Rutherford County, TN - More than 400 parents, grandparents, siblings and students came to Smyrna Primary School Tuesday night, well after the school bell had rung, to learn even more.

It was the first Read To Succeed Family Literacy Night of the fall semester, kicking off a year of programming at several schools in Rutherford County.

Read To Succeed’s Family Literacy Nights bring students and their families to their school to work with an MTSU Education Class, studying and exploring a chosen book with hands-on activities, arts and crafts, reading aloud and fun. Before the families fill the classrooms, Read To Succeed provides a healthy meal for everyone, 150 people and sometimes up to 400, like at Smyrna Primary.

Read To Succeed has several more family literacy programs left this fall semester that need meals. Church groups, civic groups, local restaurants and national chains, caterers, and anyone who is up to the task can provide a healthy, simple meal for these deserving families and help them get in the right frame of mind to read, to learn, and to have fun together.

The Families That Read, Succeed program starts next week. This award-winning program invites 20 to 30 families from a chosen school to a four-week long program with a session once a week. An MTSU Education class designs a curriculum and picks a book for each session.

At all of Read To Succeed’s Family Literacy Programs, every student goes home with a copy of the studied book, and every student gets the chance to sit down to a healthy meal with their families, and this meal is a crucial component to the success of these programs.

Olive Garden, Macaroni Grill, Whitt’s Barbecue, Fazoli’s, Jim & Nicks, Newks, Publix, Kroger, Demos’, and many other local restaurants have donated thousands of dollars worth of food to Read To Succeed’s programs throughout the past few years.

At Smyrna Primary Tuesday, Macaroni Grill provided several types of spaghetti for the families along with garlic bread, and the families lined up around the school for a plate. Families sat together in the school’s cafeteria, laughing, talking, and getting ready to enjoy a good book together. Because the right kind of learning starts with the right kind of meal.

If you, or a group you belong to, would like more information about providing a meal for a Family Literacy Night, serving 150 or more people, or for a session of Families That Read, Succeed, serving 75 to 100, please e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , or call 615-995-9535.

Remaining dates for fall 2010:

Families That Read, Succeed (75-100 people):

Bradley Academy: October 26, November 16:  November 23, and November 30

Hobgood: November 1, 8, 15, and 22

Rock Springs: October 18, and 25, November 1, and 8

Walter Hill: November 8, 15, and 22

Family Literacy Nights: (serving 150 or more people):

Bellwood: October 25

Murfreesboro, TN - The director of Linebaugh Library’s Smyrna Branch has September 17 circled on her calendar. For the third year in a row, Carol Kersey is making the trek to her grandson Casey’s school, Stewart Creek Elementary, pulling out a book, and reading to his class.

When he gets big enough to get embarrassed, she says, he might not be so excited about their little tradition. But for now he still looks forward to Reading in the Schools Day every year, for the day when his grandmother comes to his classroom and reads aloud to all his friends.

Read To Succeed’s eighth annual Reading in the Schools Day is coming up on September 17. On that day more than 1,000 classrooms and 24,000 students take a break to listen to volunteer readers. Rutherford County elementary schools, private schools, Murfreesboro City Schools, and local daycare's all participate.

The following day, on September 18, library directors like Kersey will pull out all the stops for the Read To Succeed Reading Rally, which takes place at Linebaugh Library in Murfreesboro, Smyrna Library, and in the La Vergne Library tent during Old Timers’ Day. This midday festival to celebrate the written word is open to the public with no charge and held in three locations simultaneously to allow easy access to all Rutherford County residents. The point is to bring attention to what the libraries have to offer—books, books and more books. But the Rallies also offer moon jumps, storytellers, healthy snacks, door prizes and storybook characters come-to-life.

Read To Succeed Executive Director Ronni Shaw calls Reading in the Schools Day and the Reading Rallies an “anchor,” kicking-off the organization’s many programs throughout the year.

“The start of the school year is a great time to remind students of the fun of reading, to remind parents of the importance of reading to their children, and to remind teachers that the rest of the community is out here to support them,” Shaw says. “We’re all here to say we appreciate what they do everyday.”

Community members show up in droves at schools across the county during Reading in the Schools Day; more than 1,000 people volunteer to read in classrooms. And even before September 17, community volunteers are eager to pitch in, putting together packets of materials for all of the participating schools.

And even when they’re just licking envelopes, the community is supporting literacy awareness.

Each participating school chooses a coordinator to help make the event happen. For La Vergne Lake Elementary, Reading Coach Marie Loyacano volunteered to take that position this year. Loyacano, who specializes in serving literacy needs at her school, is excited to handle the event this year.

“[During Reading in the Schools Day], the kids get to see adults model reading in the classroom.” Loyacano says. “Because everyone needs to read. It’s important for them to see that, to see community members and adults reading, to show them that reading is something you can do everyday. It’s for everyone and everyday.”

These two days in September, right in the middle of all the hub-bub over a new school year, serve as a reminder that cultivating a love of reading is essential to academic and personal success.

As someone who taught for nearly a decade and who spent the next 20 years in the library system, Kersey knows this first-hand.

“Reading is so important,” she says. “I read to my children from the time they came home from the hospital.”

That didn’t stop with her children. As a grandmother, Kersey lines the walls in her own home with books for her grandkids.

“My two and a half year old grandson knows right where the books are in my house,” she says. “He walks right over to them.”

Of course Carter, 7, and CJ love their Wii and their Nintendo DS, too, Kersey says. But they also love their books.

And that’s what Reading in the Schools Day and the Reading Rallies are all about.

United Way’s Project PASS will partner with Read To Succeed’s Adult Literacy Program and Linebaugh Library System to offer support in developing job skills.  Trained volunteers will be available at the Patterson Park Community Center Myrtle Lord Glanton Public Library every Wednesday, June through September, from 10:00 am until noon.   Adults wanting help with job skills may come by during this time with no appointment required.

Sessions will include lessons in searching for employment in the newspaper and on the internet, resume writing, interviewing skills, business etiquette, and follow-up after an interview.  Read To Succeed volunteers will be providing services free of charge.

This service is the result of a need in the community to have adult education in the area of career development.  Shelly Stanley, the Adult Literacy Coordinator of Read To Succeed, said, “The community expressed a desire for job skills training and we are doing all we can to meet that need.”  Classes will be created for regular attendees by United Way’s Project PASS.