How Summer Read and Feed Began

Susan Morison is one of our Read and Feed tutors who is also a teacher. In 2012, Susan was a first grade teacher at Holly Ridge Elementary School, and she was concerned about one of her Hispanic student's access to opportunities to continue working on essential reading skills during the summer.

 She shared this concern with our founder, Jan Frantz, and asked if they had ever done Read and Feed over the summer break. Jan agreed that it would be beneficial to start summer programs to help students retain what they learn in school and not fall behind.

The story of our new mobile classroom

Our newest mobile classroom has now hit the streets. A Leadership Raleigh group from the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce completed the retrofit and added so many cute decorations. But the story of how the RV made it's way to it's new home right outside of the Read and Feed office is quite an amazing one. 

It all started with a phone call to a man named Mike who lives in Georgia. 

Volunteer Spotlight

Tom Mosier, also known as Mr. T, has been volunteering as a tutor and team lead for nine years. For several years, Tom volunteered at Read and Feed every single night (Monday-Thursday). 

Not only has Tom has contributed over 1,000 hours of his time, he also created games and activities to use as curriculum. Rainbow words, scruzzles, rainbow bingo, and adventure words can all be attributed to Tom. Beginning in 2014, Tom began publishing books of stories written by Read and Feed participants. Tom initiated this project and used his own money to publish the books.

Tom has primarily volunteered at mobile sites, which can involve some creativity to squeeze in all of the kids and tutors. Tapping into his carpentry skills, Tom built benches and tables that allow volunteers to better utilize the space of a mobile classroom.

Tom has decided to officially retire from Read and Feed to work on projects at home. Tom says, "I have enjoyed my nine years with Read and Feed and I will miss the children and also the tutors I have worked with."

The Read and Feed staff would like to thank Tom for his hard work and dedication to the program and the children we serve.

Summer Feeding
 

             During the school year, 22 million children receive free or reduced-price meals through the National School program. But what happens when school is out for the summer? Only 3.9 million students will receive free or reduced-price meals through the USDA Summer Food Service program. This is a gap of 1 in 6 children who are receiving adequate meals through the summer. A lack of access to meal sites and limited resources while schools are closed are part of the reason this gap is so big. (feedingamerica.org)

    In Wake County, 28% of elementary schools have over 50% of students receiving free and reduced lunch. Read and Feed wants to assure that children have access to food over the summer. For our three summer sites, the partner schools have on average 178 kids who get free and reduced lunch. We will be serving 75 children at our sites, providing them with a nutritious meal once a week.

    Aside from Read and Feed, there are other programs helping combat summer hunger all over the country and here in the Triangle. The USDA offers free summer meals to kids across North Carolina.  Visit nokidhungrync.org to find out where there are free summer meal sites.

Bulls Game

Thank you to everyone who braved the heat to cheer on the Durham Bulls on June 3rd.
We sold 129 tickets and received a check for $1,290! Board member, Mike Owens, his daughter Cameron, and Operations Manager, Jamie Buning took part in the on-field check presentation.