| Power Lunch! |  |
More than 100 U.S. Bank volunteers along with their reading buddies from Benjamin E. Mays Magnet School celebrated their successful reading program and partnership at the “Everybody Wins! End of Year Celebration” on Wednesday, April 12 at Harriet Island in St. Paul.
Everybody Wins! is a nonprofit educational organization whose mission is to provide an environment where students learn the joy of reading through the involvement of community volunteers. Elementary school students are paired with volunteers on a one-to-one basis to generate enthusiasm for reading and to improve children’s literacy.
The Everybody Wins! Power Lunch Program matches mentors from the public and private sectors with students once a week during the lunch hour. The “buddies” read together and then share conversations about the books they’ve read. This provides children with positive role models and fosters a love of reading at an early age.
U.S. Bank has been participating in the Everybody Wins! Power Lunch Program for the past 3 years. Employees read weekly to 90 children in the first through third grades at Benjamin E. Mays Magnet School. The volunteer readers are from 17 different departments at two of U.S. Bank’s St. Paul locations, West Side Flats and the U.S. Bank Center. Volunteers and their reading buddies are paired up for the entire school year, which is approximately 25 lunches. Many of the reader/student buddies have been together for 2-3 years.
“U.S. Bank volunteers are positively impacting the lives of children in their community through the Everybody Wins! Program,” said Teri Spano-Madden, U.S. Bank Private Client Group and Everybody Wins! coordinator. “Our partnership with Benjamin E. Mays school, which centers on the joy of reading, is a true success. Students become more enthusiastic about reading, increase their self confidence, and form meaningful and rewarding relationships with U.S. Bank volunteers.”
Everybody Wins! Minnesota was incorporated in 2003 as a literacy and mentoring organization. It is an independent affiliate with the national nonprofit organization Everybody Wins, founded in New York City in 1991 by Arthur Tannenbaum.
|
|
|
