RE AD > LE AD > ACHIE VE®
Sharing the Love of Literacy Across Generations Since 2003, Pi Beta Phi literacy volunteers have served elementary students across the United States and Canada through the Champions are Readers® (CAR) reading enrichment program. Designed to create an interactive reading and mentoring relationship between Pi Phis and children from their local communities, CAR engages children in a positive reading experience and fosters a lifelong love of reading. More than two decades after its launch, CAR has become one of Pi Phi’s most successful and widely-implemented Read > Lead > Achieve® initiatives. CAR has helped thousands of students improve their reading skills through one-on-one interaction and hands-on activities — but they’re not the only ones who benefit. The Pi Phi alumnae clubs and chapters who implement CAR at local schools and nonprofit organizations recognize the program as a unique way to build and strengthen relationships across generations. Not only is CAR a way for members to share the love of reading with young people, but also an opportunity to invest in the future of their own communities. Just ask mother-daughter duo FAYE and VIRGINIA HOLLINGSWORTH, Mississippi Alphas. Both educators
and dedicated literacy volunteers, Faye and Virginia have been instrumental in helping the Jackson, Mississippi, Alumnae Club implement the CAR program locally. “After hosting a Fraternity Day of Service Signature Event in 2016, our club felt a desire to better serve our community,” Virginia said. “After evaluating the needs of Jackson-area nonprofits, we partnered with Bethlehem Center, which serves low-income families and individuals through affordable childcare, a counseling center and various community development initiatives.” During their first two years of implementing CAR at Bethlehem Center, club members read to children between the ages of three and five, selecting a new story each week. In 2018, they began working with a broader age range — and with a specific goal in mind. Children served by Bethlehem Center also attend classes in the Jackson Public School District. The Jackson club was able to provide the district’s required summer reading books for each student at Bethlehem Center. Members then read and discussed portions of the books with the students each week, and assisted older students writing book reports. “We particularly remember the excitement of the children receiving their own books,” Virginia recalled. “Many of the students would not have had a way to acquire the summer reading books, and therefore might have gone the entire summer without reading. As an educator, I feel the ‘summer gap’ can set back students up to a full year’s worth of reading growth if children aren’t exposed to books during the summer months.” Faye, who taught in Jackson Public Schools for 27 years, finds the importance of CAR in the true difference it makes in the lives of children. “Within our club area, there are schools that are struggling,” she said. “We know we’re making an impact by implementing CAR in the areas of greatest need.”
Members of the Jackson, Mississippi, Alumnae Club work with local students participating in the Champions are Readers (CAR) program.
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Virginia agreed, citing her longtime connection to area schools. “Participating in CAR has taken me back to the school district I graduated from, and I’m able to share my passion for reading with the students there now,” she said. “My family has a long history with Jackson schools. My grandmother was a principal in the district for 15 years. It’s so fulfilling to give both my time and love of literacy to the school district that has given so much to me.”
