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�����Ƶ�I love to see their excitement in having caring adults in the classroom,�����Ƶ� said Jedd Flowers, executive director of United Way of the River Cities. �����Ƶ�Kids really need role models to look up to in their lives, and by bringing these professionals and volunteers in that care about them �����Ƶ� they know that they care about them �����Ƶ� I think it says a lot to the kids that we as a community care about our kids.�����Ƶ�

�����Ƶ�It�����Ƶ�s hugely beneficial to them,�����Ƶ� Flowers added. �����Ƶ�It gives them something exciting to break up their day. It gives them something fun and creative to think about ... and we really, really do hope that maybe we�����Ƶ�re able to influence a love of reading inside of them by helping to do this.�����Ƶ�

The students were given their own copy of �����Ƶ�Charlotte�����Ƶ�s Web�����Ƶ� to follow along as the volunteers read and to keep. They also received bookmarks.

The event has grown from last year, its first year, when more than 200 volunteers read to 2,500 students in 124 third grade classrooms in five counties. Nineteen classrooms were added to the event this year, including those in Gallia County, which became part of United Way of the River Cities�����Ƶ� service area this summer.

Flowers said a student at Huntington High School in Huntington also lead a team of student volunteers from Huntington High this year in packing all the books and T-shirts to be distributed for Read Across the River Cities.

Volunteers at Altizer Elementary School on Wednesday included Kassidi Calihan, who is from Zanesville, Ohio, and works at West Virginia Executive magazine; Patty Dickey, who is from Barboursville and is a registered nurse; Karen Lucas, who is from Huntington and works at HPT Physical Therapy; and Angela Arthur, who is from Huntington and is a youth services librarian for Cabell County Public Libraries; and Flowers, who is from Proctorville.

Calihan said she chose to volunteer to get involved in the community. Lucas said she has always loved to read and wanted to share that with children. Dickey said she thought it was a great community project and that she gets as much out of the experience as the students, if not more.

Arthur said she thinks is an important program because sometimes kids at their age enjoy being read to, and it sparks their interest in what they are reading.

Arthur also said she thought it was fantastic that the kids had their own copy of the book and were following along as the volunteers were reading because it showed that they were engaged and listening.

Dickey mentioned the students�����Ƶ� enthusiasm to share their own experiences. Calihan said she liked the students�����Ƶ� input as the volunteers read along.

Lucas added that she thought the students were excited to have someone new in their classroom and that she enjoyed seeing their excitement.

All the volunteers who read at Altizer said they plan to participate in Read Across the River Cities again next year.

Flowers and Arthur, who are both in their second year of participating in Read Across the River Cities, also had plans to read to more students during this year�����Ƶ�s event: Flowers at Point Pleasant Intermediate School in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, and Arthur at Highlawn Elementary School in Huntington. Calihan, Dickey and Lucas said it was their first year volunteering as part of Read Across the River Cities.

�����Ƶ�There�����Ƶ�s something good that happens when you give,�����Ƶ� Flowers said. �����Ƶ�When you give of your time, your talent, your resources to help somebody else, I think it�����Ƶ�s very beneficial to the soul, and also it makes you understand that you�����Ƶ�re part of something bigger and that we together as a society have to care for and love one another and lift one another up to make our whole world a better place to live.�����Ƶ�