History

Started in 2004 at the request of the Coachella Valley Unified School District Superintendent of Schools, Roberta and Clay Klein started a fund at the Desert Community Foundation and asked the pastor of their church for his assistance in recruiting volunteers. Father Howard Lincoln of Sacred Heart Church readily agreed. The District had been using English speaking volunteers to the extent, they could get them to go into the schools in the district that had no English speaking people in the community. Roberta asked the Superintendent if he would provide buses if they could recruit volunteers who were fluent in English through churches and other organizations.

Read With Me was born and now brings volunteers from seven churches to five different schools. The schools are all in areas of high poverty with a majority of the parents untrained in academic English. They love their children but cannot help them with English.

In 2013, Read With Me received a Golden Bell Award for English Acquisition from the California School Board Association. We believe the program is totally replicable in other areas that face similar challenges in providing tutoring and mentoring for disadvantaged children in a classroom setting.

What we do

In the classroom, the teacher assigns individual volunteers to selected students to listen to them read, assisting them with pronunciation and comprehension. The mentor/tutors are typically retired part-time Coachella Valley residents, some with special skills who help specific students go beyond the basic.

Read With Me

A Golden Bell award for English Acquisition by the California School Board Association.

Volunteer Programs

Click here to make a tax deductible contribution

Make Checks Payable to:

Read With Me Volunteers

P.O. Box 1016, Rancho Mirage, Ca 92270

We are accepting new and returning volunteers to tutor 100% remotely.

Read WIth Me is setting up training centers to help teach volunteers to work with students remotely with the help of their teachers. We will have social distancing and safety measures in place at each location. We will train in-person starting in October 2020 and then offer phone training for our long-distance volunteers in the future. Please contact us for more info.

HOPE LUTHERAN CHURCH

45-900 Portola Avenue, Palm Desert, CA 92260

http://hopelutheran.church

SAUL MARTINEZ ELEMENTARY, MECCA

65705 Johnson St., Mecca, CA 92254

Coordinator: Horst Engel

Email: readwithmehorst@gmail.com

Bus picks up at the church at 43775 Deep Canyon Rd., Palm Desert, CA 92260.

Pick up is in the parking lot in front of the church entrance.

Tuesdays,Wednesdays & Thursdays.

Please arrive by 8:10am

Bus departs at 8:20am and departs the school at 11:15am. Returns to Sacred Heart by 11:45am.

NOTE: All volunteers please be out of the classroom and back to the bus on time for the return departure

Volunteers go to:

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History

Read With Me

A Golden Bell award for English Acquisition by the California School Board Association.

Volunteer Programs

Click here to make a tax deductible contribution

Make Checks Payable to:

Read With Me Volunteers

P.O. Box 1016, Rancho Mirage, Ca 92270

We are accepting new and returning volunteers to tutor 100% remotely.

HOPE LUTHERAN CHURCH

45-900 Portola Avenue, Palm Desert, CA 92260

http://hopelutheran.church

Volunteers go to:

Saul Martinez Elementary

Welcome RWM Volunteers

HOPE LUTHERAN CHURCH

45-900 Portola Avenue, Palm Desert, CA 92260

http://hopelutheran.church

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Volunteers go to:

Saul Martinez Elementary

Welcome RWM Volunteers