This week we’re turning three. That’s right – it’s been three years since we sent our first volunteer into school!
What have we been up to since then?
It has been a whirlwind but thanks to our tiny team who work round the clock, we now support more than 30 primary schools across Gloucestershire and have a 200 strong team of dedicated volunteers. Our service would cease to exist without the generosity of our volunteers, so we want to thank each and every one who spares their time to hear children read.
It’s not always been a smooth ride – we’ve had a pandemic to deal with and we’re all aware of the price that primary school children and teachers have paid. However, every reading session has helped to make things a little bit better and put children back on track.
We also want to thank our partners for supporting our work: Gloucestershire Gateway Trust, Gloucester Community Foundation, Gideon and Cathy at the Cotswold Book Room, Summerfield Charitable Trust, Magnox Ltd and Richard and Jennifer Waite. Without their support and guidance Read With Me would not be where it is today. Unfortunately, we can’t thank everyone here – or this would soon become a novel! However, we’re extremely grateful to everyone who has helped us over the years, in any way, big or small.
Looking Forward
Although it’s great to celebrate what we have achieved in such a short time, we must continue looking towards the future. As the demand for our service grows, we need to scale our provision to help more children learn to read well. This means more volunteers, more administrative capacity and more funding. It certainly won’t be easy but we’re up for the challenge!
If you want to help us reach our goal, here are three ways you can get involved:
- Volunteer to hear a child read in one of our partner schools. Or spread the word about volunteering to someone who may be interested!
- Support us by sponsoring our Team 10K in running the Gloucester 10K at the end of June at https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/readwithmegloucester10k.
- Donate any pre-loved children’s books so that we can ensure ever child in Gloucestershire has access to free books!
