Stories of Service

Foster Grandparent's help serve critical need with Summer Reading Program

Several Foster Grandparents!

Foster Grandparents - Greenville, MI

The EightCAP, Inc. Foster Grandparent Summer Reading Program was started to provide students with additional literacy tutoring during the summer.  Partnering with a local school district and coordinating the program hours around the Summer Food Service Program, Foster Grandparents were able to serve 34 children this past summer to help lessen the effects of summer learning loss.  All students who attended the program showed an improvement in their reading levels during the four-week period.  Greenville Schools Linda Van Houten writes of the program, "The Foster Grandparent Program has provided a priceless opportunity for the students of Greenville Public Schools.  This opportunity for students to receive one-on-one support in the area of literacy development will make a difference in those students' lives.  In our age of technology, and visual media, most students do not find the time to work on specific reading skills as in the past.  We are finding that we need to facilitate these opportunities for students in order to get them to be engaged which is what it takes to really learn the skill. This summer program will do exactly that.  Facilitate the structure, learning environment and staffing it takes to give these students the skills they need to be successful."