Reading Buddies Bring Back 1,333 Books To Local Children

Student United Reading Buddies Partner With Goodwill Industries & Read early. Read often. 

On February 1st, 28 students and their advisors sorted through thousands of pounds of books at Goodwill Industries of West Michigan to bring back to our local community. In just 2 short hours, these students sorted, washed, labeled and packaged 1,333 books to be donated to Read early. Read often. and to be used for the new Reading Buddies program! Goodwill Industries recieves hundreds of thousands of pounds of books each year to sort. Goodwill generously donated these books, as long as the students were able to sort them. The students that were represented on this event include: 

  • Mona Shores Interact Club
  • Muskegon Public Schools 
  • Oakridge Interact Club
  • Orchard View Interact Club
  • Pathfinders of Muskegon

What Is Student United? 

Student United is a newly formed group at United Way of the Lakeshore that invites student clubs and organizations to come together once a month to work on local issues collaboratively across the county. This program has been launched because of the strong leadership of teens from the Mona Shores & Orchard View Interact Clubs that started a program called Reading Buddies at the Muskegon Livability Lab. Reading Buddies is completely student led and driven by strong-willed youth that want help increase early literacy in our community. 

Reading Buddies Program:  

We are looking for student volunteers who want to go and share their love of reading with kids! Reading Buddies read one-on-one with the children in our community. All volunteers are trained on the art of storytelling and have a blast volunteering locally. In order to be able to volunteer students will need to complete the first training, and background checks for their sites. 

What Do Reading Buddies Do:

  • We read to local children! 
  • We mentor and are a role model for our next generation 
  • We engage a diverse group of student leaders 
  • We have identified after school sites for reading buddy volunteers. 
  • We have involved leadership from other organizations including Pathfinders, Rotary, Muskegon Heights Academy, MAISD, and United Way
  • So far we have trained 17 students so that they can train their peers and be the first set of volunteers.
Want to know how you and your school can get involved? Contact us today at (231) 332 - 4006 or dominique@unitedwaylakeshore.org 

Students who have already completed traing and background checks can begin to volunteer at http://volunteer.unitedwaylakeshore.org/agency/detail/?agency_id=29422

Our Sites Include: 

  • Nelson Elementary 
  • Kingdom Embassy 
  • Paula Addison's Child Care
Are you a school, or a children's site that would like to become a Reading Buddies site? Contact our office today at (231) 332 - 4006 or dominique@unitedwaylakeshore.org