Read to a Child surpasses 1,000 children participating in the Read Aloud Mentoring Program.

Read to a Child is thrilled to report that it is ending the school year 2023-24 with more than 1,075 students participating in the Read Aloud Mentoring Program! This is the first time we have hit this significant milestone of over 1,000 students served since COVID resulted in dramatic reductions and a subsequent rebuilding of Read to a Child's flagship program. In achieving this goal, we have served our students by meeting our mentors "where they are," adding a Zoom-based component to the program and enabling mentors to dial in from home or work and/or read to their mentees in-person at our 32 partner schools. With so many students and mentors now participating in this program, our year-end celebrations are particularly vibrant. We want to take a moment and thank the numerous staff members and stakeholders who have worked tirelessly to achieve this level of service and support as well as share some of the photos from year-end celebrations and program graduations occurring now across the country.

Please meet Lillian and Alondra from

Whittemore Elementary School!

For over 20 years, Lillian Santangelo has been a volunteer reading mentor at the Whittemore Elementary School in Waltham, MA, and currently reads with Alondra.

Lillian is a Waltham native who has been passionate about reading since she was young, "Our mom was a teacher so reading and learning was a big part of family life growing up. I made a New Year's Resolution in 1981 to read a book a week and I have kept that resolution for over 40 years."

Not only a volunteer mentor, Lillian is a generous and impactful donor to the program in Waltham. When asked about what she loves about Read to a Child, Lillian said, "Without a doubt, participating with Read to a Child is the best 30 minutes I spend every week. I'd like to take on more reading partners than one per week but that will have to wait until I retire!"

We are so grateful to volunteers like Lillian who are reversing the literacy crisis and making a difference in a child's life!

We are so grateful for our partnership with Guru Krupa which has allowed us to bring these meaningful improvements to our program for our ELL students. All of these improvements will make a difference in Read to a Child's ability to reach our ELL students to foster their love of reading, improve their literacy skills, and support their socio-emotional well-being.

Boston Trivia Night 2024!

Our Annual Boston Team Trivia Night was held on May 9th at Game On! It was a great night that was a lot of fun and raised over $15,000 for the Read Aloud Mentoring Program. Thank you to all of the corporate and community teams who participated in a night of competitive trivia. Game On! was buzzing with energy, which was particularly fitting for our winning team, The Killer Bees. Congratulations for taking home the Trivia Cup!

Thank you also to all of our wonderful in-kind donors who donated items for our raffle. We are especially grateful to our sponsors for their support of this event!

Susan Parekh

JP Morgan Chase

National Board of Directors

Cynthia Zervos

Bloomfield Hills Schools

Metro Detroit Board of Advisors

Michael Burke

BNY Mellon

Greater Boston Board of Advisors

Dan Le

Acadian Asset Management

Greater Boston Board of Advisors

Thank you for supporting our March Online Campaign--we raised over $170,000!

Thank You to Our Visionary Sponsors

Thank You to Our Champion Sponsors