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April 11, 2016

Reading Partners Charleston shares inspiring volunteerism stories during National Volunteer Week

For Immediate Release

Contact:
Kecia Greenho, Executive Director, Reading Partners Charleston
kecia.greenho@readingpartners.org508-561-3537

DURING NATIONAL VOLUNTEER WEEK, A VOLUNTEER-LED LITERACY ORGANIZATION IS CELEBRATING THE HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE IN THE CHARLESTON AREA FUELING ITS PROVEN IMPACT IN UNDER-RESOURCED COMMUNITIES

(Charleston, SC) April 11, 2016 — Reading Partners is a national nonprofit that collaborates with community volunteers and local public schools in Charleston to equip students with the foundational skills they need to be able to read at grade level by fourth grade. The proven early literacy organization has been providing volunteer-led, individualized reading support to students in under-resourced public elementary schools since 1999.

April is National Volunteer Month (and April 10-16 is National Volunteer Week), so Reading Partners is celebrating the tremendous dedication and impact of its thousands of volunteer tutors by sharing a sampling of the uplifting stories playing out every day in Reading Partners reading centers in the Lowcountry area and across its 14 regions.

“Our volunteers are the lifeblood of our program,” said Kecia Greenho, Executive Director of Reading Partners Charleston. “It is only through their passion for our mission and their commitment every week with their students that we are able to make a measurable impact on literacy in the Lowcountry.”

Here are a few examples of the countless inspiring stories of high-impact volunteerism taking place in Reading Partners reading centers in the Charleston area:

  1. North Charleston police officers, along with Police Chief Eddie Driggers, tutor weekly at Chicora Elementary to connect with the community they serve.

  2. Kiawah Cares volunteers travel to the rural schools of Angel Oak, Mt. Zion and Frierson to make sure their students obtain the reading skills they need for success in school and life.

  3. Beach Company employees can easily walk to the Memminger reading center in the heart of downtown Charleston. Working with our students during their lunch hour is often a highlight in their day!

  4. After the devastating floods in the fall of 2015, members of Daniel Island’s Saint Clare of Assisi Catholic Church wanted to do more for their neighboring communities. Their outreach effort led them to Cainhoy Elementary, where they now provide comprehensive support services to the school and its students. Volunteers are proud to include Reading Partners as one of the many ways they are lifting up the community of Huger, and Cainhoy Elementary School.

Today in South Carolina, eight out of 10 fourth graders from low-income families cannot read at grade level. Reading is the foundation for all future learning. Without developing the reading skills needed to read on grade level, kids won’t have an equitable chance to succeed in school or in life. With the dedication of more than 14,000 volunteer tutors in Charleston and across the US, Reading Partners’ volunteers are helping more than 10,000 students make the all-important shift from learning to read to reading to learn.

“It is the best feeling in the world knowing you’re making a difference in the life of a young person! I think Kevin will take Middle School by storm next year with his new-found reading skills,” remarked Rachel Cushing, a Reading Partners volunteer tutor in the Charleston area.

We are currently in 14 schools across the Lowcountry area and working with over 700 students. Reading Partners Charleston is looking for volunteers to commit to at least an hour a week to work individually with children who struggle with reading at the following local schools:

Angel Oak Elementary School
6134 Chisolm Rd.
Johns Island, SC 29455-7660

Malcolm C. Hursey Elementary School
4542 Simms St.
North Charleston, SC 29406

Cainhoy Elementary School
2434 Cainhoy Rd.
Huger, SC 29450

Mary Ford Elementary School
3180 Thomasina McPherson Blvd.
North Charleston, SC 29405

Chicora School of Communications:
An Elementary Magnet
3795 Spruill Ave.
North Charleston, SC 29405

Memminger School of Global Studies
20 Beaufain St.
Charleston, SC 29401

Edith L. Frierson Elementary School
6133 Maybank Highway
Wadmalaw Island, SC 29487

Mt. Zion Elementary School
3464 River Rd.
Johns Island, SC 29455

Edmund A. Burns Elementary School
3750 Dorchester Rd.
North Charleston, SC 29405

Pepperhill Elementary School
3300 Creola Rd.
Charleston, SC 29420-8703

James Simons Elementary School
741 King St.
Charleston, SC 29403

Sanders-Clyde Creative Arts School
805 Morrison Dr.
Charleston, SC 29403

Julian Mitchell Math and Science
Elementary School
2 Perry St.
Charleston, SC 29403

W.B. Goodwin Elementary School
5501 Dorchester Rd.
North Charleston, SC 29418

To learn more, please email volunteerchs@readingpartners.org or call 843-860-3915.

About Reading Partners

Reading Partners empowers students to succeed in reading and in life by engaging community volunteers to provide one-on-one tutoring. The national nonprofit organization will provide proven, individualized literacy tutoring to more than 10,000 elementary school students in under-resourced schools across ten states and the District of Columbia in 2016.  Visit readingpartners.org, or connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook, to learn more.

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