Everyone will find something new and fun to read aloud at the 14th Annual National Life Read-A-Thon on Saturday January 26th from 1 to 3:30 pm!
Will it snow? We don’t know! But we do know that there will be lots of books for everyone at the Read-A-Thon. Join us at the National Life cafeteria, 1 National Life Drive in Montpelier.
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 devour Post Office Cafe cookies and milk while you sing along with Jon Gailmor.
Every child picks a free, brand-new book to take home!
Children of all ages are welcome with an adult! Come as you are on the spur of the moment; no sign-up is necessary.
The Read-A-Thon is a free community event generously supported by National Life Group.
For the 11th year, Everybody Wins! Vermont will join the Catamount Trail Association‘s Race to the Top of Vermont on Sunday August 26, to support reading mentors at 23 schools around the state. Join our team and keep children reading!
The 2017 Everybody Wins! team raised over $31,000, including a generous match from the Jack and Dorothy Byrne Foundation.
The Race to the Top is one of our favorite days of the year! It’s a great day to climb Vermont’s highest mountain and the atmosphere is always festive. Just take a look at these faces from last year’s finish line:
Edmunds Elementary coordinator Wanda Stetson’s family at the top.Board member Jeff Austin and his FairPoint colleague Kim Atkinson.
There are three ways to support Everybody Wins! Vermont at the 2018 Race to the Top:
Hike, run, or bike up the Mount Mansfield Toll Road (4.3 miles and 2564 feet of ascent).
Help us staff the water break halfway to the top (no hiking or running involved!).
Children can join the Kids’ Fun Run at noon at the bottom of the mountain.
Use Everybody Wins! special code for a discounted registration fee of $30. The fee includes the race, a tech t-shirt, a raffle ticket (for fabulous prizes), and a ticket to the BBQ afterwards. (Water stop volunteers don’t have to register for the race, but do pay for the BBQ).
We will bring support cars to the summit so our team can ride down if your knees are complaining.
Former Board president Beth Fastiggi and Deb Shearer.
Everybody Wins! team members agree to raise pledges for Everybody Wins! Vermont from July 30 to the Race day. We have a dedicated Race fundraising page and we will help our team set up individual fundraising pages, and publicize the race and the fundraisers. You can see last year’s Race page by clicking here. Scroll down to see the individual fundraising pages of last year’s team.
You can dedicate your fundraising to a specific Everybody Wins! site, or raise money for our general fund, which benefits all the sites. Either one makes a big difference!
Board president Paul Rosenberg at the top
In 2016 we raised $8,382. In 2017 we raised $31,547. The Race to the Top is on a roll, and with your help, we can make it even more successful in 2018. Every penny goes to keep children reading with their mentors all school year long.
Come Race with us! For more information, contact Beth at info@everybodywinsvermont.org or 802-229-2665.
Champ at the Montpelier Read-A-Thon giving a high five to some young fans.
The Vermont Lake Monsters’ Champ loves to read, and we love to watch the Lake Monsters play at Centennial Field!
We’re going to the Vermont Lake Monsters on Sunday July 1, and we hope you’ll come too! Game time is 5:05 pm, and gates open at 4 pm. Look for our display near the gates and come say hi!
Join us for a free First Thursday concert with Steve Hartmann at the Shelburne Vineyard: Thursday May 3rd, 6–9 pm.
This family-friendly concert is free. Dinner will be available from Luiza’s Homemade. First Thursday concerts are a great time to sample the latest vintages from Shelburne Vineyard and maybe take a bottle or two home.
Consolidated Communications presents the Second Annual South Burlington Community Read-A-Thon on Monday March 5, from 1 to 3:30 pm.
Reading together at the Read-A-Thon!
Looking for something to do the Monday before town meeting? Come to the Consolidated Communications South Burlington Community Read-A-Thon, hosted by Everybody Wins! Vermont and the South Burlington Public Library!
Monday, March 5: 1 to 3:30 pm
At the South Burlington Public Library in the University Mall at the Bon Ton end, 115 Dorset Street.
Get out of the cold or the slush and come explore hundreds of books at this FREE family event hosted by Everybody Wins! Vermont and the South Burlington Public Library and sponsored by Consolidated Communications. Read books aloud with family and friends to enter for fabulous prizes from Phoenix Books. Have a snack. Shimmy along with Vermont legend Jon Gailmor. Every child chooses a free book to take home!
Children of all ages welcome with an adult. Come as you are–no sign-up is necessary! For more information, email info@everybodywinsvermont.org, or call the South Burlington Public Library at 802-846-4140.
Big Fatty’s BBQ in White River Junction is hosting a special benefit night for Everybody Wins! at the White River School in Hartford on Thursday February 22nd from 5–9 pm. Come along to enjoy “the south in your mouth” and help support Everybody Wins! Vermont’s largest and busiest reading site, with 100 mentors reading to children each week.
Join us for dinner: Big Fatty’s BBQ,186 So Main Street, White River Junction—or call for take out, 802-295-5513. See you at the barbeque!
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.”
