Our Impact

93

93% of parents say their child is a stronger reader

1180

Read and Feed serves approximately 1180 children each year with high-impact tutoring and book distributions.

39000

Read and Feed provides over 39,000 books annually to children in the program.

The Need is Apparent

3rd grade reading proficiency is the most important predictor of high school graduation and career success

Last year, more than 58% of Wake County’s low-income 3rd grade children failed to read at grade level.

In the 2019-20 school year, more than 33% of the elementary school children in Wake County receive free or reduced lunches.

The Solution is Too

Read and Feed partners with local, Wake County schools to identify children at risk and below reading level. Once those children are identified, Read and Feed travels to the children’s neighborhoods to make participating easy.

In the 2023-24 school year, Read and Feed has 16 program sites across Wake County, hosted by facility-based sites, faith-based communities, Communities in Schools sites in the neighborhoods and in our Mobile RV units.

At the beginning of each session, Read and Feed gives each child a nourishing, well-balanced meal. While Read and Feed does partner with local restaurants for some of the meals, the majority come from the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle, a local nonprofit organization that provides us with low-cost meals. Each year, Read and Feed serves over 13,000 meals to our participants.

Each session, children spend 75 minutes of high-impact tutoring with a tutor on their reading skills. Our tutors make it fun – the children don’t even realize they are learning while playing reading games.

At the end of each session, the children select three books to keep to build their home library.

Read and Feed is a nurturing program. We feed their hunger to learn, build their self-esteem and fill their hearts.

Our Vision

Our vision is a community in which children have the confidence and ability to succeed.

Testimonials

Oralia, Read and Feed Parent

The girls always love getting books and reading them with their tutors. And that helps them. They love the program, especially their tutors and the special attention they receive. The girls love coming to Read and Feed. When they know it's Thursday, they can't wait to get there. They have both improved and are more confident readers. And they have a lot of fun!

Ryan, Reading Tutor

I enjoy helping students that may need more help than they get in class. They get extra help with their homework and literacy when they read with their tutors. They get to read all sorts of books, they get to take books home with them for free. They get incentives to reward them for their learning and hard work. And they get dinner too!

Katie, Reading Tutor

When I first met Jihan she was just starting 3rd grade and she was an excellent reader, but very shy and apprehensive to read out loud. On the first day of Read and Feed she told me that she did not read chapter books because they were too long. Through the wide array of book club books available, I discovered she enjoyed reading nonfiction. I found a short, nonfiction, chapter book that I asked her to read. Once she finished reading the book, I let her know she had just read a chapter book on her own! After that night, I saw a huge boost in her confidence, and she has been willing to tackle every type of book available to read!