Isle La Motte, Vermont - July 21, 2011
Peggy Rainville and her volunteers are getting Buddy ready for his weekly job.
"OK, ready? Let's go find the kids," Rainville said.
Every Thursday, Buddy's saddlebags are loaded up with books and art projects to bring to the Isle La Motte Elementary School for the summer reading program.
Rainville is the program director and works for VSA Vermont, a nonprofit arts and education organization.
"So now we are working with school-aged kids to help prevent summer brain drain and keep them reading, have them and I love horses, so I was trying to figure out a way that I could do this in a small, little town and bring in my little guy," Rainville said.
This is one of 60 sites VSA works in each year. This summer reading program is free.
"A program we offer statewide to bring inclusive teaching methods and really joyful ways of learning to kids who might not otherwise have access to books in the summer," said Judith Chalmers, the executive director of VSA Vermont.
The local library is only open three hours a week. But library trustees like Diane Cherrier volunteer to bring books to the kids for the summer program.
"Because I can go to the library and get books and bring them down to the kids. They can choose out of my backpack, then the following week they can tell me what they are interested in and I can check out the library," Cherrier said.
Chalmers says research shows that reading just six books a summer can help kids reduce the gap in literacy.
There is a core group of five kids that greets Buddy each week. That may seem small, but when you consider there are only 34 students who attend the Isle La Motte Elementary school, grades pre-K to sixth, that is a pretty good percentage.
"It's a small school but it is a community school and we are very involved in the community and the community is very involved with us, so this program is a natural fit for us," said Diane Reilly, the school principal.
And while the summer reading program would go on with or without Buddy, everyone involved feels he makes the program very, very special.
"Oh, I think the kids love him," Cherrier said. "Again, children and animals you put them together and it is a win-win situation," Cherrier said.
Judy Simpson - WCAX News
