GIVERS
The Read and Feed RV parked at Poe Elementary School
AN APPETITE FOR WORDS Read and Feed provides meals and mentoring to local youth by ADDIE LADNER photography by TYLER CUNNINGHAM
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ou may have noticed an RV parked in neighborhoods across Wake County with a picture of a cheeseburger sandwiched between two books on the exterior. No, it’s not an extra-quirky family heading out of town—that camper is actually one of local nonprofit Read and Feed’s classrooms-on-wheels. Founded in 2007 by Wake County school volunteer Jan Frantz, the Read and Feed RVs park in low-income neighborhoods to deliver the gifts of words and warm meals to over 600 children annually. Frantz came up with the idea for a mobile classroom when she noticed that many of the kids she tutored couldn’t access afterschool resources due to transportation issues. Those issues were keeping their literacy skills from improving as they should, and what’s more, those kids were often from low-income families struggling to put food on the table. Her solution? Go to the kids. “Jan essentially created a mobile classroom. She noticed
50 | WALTER
that these children were coming from the working poor and so she decided to feed them too,” says Kati Mullan, executive director at Read and Feed. The need for a program like Read and Feed in Wake County is great: Last year, over 58 percent of Wake County’s low-income third-graders failed to read at grade level, and nearly 40 percent of elementary school-aged children are on low-or reduced-priced lunches. Teachers refer students to the program who are identified as at risk for falling below grade-level reading or who are in need of tutoring. “There is a direct correlation between children who are low-income and children who are not reading at grade level,” says Mullan. Read and Feed’s impact aims to put a dent in those numbers. Mullan credits the organization’s success to the hundreds of volunteers, community sponsors and fellow nonprofits who support their mission. Many of the Read and Feed sites are in food deserts, and groups like
