Chestnut Ridge doubles down on Right to Read Week

Every year Chestnut Ridge School goes all-in on creating an exciting venue surrounding Right to Read Week, enticing students to dive into a good book and invest time reading, thus increasing knowledge and learning skills.

This year the school really doubled down, investing its week into not only the purpose of reading, but also instilling the ideal of serving others while at the same time showing the students the importance of community service and involvement.

Oh, and the kids also put in a great effort in trying to teach goats how to read.

In creating a week filled with reading opportunities and fun-filled events, the school leadership also teamed up with The Reckoning International, a nonprofit organization designed to work with poverty-stricken countries to make positive, lasting changes.

The goal of The Reckoning is to create opportunities for the poor and marginalized around the globe to become self-sufficient through micro-financing and training.

In this instance Chestnut Ridge reached out to community businesses to seek sponsorships for the kids, matching pennies per page read up to $3,200, which will provide funds that will purchase goats that will be sent to Uganda, where they will help create a source of income and hopefully prosperity.

With the Right to Read theme of “Super Kids,” it appropriately stood for both the kids in school and the kid baby goats that were brought in for a day courtesy of David Shetler, owner of DS Welding, which also raises goats.

“Right to Read Week has always been an important week for us at Chestnut Ridge,” Principal JT Luneborg said. “It is a year-end celebration, and this year the idea of making it something where we can impact others in a positive way is exciting.”

Chestnut Ridge third-grade teacher Launie Shaw was instrumental in getting the ball rolling on the dual-purpose week, connecting with both The Reckoning and Shetler, who has two children at the school.

She said raising money through reading for such a noble purpose is something the students should be proud of being an integral part.

“I was reading about the concept, and it kind of all came together, and the kids were so excited about the opportunity to share with people in need,” Shaw said.

In addition to bringing the key components together, Shaw also connected with several area businesses that opted to support the effort including ProVia, Harvest Thrift Store, Mission Thrift Store and Lehman’s, all of which will contribute to the project, paying a penny a page up to a certain limit.

On the final day of Right to Read Week, Shaw said the school will unveil the total amount raised and present The Reckoning with the check. Several representatives from the participating businesses will be in attendance.

“We felt that showing the students the community support was an important part of the process,” Shaw said. “This is a life-changing thing for those who receive the goats.”

Tim and Christina Yoder, who operate The Reckoning, will see the process through and promised to take plenty of pictures overseas and bring them to the school next fall for a presentation.

In addition to the purpose behind the event, there was plenty of fun including a visit from Daisy, Sammy, Oscar and Chester, four goat kids from the Shetler farm.

Classes took turns entering the pen to read to and pet the goats, which provided plenty of cute moments as the kids cuddled with the kids.

“They were so excited about these goats coming,” Shaw said.

In addition, the school received a visit from the Dunklies, a missionary family serving in Uganda, who provided a puppet show and shared with the students.

“They also talked about how these mission funds support people overseas and how missions can make a great impact,” Shaw said.

“Super Kids” proved to be an invaluable week for many reasons, which made this year’s event both educational and doubly worthwhile.

“This type of effort speaks of our Chestnut Ridge community and the entire East Holmes community in general,” Luneborg said. “I think this helps keep the idea of giving to others in the forefront to our kids while at the same time it shows them that there is a commitment from our local businesses to step in and support them and the schools as well as families halfway across the world.”