California Giant Berry Farms helps literacy program
Watsonville, Calif.-based California Giant Berry Farms is providing funding to help literacy efforts for Hispanic families in Salinas and south Monterey County.
The company recently provided $1,500 for implementing Read to Me Project in three classrooms during the 2016-17 school year, according to a news release.
The Read to Me Project is a non-profit organization dedicated to help literacy efforts among underserved Hispanic families in the region, according to the release. The money given by Cal Giant will help meet program costs including materials, books and classroom and student coordination, according to the release.
"We believe so strongly in empowering kids to be agents of change and, more importantly, the opportunity to learn from each other," Cindy Jewell, Cal Giant's vice president of marketing, said in the release. "Reaching kids at a young age to help them teach each other is so powerful both for the chance to lead and the other to have a peer mentor."
The Read to Me Project is reaching low-income, Latino children in their homes, according to the release. The vision and goal of the group is to close the achievement gap by preparing every child to enter kindergarten ready to succeed.
Read to Me project founder Barbara Greenway said in the release she appreciates California Giant's enthusiastic involvement with the program.
"With the support of local business leaders, Read to Me Project's unique delivery model provides the entire family with the knowledge and skills they need to break the cycle of generational low-literacy, allowing underserved families to pursue dreams, ambitions and opportunities and to build stronger and more vibrant communities," she said in the release.
