Board vice president Todd Allan and executive director Beth Wallace were interviewed on 93.9 The River by DJ Stevens Blanchard on January 23rd during drive time. We had a lot of fun talking about reading and Everybody Wins! with Stevens in the studio in West Lebanon.
If you missed us, don’t despair! You can catch the interview below:
Big thanks to Stevens for making this opportunity available to us and being such a great interviewer. And thanks as well to all the organizations that support their employees to mentor in the Upper Valley and help to keep Everybody Wins! reading.
Everybody Wins! Vermont is coming back to WInooski, and Waterworks Food + Drink is helping! On Saturday February 3rd from 11:30 to 2 pm, Waterworks Food & Drink will hold a benefit brunch to help Everybody Wins! Vermont re-open our reading site at Winooski’s JFK Elementary School.
Come enjoy Waterworks’ gorgeous space overlooking the Winooski River in the Champlain Mill and their delicious brunch menu, and help bring reading mentors back to Winooski. Everyone is welcome, and 10% of proceeds will benefit Everybody Wins! in Winooski.
Call 802-497-3525 to reserve a spot for brunch!
Mentors will read again with children at JFK Elementary starting this fall.
At 1:30 there will be a special storytime for children and families with stories read by DJ Craig Miller and Sebastian Ryder, and a cookies-and-milk snack for children. No purchase is necessary for storytime, and everyone is welcome!
DJ Craig Mitchell; photo by Seth Wise
Thanks so much to DJ Craig Mitchell and Waterworks for their support of children and reading in Winooski.
Everyone will find something new and fun to read aloud at the 13th Annual National Life Read-A-Thon on Saturday January 27th from 1 to 3:30 pm! This beloved family and community event will take place in the National Life Group cafeteria at 1 National Life Drive in Montpelier. Whether the weather is freezing or slushy, escape to a warm space full of books and read your heart out. There is a book for everyone!
Reading with a friend in a sunny window.
Read aloud as many books as you can, fill your passport with stamps, collect gold coins for a chance at fabulous prizes from Bear Pond Books, and have cookies and milk while you sing along with Jon Gailmor. Every child picks a free book to take home!
The Read-A-Thon is a free community event generously supported by National Life Group. Children of all ages are welcome with an adult! Come as you are on the spur of the moment; no sign-up is necessary.
Fourth grader Edison is ready to reconnect with his Everybody Wins! mentor, Greg Hardy, ASAP. They met weekly last school year in Claremont, New Hampshire’s Bluff Elementary School and read more books than Edison can count. He’s pretty sure Greg is going to have to work hard to catch up to him when they start again this year, given all the books he read this summer. “I read 80 to 100 books this summer,” he said, including all the Hardy Boys books. He and his mentor Greg had already read all of Harry Potter and The Hobbit during the school year.
Clearly, Edison is a superb reader. He would read no matter what. But he really enjoys reading with Greg, because they can discuss the books, argue about them, examine them, and laugh at the good parts. Everybody Wins! Claremont school coordinator Toni Williams said they are incredible to watch. “They chatted about everything from fantasy to science to fishing; and they developed a real trust and friendship,” she said.
Mentor Greg Hardy said, “I found Everybody Wins! to be a true win-win proposition. I think I got as much out of the program as my mentee did, maybe even more. I loved reading to my own kids when they were young and this was a nice, nostalgic reminder.”
Edison’s mom, Kate, said Everybody Wins! has been a positive influence on Edison. “It gives him a connection and friendship with someone who enjoys reading as much as he does.” Having Greg as a mentor gives him “a great role model.”
They’ve had great conversations that got them into the whole Harry Potter series, she said. She added that Edison has a picture of himself with his mentor on his bedroom wall. “One-on-one is nice for Edison; I think it’s really good for him.”
“I really have a good time with Greg; he brings us books from home,” Edison said, to supplement the Everybody Wins! books at school. “I like school ok, but I’d rather sit in the school library all day and read.”
Bring the whole family out to hear DJ Craig Mitchell read silly and serious winter children’s stories! This is a free family event, and no RSVP is necessary.
Thursday December 14, 6 pm. Barnes & Noble (102 Dorset Street, S. Burlington).
DJ Craig Mitchell has won numerous Seven Daysies awards as a radio station and electronic DJ. Tonight he’ll show off his family side, reading stories to help us all delight in the winter season that’s upon us.
From the inside out, Kayla Zsido knows the difference that Everybody Wins! Vermont makes in the lives of children. When she was eight years old, she became an Everybody Wins! mentee at Rutland Intermediate School (RIS). From the moment she met her mentor, Sue Ahearn, Kayla’s confidence blossomed. “I always looked forward to that day,” she reflects. “It was just really fun!” She was struggling with reading, but the one-on-one attention she received from Sue gave her skills that she carries with her to this day. Now, she loves to read—and she’s passing that love of books on to another child. Continue reading “It was really fun being a mentee, and it’s even more fun being a mentor.”→
Everybody Wins! Vermont makes children’s lives better—and Beth Sightler is the first to tell you so. Everybody Wins! made a big change in her son Will’s life. “Will had been slow to read,” Beth recalls. “[His] teacher approached us; we found out he had a visual impairment in one of his eyes that we weren’t aware of. We thought he wouldn’t progress at a normal rate in school.” Then, Will joined the Everybody Wins! Vermont mentoring program, and everything changed. Continue reading “I got a higher reading level, and I think that was because of Jim.”→
“Our weekly reading period is a mental break for both of us. I find it rejuvenating to set aside my own concerns for an hour and put myself in the shoes of a ten year old.” Scott Silverstein is an Everybody Wins! mentor at the Waitsfield Elementary School. He has only glowing things to say about his ten- year-old mentee, Riley, and their relationship. Continue reading “Reading together is a mental break for both of us.”→
Tracy Lord moved from Georgia to Vermont in March of 2016 to be closer to her family—and found a rich connection to a child and reading community in Burlington. Tracy loves to read herself, loves kids, and had already been involved with an adult literacy program in Georgia. She had a strong desire to give back to children and her new community.
On Wednesday 11/15/17, Bluebird Barbecue will donate 10% of the entire evening’s sales to Everybody Wins! Vermont to support reading mentors in Chittenden County at J.J.Flynn, Edmunds, and Sustainability Academy at Lawrence Barnes in Burlington and the Shelburne Community School.
Make a reservation at Bluebird Barbecue to keep children reading with mentors in Chittenden County.
