BRIELLE — Students sank their teeth into books last week for an assembly kicking off the fourth annual Read-a-thon, which serves as the school’s largest fundraiser throughout the year.
The program is put on by the Brielle Elementary School Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) and raises money for the benefit of teachers and students.
This year’s Read-a-thon began on March 3 during Read Across America Week. Students, so far, have read a total of 50,994 minutes, which has helped to raise $20,669 as of publication.
The total minutes read does not include any minutes read inside the classroom, which will be added to the total next week, according to the PTO.
Kayte Keller, of the Brielle Elementary School PTO, said, “Literacy and promoting literacy is really what it is all about and it is at the core of education.”
According to Keller, the Read-a-thon gets everyone excited and brings the community all together.
“Everyone gets involved. The kids have fun, the teachers make it really fun for the kids and I feel like it is a win-win for everybody,” said Keller. “I’m really grateful for everyone’s participation, because they really make it what it is.”
Keller, who served as the vice president of the PTO from 2021 to 2023 originally came up with the idea for Read-a-thon. According to Keller, the vice president of the PTO is in charge of fundraising, and for the first two years, she handled the Read-a-thon on her own.
She said, “Due to its success and the amount of work it requires, we (the PTO) created a Read-a-thon Committee starting last year, which I have chaired every year since. My other committee members are Mallory Basch and current PTO Vice President Lilly Smith.”
According to the PTO, last year’s Read-a-thon raised over $20,000 in donations.
“My favorite part personally is seeing the donation page and seeing the comments that the sponsors give to the students. A lot of grandparents, parents and siblings…they are so encouraging of these children and you can go on and read them on the page and it makes my heart so warm about how supportive they are of these kids and their reading journey,” said Keller.
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