One third of Columbia, South Carolina's residents cannot read a children's book.
Rolling Readers is the Volunteers of America Carolinas' literacy program serving needy and at-risk children who struggle with their reading skills. Last year, 400 passionate volunteers served 5,267 hours reading aloud and tutoring 4,700 primarily disadvantaged children and distributed 5,200 new books.
What is Rolling Readers of the Midlands? In 1997, several community-minded individuals joined forces to bring Rolling Readers USA, a California-based children's literacy program, to the Midlands. Their efforts pioneered the first children's literacy organization to meet the growing need for intervention due to declining reading scores. In 1998, Rolling Readers became the children's division of Turning Pages.
Who is served? We have the opportunity to serve more than 3,000 elementary aged students at 57 sites across Richland and Lexington counties in South Carolina. A majority of these students are low-income and underserved youth in Title I schools, shelters, after-school programs, and child development centers.
What is the mission? Rolling Readers develops successful, lifelong readers by encouraging children's love of reading and learning. Rolling Readers recruits, trains and places community volunteers to administer the three components of our program: Read Aloud, Tutor USA and two book giveaways each year.
Volunteer Opportunities with Rolling Readers
- Read Aloud: As a volunteer you will get to "bring books to life" by reading aloud to a group of children in 15-20 minute intervals for one hour a week throughout the school year. We do require that all Read Aloud volunteers attend a training session. According to teachers that receive Rolling Readers' volunteers, our read aloud program increases children's motivation to read, increases their attention level and enthusiasm about reading.
- Tutor USA: For one hour a week, our Tutor USA volunteers work with 1-4 children to provide reading tutoring throughout the school year. We also require that all volunteers attend a training session.
- Book Giveaway: Twice a year we work with book distributors to provide enriching books for each child in our program. Most of these children don't have books readily available at home and our book giveaway is a start to their very own home library. Volunteers are needed to help sort, label and distribute the books.
Contact Us
Rolling Readers
246 Stonridge Dr., Ste 103, Columbia, SC 29210
Phone: 803-733-7323
Fax: 803-779-1657