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Read to Feed still going strong

Amanda Holt MillerPost Independent Staff
Submitted Photo From left, Katie Barnes, Madison Hill and third-grade teacher Margie Hall show what some of the money raised during Read to Feed will buy.
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SILT – Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he’ll never be hungry again. That’s the principle Roy Moore Elementary School students apply each year in their annual Read to Feed event.”The kids vote on what sort of animals to buy,” said Jenny Zetah, an English Language Learners teacher at Roy Moore, who organizes the event. “Instead of just giving money, the Heifer International Program gives people livestock and teaches them how to care for it.”Each month the kids at Roy Moore are given an incentive for reading – a pizza party or little rewards. But in February they collect pledges from their parents and grandparents and family friends. The more they read, the more money the school raises.

The money goes to the Heifer Program in an effort to stop hunger everywhere – including the United States.This year, Roy Moore students raised more money than ever before – more than $5,500.”I keep expecting the kids to get bored with it,” Zetah said. “But they never do. Every year they get really excited about it, and they read more than ever.”Over the last four years, since Roy Moore began participating in the Read to Feed program, Roy Moore has contributed more than $18,000 to the program.

It’s not just about reading either, Zetah said. Once the students have done their reading and raised their money, they have to come together to make decisions about what sort of animals they want to buy.After they complete that democratic process, the kids present to each other what they decided to do with their money.One grade voted to buy a milk menagerie of dairy cows, water buffaloes and goats – all animals that produce milk. They wore milk mustaches at the school assembly and presented to their classmates their plan to buy milk-producing animals.



“It’s a great program,” Zetah said.Contact Amanda Holt Miller: 945-8515, ext. 529ahmiller@postindependent.com


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