RES Readers Earned $$$
For Heifer International

Students at Randolph Elementary School read up a fundraising storm during "I Love To Read Month" in February.

As part of this year’s annual reading challenge, students and staff members earned money to donate to Heifer International for every hour they read.

According to RES Librarian Dale Gasque, the school’s readers earned $1618 for 3843 hours of reading during the "Read To Feed" drive. That was enough to buy four llamas and two heifers, via the non-profit, Heifer International (HI). Six families around the world will each receive an animal, Gasque said.

Funds came from businesses, organizations, and families in the area who agreed to sponsor the event.

Gasque said that students were excited to learn about Heifer International’s work to help the world’s hungry, by providing families with a young farm animal to raise.

During the month-long drive, kids kept track of their reading hours on "animal fact" cards that described each of the 10 different animals that the non-profit provides.

Each time readers handed in a completed time card, they got to vote on what kind of animal they wanted the school to give. Llamas and heifers were the winning choices.

Gasque said she was pleased to infuse this year’s challenge with a "global purpose." In the past, she noted, students earned little prizes for their reading hours.

The Read To Feed theme engaged students of all ages, she said, who not only read books for a good cause, but who were also eager to learn about how Heifer International works with families around the world.