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35 More "Real Men" Needed for Volunteer Reading Program PDF Print E-mail
Tuesday, 03 February 2009 01:00
Allen County Commissioner Bill Brown and dozens of local leaders are asking 35 more men to join them and volunteer for the reading project called Real Men Read. Real Men Read is part of Learn United – a community effort to close the third grade reading achievement gap, or the gap between those who can and those who cannot read at grade level.

Learn United is lead by United Way of Allen County and the Allen County Education Partnership; Fort Wayne Community Schools, East Allen County Schools and the Greater Fort Wayne Chamber of Commerce are all Learn United partners.

"Real Men Read is a simple and fun way to do something incredibly important for our community," said Commissioner Brown. "If we can promote the love of reading and help local students excel in school, we will build a stronger community for everyone."

Forty percent of local low-income third graders cannot read at grade level – that amounts to approximately 1,100 students every year. The goal of Learn United is to ensure that all Allen County third graders can read at grade level and have the start in life they need to be successful. Learn United is primarily an effort to link thousands of local volunteers with struggling readers. Real Men Read is just one project of Learn United; other volunteer opportunities include Study Connection, Lunch Buddies and more. Any resident interested in volunteering to help struggling readers should visit www.LearnUnited.org and browse the many opportunities which include, but are not limited to, Real Men Read.

Real Men Read aims to raise the reading level of all third-graders, but especially third-grade boys. Studies show that more than half of low-income Allen County third-grade boys cannot read at grade level. The goal of Real Men Read is to match one male volunteer with each third grade classroom in Fort Wayne Community Schools and East Allen County Schools within the next two weeks. The volunteers will begin in the classrooms on March 12. Real Men Read currently has about 110 volunteers and needs 35 more.

"Sometimes our society sends the wrong message to young boys," said Brent Wake, volunteer co-chair of Real Men Read. "Boys are often taught that reading is not cool, and only sports heroes should be emulated. We hope Real Men Read changes some of those impressions and helps Allen County boys see that a good education is essential to being successful and responsible."

Volunteering is simple. After a background check and a one-hour training session, volunteers will visit their classroom once a month in March, April and May to read a book with the children. They will talk about how important and fun reading can be. Those volunteers wanting to participate again in the 2009-2010 school year will volunteer two months in the fall and three months in the spring.

"We just started recruiting for Real Men Read within the last few weeks and we have had a tremendous response," said J.J. Foster, volunteer co-chair of Real Men Read. "Our community is filled with many people who want to make a difference and I'm confident we'll have all the volunteers we need in time to start our work in the classrooms."

Anyone wanting to volunteer should log onto www.LearnUnited.org or call Jamie Garwood at United Way of Allen County at 260.422.4776. People can also participate by sponsoring books for the classes.  $150 sponsors a class and just $2 sponsors a book.  Three-thousand students will receive a total of 9,000 books through Real Men Read.