QC leaders help children ‘Read Across America’

East Moline Mayor Reggie Freeman faced a class filled with energetic first-graders on Friday morning, March 1. The mayor read a book and answered a lot of questions from about 20 first-graders at Hillcrest Elementary School in East Moline as part of Read Across America events across the Quad Cities. Some 30 volunteer readers — […]

East Moline Mayor Reggie Freeman faced a class filled with energetic first-graders on Friday morning, March 1. The mayor read a book and answered a lot of questions from about 20 first-graders at Hillcrest Elementary School in East Moline as part of Read Across America events across the Quad Cities.

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Some 30 volunteer readers — including mayors, elected officials and business leaders — attended 10 schools across Bettendorf, Davenport, East Moline, Moline and Rock Island to read during the morning and afternoon of Friday, March 1. United Way Quad Cities hosted the local events to commemorate Read Across America Day, which also is known as Dr. Seuss’s birthday. Last week also was celebrated as QC Reading Week. (During the week, new and gently used books for children were donated at local Hy-Vee stores.) The reading events are all part of efforts to share the joy of reading with local students, and show them they can achieve big things in their lives, according to United Way leaders. “I hope they are inspired by this. This is meant to show them that reading can take them far in life,” said Sarah Smith, marketing manager with United Way Quad Cities, who was helping with the reading events at Hillcrest Elementary. United Way Quad Cities have always placed an importance on getting kids reading.  During Friday’s events at the East Moline school,  Mr. Freeman and Mary Lang of Tyson Foods read to the children in the morning. Illinois State Rep. Gregg Johnson was scheduled to be a reader in the afternoon. Some of the other volunteer readers included:

• Andrea Talentino, president of Augustana College, reading at Earl Hanson Elementary School, Rock Island.
• Quad City Bank & Trust leaders Tyler Edwards, Trisha Townsend, Jenny Krueger and Jenn Steward reading at Madison Elementary School, Davenport.
• Rene Gellerman, president and CEO of United Way Quad Cities; and Ben Bush and Maureen Roe of McCarthy-Bush, reading at Wells Elementary School, East Moline.
• Bob Vitas, City of Moline administrator;  Maria Osterberg of Legat Architects; and Josh Leatherman of PB Leiner, reading at Lincoln-Irving Elementary School, Moline.

In East Moline, Mr. Freeman captured the attention of a group of first graders when he read “How Crayons Saved the Unicorn,” written by Monica Sweeney. The book tells the story of how a group of crayons band together to help  a unicorn get its colors back. The children said they loved the story, and Mr. Freeman loved reading to the children. In addition to the reading, Friday’s event also featured a question-and-answer session. The mayor started off the session asking the children if they knew what he does as mayor. One boy shouted out: “You keep the town organized.” However, most of the students’ questions were directly to the mayor, including: 

• What do you want to be mayor? Mr. Freeman said: “I always felt I wanted to help East Moline.”
• How old are you? The answer: 74.
• What’s your favorite book? The mayor said he enjoys books about the life of John F. Kennedy.
• Finally, one student asked the mayor: Do you boss the city? “Well, sometimes I boss the city. Sometimes the city bosses me,” Mr. Freeman answered with a laugh.