. Lead to Read KC will distribute them to help kids follow through on their pledge to read at least 15 minutes per day outside of school.
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Left: Shawnee Mission East's Football Coach, Justin Hoover, with Marques Fitch from the 15 and the Mahomies Foundation. Right: Members of the Rockhurst's football team with their coach, Kelly Donohue, and Marques Fitch from the 15 and the Mahomies Foundation. |
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Get ready for Get Schooled: Building Dreams, our annual fundraiser. Plan now to join us at Union Station on Friday, June 9. Our event committee is hard at work, creating a night of dreams, food and fun just for you! More details coming soon.
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Wherever kids may be waiting, they could be reading! That’s why Lead to Read KC has dozens of Reading is EverywhereSM Book Distribution sites across the Kansas City area. This month we take a look at Holmes Garden Neighborhood Association and its Little Library that is removing barriers to books.
“Literacy is important, and children need libraries,” Estelle Lewis said. Lewis has been a Holmes Garden housing provider for 22 years and manages the Little Library. “We want the children to know the community supports them.”
Through this partnership, Lead to Read KC keeps the library stocked with books each month. With more than 100 books available at any given time, it’s not unusual to see the neighborhood children waiting for the school bus with a book in their hands -- or checking out a new book when they return home.
“It’s become a meeting ground for the neighborhood youth,” Lewis said.
The library is having an impact on parents as well.
“I’ve worked in other neighborhoods where kids don’t like to read,” Kimberly Miller said. Miller is the founder of Empire Dreams, an organization focusing on sustainable neighborhood transformations in Kansas City. “But the Little Library is powerful. It’s normalized reading in a world where children spend a lot of time in front of a screen. It’s changing the mindset around books.”
We are grateful to Holmes Garden and all of our Reading is EverywhereSM partners for helping us build a stronger community of readers.
If you are interested in helping support our Reading is EverywhereSM locations with a book donation, please contact Linda Hughes.
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Even students who say they don’t like to read benefit from time with our Reading Mentors. Learn how relationships with caring adults can make a world of difference in the life of a child.
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IN THE NEWS | Many thanks to The Pitch and KSHB for sharing more about our 1,000th Reading Mentor. And to KCTV5 for showing how we are working to help students succeed following the pandemic.
YOU VOTED, WE LISTENED | We’re looking forward to our partnership with Casual Animal Brewery in January and February. Many thanks to everyone who voted in our featured draft poll on our social media. We look forward to raising a glass of Hefeweizen with you soon.
WE KNOW HIM! | Congratulations to Vladimir Sainte who was voted Best Local Author in The Pitch Kansas City's Best of 2022! Sainte is one of our Reading for Life author partners.
GIVE LOCAL | Look for Lead to Read KC from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 3, at MERRY MARKET: Gifts, Giving & Good Cheer, happening at City Market in Kansas City, Mo. We'll be handing out books, playing games and recruiting volunteers. If you'd like to help, email linda@leadtoreadkc.org.
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11 years of creating a community of readers, one lunch hour at a time. |
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