CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS – To promote early childhood literacy, volunteers with United Way of the Coastal Bend visited local preschools and elementary schools to read to children in celebration of Read Across America Day.
Launched in 1998 by the National Education Association (NEA) and guided by a committee of educators, Read Across America is the nation’s largest celebration of reading. The program focuses on motivating children and teens to read through events, partnerships, and reading resources that are about everyone, for everyone.
Local volunteers wore costumes or dressed as popular characters and read stories to more than 1,100 children at elementary schools and child development centers.
Schools and development centers that participated in this year’s event were:
- David Crockett Elementary School
- Elgin Neighborhood Centers of Corpus Christi
- Flour Bluff Early Childhood Center
- George Evans Elementary School
- Gollihar Neighborhood Center
- John F. Kennedy Elementary School
- Marguerite Neighborhood Center
- Molina Neighborhood Center
- Moses Menger Elementary School
- Oak Park Elementary School
- Rose Shaw Elementary School
- Sam Houston Elementary School
- Weldon Gibson Elementary School
- Zavala Elementary School
“Nearly half of the children who live in Nueces County are not developmentally prepared to enter Kindergarten,” said Sherry Peterson, Success By 6 Director at United Way of the Coastal Bend. “By bringing volunteers into the classroom, we hope to demonstrate the importance of reading and foster a love of reading in the lives of our children.”
United Way of the Coastal Bend would like to thank its volunteers from the following organizations for making this year’s event a success: AEP Texas, Bay Ltd., Chemours, City of Corpus Christi, KCS Public Relations, Kleberg Bank, NavyArmy Community Credit Union, NuStar Energy, Turner Industries, Valero Corpus Christi Refineries, and Women United of the Coastal Bend.