By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
The United Way of Greater St. Joseph wants to keep kids reading through the summer and it is currently searching for volunteers to help in the effort.
Director of Community Investment Jodi Flurry says volunteers will read with students in a group setting.
"Every person in the group gets a copy of the book, and so it's group reading where usually it's like a kid takes a page, the next kid takes a page, the volunteer takes a page, and they just go around the circle and they read," Flurry tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. "And they can encourage each other, they can help with words, it keeps all the kids engaged, and the volunteer is there to keep them on track and help them with any words they might be struggling with."
Each group session will last 45 mins. The United Way is currently seeking volunteers to help with the program this summer.
Flurry says this reading program working with kids provides a good opportunity for youth volunteers.
"So, if there are middle school or high school students that are wanting to volunteer to get involved in the community, this is a really simple way to volunteer," Flurry points out. "Because, it's a short time commitment and it's fun and easy because you're just reading with kids."
Reading Adventure couldn't happen through the pandemic with volunteers unable to come read to students, resulting in a two-year hiatus for the program.
Flurry says last year though, the United Way developed a new way to help get kids books to read.
"We want to help build home libraries, we want books in homes that kids want to read, so we partnered with a lot of different people the main one being Second Harvest and their No Hunger Summer, where every week on a Tuesday kids got to pick out a book to take home and keep, and that's why we were calling for books."
United Way officials are again calling for books to be donated for children ages 6-12 that are new or gently used.
