Our Friends (professional mentors) read with children in pre-K through second grade across Imbler, Union, and La Grande. Here's where that happens, and who's helping.

Up on the second floor of First Presbyterian Church, in the corner of our Clubhouse, there's a little reading tent. A lot of you helped put it there. It went up in January, along with the chairs and books around it, all from folks who shopped our wish list.

This fall, the shelves around that tent filled right up, thanks to the Alpha Rho Foundation. They're Oregon educators, members of Delta Kappa Gamma, who started their foundation so teachers could help make learning better anywhere in the state. Their grant brought in new books, art supplies, and STEAM kits, so every child who comes up those stairs has something to build, draw, or read within reach. We're so grateful they chose us.

Still, the Clubhouse is only a small part of where our kids learn to read.

Most of the reading happens wherever their Friend is. Our Friends are paid professionals, not volunteers, and they're with each child every week, at home, at school, and around town. They sit in on class, stop by Cook Memorial Library after school, and read whatever's in front of them, together.

At this age, reading is how the world starts to make sense for our youth. The sign at the pool. Their name on a cubby. The note that comes home in a backpack.

Sounding out a word in front of someone takes nerve. Children take that chance with people they know are on their side. Every fall brings a new teacher. They'll have a Friend in their corner from pre-kindergarten through high school graduation, 12+ years, no matter what.

This summer, we had help from the Reading Clinic at Eastern Oregon University. Twice a week, graduate students working toward their master's in education climbed those same stairs and spent their summer mornings reading with our kids (read about the summer). Neesha saw the difference when school started:

"Our youth are absolutely going into school more prepared than they would have without this partnership."
Neesha Turner, Executive Director

The Reading Clinic is a nonprofit locally at EOU, working to make sure every child becomes a confident, capable reader. They train teachers, run reading and writing clinics, and put families at the center of all of it. We're excited to share that they're staying with us through the end of the year!

Starting in October, every child in our program is invited to a family book club at Cook Memorial Library, with their parents or caregivers and their brothers and sisters, too. We'll meet in October and November, take December to see what families loved and what to change, and pick back up in January. The Reading Clinic brings the book and the dinner, so it's a night off from cooking. Their team shows parents and caregivers what reading together can look like, and families try it right there at the table. Now the people who read at bedtime and at the kitchen table have the book, the evening, and a team beside them.

Our Friends are learning too. Starting in December, the Reading Clinic will train our Friends every month on how to see where each child is with reading, follow their progress, and talk it through with families. Everything they pick up there goes with them into every classroom, library stop, and living room.

Thank you to the Reading Clinic for all of it, and to the donors and partners who keep their work going. In a town this size, a lot of them are ours too. If that's you, thank you twice. And thank you to Cook Memorial Library for opening up your Community Room to our families.

Our partners bring the books, the dinners, and the know-how. Gifts from right here in Union County keep a Friend beside each of these children every week, at the Clubhouse on Washington and everywhere else they go.

September is National Literacy Month, and our youth are spending it reading their way into a new school year.