MANSFIELD — When Rhonda Pore steps into a classroom, she reads a story just like she would with her own grandchildren.
Pore, a member of Altrusa International’s Mansfield chapter, is a volunteer for the club’s ‘1st Read to Succeed’ initiative.
Each month, Altrusa volunteers visit first grade classrooms across Richland County’s nine public school districts to read a book. Afterward, each student gets a copy of a different book to take home.
Pore said volunteers get to choose the book they read to the class. Her most recent selection was “If You Take a Mouse to the Movies,” a story about a mouse and a boy who take in a show, decorate a Christmas tree and make a snowman.
As she read the story, Pore took time to ask students about their own experiences at the movie theater and playing in the snow.
“They’re very eager to interact with you,” Pore said. “I tried to include them in every part of the story that we talked about.”
Altrusa members kicked off 1st Read to Succeed in October and will continue the program through April. The initiative was spearheaded by Kelly Holder, a former teacher at Lexington Schools.
Holder came up with the idea after hearing a friend talk about teachers using their own money to buy books for students in need.
“Then I was talking to my son about it and he had said that one of his high school friends was a teacher at a nearby elementary school and that she needed some books for her students,” Holder said.
“As a teacher, I would watch students in different situations not receive things in the classroom when others did and it broke my heart. If we can eliminate children from feeling this way at such a crucial learning time, we need to do it.”
Holder said that by the end of the school year, the chapter will have given away approximately 8,5000 books to Richland County first graders. She hopes to keep the program going next year and expand into private schools as well.
Pore said the program is a win-win for Altrusa members and schools.
“What is fun is for us to establish and build this relationship with the children,” she said.
“The second time was even more fun because the kids recognized who we were and were excited to see us. We had made that connection with them.”
