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Read Aloud Delaware honors volunteers at annual luncheon

November 25, 2017

Children's author John Micklos Jr. spoke to nearly 100 Read Aloud Delaware volunteers at the organization's annual Volunteer Recognition Luncheon held at the Manor House at Sussex West in Lewes Oct. 30.

Micklos, formerly of the International Literacy Association, read his latest book, "One Leaf, Two Leaves, Count with Me," spoke to the volunteers on the importance of reading to children, and signed copies of his book.

The annual event honors volunteers for their commitment to children's literacy. Read Aloud Delaware aims to ensure that all preschool children in the state are regularly read to one on one. Last year 254 volunteers logged 6,411 reading hours providing 32,000 reading sessions to over 2,000 children.

The Roxanne Harris Award is given to the volunteer reader in each county who has read to the most individual children in a year. The 2017 winner was Bob Printz, who shattered the previous volunteer record of approximately 700 students. This year Printz read to 1,093 children for a total of 311.75 hours of reading.

Two additional volunteers came close to duplicating Printz's record. Dan Fay read to 1,029 students and Susan Tobin read to 936 children.

The Jean Lewis Award is presented to the volunteer in each county who has given outstanding overall support to Read Aloud DE. PJ Kotowski, this year's recipient, has been a volunteer for 15 years.

She has served on both the state board of directors and the Sussex County Committee. In addition to reading, Kotowski acts as a site leader, site leader trainer, and handles publicity for Read Aloud in Sussex County.

The Kenny Martin Award honors the memory of a local musician and Read Aloud volunteer. The award recognizes the exceptional stewardship provided by a volunteer at a reading site. The award went to Victoria Wittenberg for her leadership at the Beach Babies (Rehoboth Beach) facility. Wittenberg coordinates 10 readers, often gathering them together for lunch meetings and book selections. Sussex County Coordinator Lisa Coldiron says of Wittenberg, "She understands and embraces the Read Aloud mission in every way."

The Spark Award is given to the volunteers who together come closest to achieving the goal of reading to every child every week. This year the award was won by the volunteer readers at Shields Elementary School. Carol Ann Hurley is the site leader. She is joined at the site by volunteers Fran Giancoma, Fran Saltzman, Susan Lometti, Rebecca Mollura, and Patricia Harvey.

The Dorothy Traynor Award recognizes the group or organization in each county that has given the most support to Read Aloud Delaware in the last year. This year the award went to Seaford Presbyterian Church and Pastor Laurie Hiller. When a local Head Start was in danger of losing its Read Aloud program, two volunteers, Virginia Wade and Mary Linda Thompson, approached Hiller about making a presentation about Read Aloud at the church. The result was enough new volunteers to staff several sites in Seaford and a lasting relationship with Seaford Presbyterian Church.

For more information about Read Aloud Delaware, contact Sussex County Coordinator Lisa Coldiron at 302-856-2527.

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