Reading with Friends becomes Project Transformation
For the past three years, FUMCWF has hosted a summer reading program called Reading with Friends, a four-week summer reading program for students first through fifth grade that aims to build self-confidence and self-awareness through one-on-one literacy engagement, creative art, and recreational play and exercise. This program brought in 30-40 children from local elementary schools Booker T. Washington and Scotland Park to work on their reading skills, and to have some fun while doing it! Sarah Pellikan designed this program after Project Transformation (PT), where she worked for several summers as a “member” (college-age intern) and was so impressed that she wanted to do something similar here in Wichita Falls. As a second-grade teacher at Booker T., she saw firsthand how children were losing their reading skills over the summer, so she worked with volunteers at FUMCWF and put together her version of PT.
Project Transformation operates free eight-week summer literacy programs serving children in neighborhoods throughout North Texas. Each day, children read one-on-one with community volunteers and participate in activity-based literacy intervention. Children also participate in daily enrichment activities including recreational play and exercise, creative arts, and interaction with young adults and community volunteers, who inspire and encourage youth daily to make responsible, sound decisions.
Over the past few months, we have been having conversations with the leadership of Project Transformation and decided to apply to be an official PT site for the summer of 2024. We are very excited to announce that FUMCWF has been approved! So, this Summer, Reading with Friends will become Project Transformation.
What Will Change?
What will change? Most importantly, the children will be coming for an 8-week program (all of June and July). By joining PT and extending the program (from four to eight weeks), we will have more time and resources to engage with the children of our community and foster a love for reading. Since Julia Lamberth has continued to grow and improve the Children’s Library in the Rec Lobby over the last year, the church has a welcoming environment to bring young students into this summer.
We will also be expanding our volunteer base, asking all of the other local United Methodist churches to join us in this endeavor. Sarah, who directed Reading with Friends for the last three years, stresses the important role that volunteers play in the program: “The biggest impact this program has on the students is that they see encouraging volunteers who see the importance of reading… [This helps] students realize that reading is not just something they do for school or to learn, but a way to connect with others and build community.”
Volunteers can sign up to read with a child Monday-Thursday, 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Volunteers may also sign up to help with dinner for Members on a Sunday, Monday, or Thursday, and to help with our Family Fun Nights (June 27 and July 18).
We are very excited about the possibilities opened up by becoming a PT site. All of the hiring of local staff, registration of children and volunteers, writing of curriculum, and more will now be handled by the amazing staff at PT.
Information to sign up as a Project Transformation volunteer or to apply to be a Member (open to all college majors) is now available online.