 "Photo: Courtesy of Andrew Gaeckle")
Cocky’s Reading Express, a USC program that takes student volunteers and Cocky to read to students at some of the state’s most disadvantaged elementary schools, recently received their largest grant to date.
Verizon Communications announced a $24,500 donation to Cocky’s Reading Express last month, giving the program money to buy more books for donation and to broaden the program’s reach.
“This donation is going to be able to take us into more schools and hopefully reach every school district in the state,” said Ellen Hinrichs, a staff member in the department of library science. “It’s so important because this is often the first book these children have ever owned.”
Cocky’s Reading Express began in fall 2005 and has given college students a chance to visit elementary classrooms bearing books to read with and give to students. Claire
DeLoach, the program’s director, said elementary students can participate in the program with just one condition.
“We make the kids promise to Cocky they’ll keep reading because it’s so important,” DeLoach said. “Literacy is a problem in our state.”
DeLoach said around five students visit an elementary school a few times a month. Over Winter Break, a larger group will visit multiple schools in just a few days.
Hinrichs said the program relies on grants — like the one from Verizon — to keep running.
No staff members or students are paid to work on the program, and its entire budget typically comes from donations or grants.
That’s one of the reasons the Verizon Foundation decided to make the donation, Afton Ellison, a grant administrator with the company, said.
“Literacy is one of our big focuses with our grants, and we see this program as a way to take reading to children who don’t get it now,” she said. “It’s just a great initiative.”
The money won’t just go into more books, DeLoach and Hinrich said. Some of it will be used to assess effectiveness in the program.
“We want to go back into the same schools we’ve already visited and ask the kids, ‘Are y’all reading your books,’” DeLoach said. “We want to see the results of what we’re doing.”
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