SMART Volunteer Sue has been reading with kids for over a decade! Here’s what she has to say about her experience, including going remote in 2020 and getting back in schools in 2022.
I started volunteering for SMART back in 2012, a year after I retired. I love reading and enjoy being around elementary age children. I found SMART Reading! My only regret is that I didn’t find SMART Reading before I retired!
What I found at SMART, as a Volunteer, reading with students from grades K-3 was heartwarming and magical. To see a child enjoy time with books and with this caring adult was magical for me. Then, March of 2020 happened! It went from being projected to be a 2 week pause, to almost 2 years “remote” due to COVID. I still volunteered with SMART, reading with students in the virtual formats during that period, because we could not volunteer in person at sites. Virtual was great but it did not match the experience of the One-to-One SMART Reading format.
NOW in 2022 we are back, in some sites, with One-to-One SMART Reading, and let me tell you, the experience is almost beyond words. Witnessing the smiles, the laughter, the wonder and curiosity these kiddos find in the books and the time they share with their reader volunteers is again heartwarming and magical! The books represent a mirror to their lives, a window to see the world and sources of information, imagination and sometimes just pure joy!
If you have an hour of time to volunteer with SMART Reading, please consider it. SMART Reading will find a site that is close to your home or work. A site that fits your day and time availability and will find substitute readers to cover if you need to take time away from volunteering for whatever reason.
Learn more about volunteering with SMART: smartreading.org/volunteer