Reading Partners shares inspiring volunteerism stories during National Volunteer Week

For Immediate Release

Contact:
Kecia Greenho, Executive Director, Reading Partners Charleston
kecia.greenho@readingpartners.org, 508-561-3537

DURING NATIONAL VOLUNTEER WEEK, A VOLUNTEER-LED LITERACY ORGANIZATION IS CELEBRATING THE MANY PEOPLE IN LAKE CITY FUELING ITS PROVEN IMPACT IN UNDER-RESOURCED COMMUNITIES

(Lake City, SC) April 11, 2016 — Reading Partners is a national nonprofit that collaborates with community volunteers and local public schools in Lake City 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 Lake City and across its 14 nationwide 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.”

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

1. Kristen Hanna wanted to do more to be a positive change – so she joined Reading Partners. Since joining, Kristen has not only been able to help her students excel in reading, she has also been taking the concepts she learns in the reading center to help her own emerging reader find a passion for literacy at home.

2. Rutha Frierson, a retired banker, has been helping the youth of Lake City for the last 42 years. Rutha has been fiercely dedicated to making sure every student has the opportunity to reach success, because she, too, is a product of opportunity.

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 South Carolina 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 South Carolina.

Reading Partners is currently in two schools in Lake City where over 100 tutors are working with 125 students. Reading Partners 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 Lake City schools:

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.