PORTLAND, Ore. — Distance learning has been a challenge for a lot of school districts and families out there.
But the nonprofit SMART (Start Making a Reader Today) has been working to help kids stay excited about reading despite school closures during the pandemic.
Walter McCarthy is eight years old and is in second grade. Like any other kid, he loves his toys. But he also loves reading.
His mom, Jennie McCarthy said SMART has instilled a love of books in her son.
“He loves humor and he loves nonfiction,” said McCarthy.
Before schools closed, once a week he would read with a SMART volunteer. That enabled him to build a connection with another caring adult, which McCarthy said helped Walter with his anxiety.
“The SMART volunteers are really meaningful for the kids who need a little more love,” McCarthy said.
“This year there were 5,000 volunteers who were going into the schools to work with almost 11,000 students before everything came to a screeching halt,” said Chris Otis, Executive Director of SMART.
But even with schools closed, SMART has still been able to get more than 10,000 books to kids in the last month.
“They’ve gone out when families have come for meal pick up or down south in Klamath County there was a bus driver delivering homework packages so SMART books went out there,” Otis said.
Throughout the pandemic, while SMART has continued its work, like many other nonprofits, it has also missed out on fundraising events across Oregon.
But this weekend, SMART is looking to raise money in a creative way.
“It’s our first-ever virtual Read-a-Thon and it’s titled Oregon Reads Aloud, in testament to the book we published a couple of years ago celebrating our 25th anniversary,” said Otis.
On Saturday, starting at 10 a.m., there will be 12-hours straight of people reading children’s books aloud over a YouTube live stream.
Some of the faces will include Oregon Governor Kate Brown, the Portland Trail Blazers’ CJ McCollum and Timber Joey with the Portland Timbers.
The goal is to raise $30,000 to help SMART with its mission, to get kids engaged in reading, excited about it and wanting to read.
Parents like McCarthy are grateful for the program and the volunteers that have connected with her son through books.
“It means a lot so I just want to say thank you to all of them and can’t wait until next year until you come back,” said McCarthy.
Right now it’s unclear what school will look like come next fall so SMART is coming up with a number of different plans to keep kids engaged and amped up about reading and books.
Click here for more information on the SMART Read-aThon.
The 12-hour read-aloud event will be streamed over YouTube starting at 10 a.m. on Saturday.
But if you can't tune in for all the live reading, you can also donate.