Literary Love
Local restaurateurs expand their mentorship reading program
Learning and local dining converge in the “Dive Into Reading” program, where elementary-school students get an appetizing taste of literacy.
Pioneered by area entrepreneurs Amanda and John Horne of Anna Maria Oyster Bar (AMOB), this eat-and-read mentorship concept was launched in 2017 and has since helped hundreds of youngsters thrive.
Trained adult volunteers meet with rising first-, second-, and third-graders at selected restaurants in the mornings during the summers, share breakfast and read books with them, and even teach them table manners and how to order off of menus.
“John and I came up with the idea of helping children not just with reading but also with social- emotional skills, and using our guests as mentors,” the Hornes say. “The majority of our kids have never eaten in a sit-down restaurant, and we wanted to give them experiences they could use in later life.”
The Hornes were initially motivated to create the program after learning some disheartening facts about local literacy.
“We were at an event where we heard the horrifying statistics that, at that time, over 50 percent of local children could not read at grade level,” the Hornes say.
They set out to change that number, and to do it in the out-of-school season to help combat “summer slide.”
The effort has been so successful that, in 2018, the National Restaurant Association’s Education Foundation gave the Hornes a “Good Neighbor” award. The couple also recently expanded the program from Manatee into Sarasota County, and locales such as AMOB, Gecko’s Grill & Pub, and the Bishop Museum of Science and Nature have served as hosts.
During the first year of Dive Into Reading, 52 mentors worked with 76 children at AMOB in Ellenton. By the second year, volunteers were mentoring all 15 local Title I elementary school rising second- and third-grade children attending Camp Rise (a summer school camp for struggling readers). Then, rising first-graders were added to the experience. Since the program’s inception, a total of 794 students and 713 mentors have participated.
“I believe that everyone wants to help but so many people feel that the problem is just too big to tackle. However, when given a small bite, people are so eager to help,” the Hornes say. “We have 90 percent of our same 52 mentors from the first year back for the third year, and they have told their friends and work colleagues to sign up.”
For the Hornes, the gratification comes when they see the transformations in both the students and the statistics.
“If we can change the trajectory of just one child’s life by instilling a love of reading, then we have been successful (but, of course, our goal is much more than one). It takes an entire community joining together to show our children that we care, and to give them the best start in life possible,” the Hornes say. “Knowing that we have been a small part in moving the needle from 51 to 49 percent of third graders not being able to read to grade level is great, but we have a long way to go.”
Anna Maria Oyster Bar: 6906 14th St W, Bradenton, 941-758-7880; 6696 Cortez Rd, Bradenton, 941-792-0077; 1525 51st Ave., Ellenton, 941-721-7773; and 200 Bridge St, Bradenton Beach, 941-778-AMOB; oysterbar.net
