St. Cloud Area Volunteer Reading Program Celebrates Anniversary

ST. CLOUD (WJON News) -- February is I Love to Read Month, and a local reading program is celebrating a big anniversary.

Greater St. Cloud AmeriCorps Seniors RSVP says their St. Cloud Readers Theater is celebrating 25 years this month. The program started in 1998 as part of an America Reads grant with just 8 volunteers and is now up to 58.

Volunteer readers bring classic tales to life using only their voices in free 30-minute performances that include three stories and a question-and-answer session. Right now, the volunteers read aloud to 3rd graders in classrooms and after-school programs, but the program will be expanding to include 4th and 5th graders later this spring.

Readers Theater currently serves students in Avon, Clear Lake, Cold Spring, Foley, Holdingford, Sartell, Sauk Rapids-Rice, St. Augusta, St. Cloud, St. Joseph, and Waite Park.

In 25 years, the Readers Theater has had 140 volunteers perform more than 1,200 times for over 51,000 students around the region.