ChoiceOne Bank is pleased to support The Meet Up, Eat Up, & Read Up program at The Chatfield School this summer.
The Chatfield School Meet Up, Eat Up, & Read Up event is held again this year as an outdoor venue, and open to any family in the community. The event will take place every Wednesday for five weeks over summer break starting July 7. During this time children in grades PreK-8th grade will participate in a read aloud or book club (depending on age), free lunch, a fun related activity with a special teacher from Chatfield, and get to select a high-interest, high-quality book to add to their at-home libraries. The free lunch is another opportunity of this program. As of the end of May, Lapeer schools had 48% of students qualifying for a free or reduced lunch.
“Our children will become our community leaders in the future, so it’s vital to support them now.”
“As the local community bank, we believe healthy communities start with healthy families,” said ChoiceOne Bank President Michael J. Burke, Jr. “Our children are the heart of our families and giving them these additional educational opportunities to succeed today is vital to their future. Programs like The Meet Up, Eat Up, & Read Up will definitely help strengthen our families and our community."
“Meet Up, Eat Up, and Read Up’s initial goal of putting a stop to summer reading loss for Chatfield students quickly turned into much more,” said Chatfield Reading Consultant Christie Jelneck. “We want to reach as many children as possible to promote positive reading behavior and encourage reading all summer through high interest books that children get to pick themselves. It is also important to us to offer a free lunch to those who may come simply because they are in need. Lastly, we are excited to partner with the library and have hopes of partnering with others in our community for this specific event in years to come.”
Jelneck explained how the event has been a team effort from her colleagues at Chatfield, as well from others in the community. “Marguerite’s teen librarian will be coming over to host the middle school club each week while I simultaneously hold the read aloud for PreK-fourth grade attendees. Each week, a special teacher from Chatfield will lead an engaging activity related to their specialty. These activities will include ecology, technology, cooking, art, and music. Afterwards, Chatfield will provide a free lunch to anyone under the age of 18, which is funded through Michigan’s Meet Up and Eat Up summer programs. Last year we had over 500 kids attend.”
Donations to the program allow Chatfield to fund an assortment of high-interest books to students of many different ages. All students will have access to a wide range of genres, levels, authors, and more throughout the summer. At 1 pm, a free bagged lunch will be provided for families to picnic outdoors or take it to go.
“We are pleased to support this program as it instills our commitment to the families in our communities across Michigan,” said Burke. “Our children will become our community leaders in the future, so it’s vital to support them now.”
About The Chatfield School
The mission of The Chatfield School is to build a partnership between parents and school staff to assure each child the best educational environment, the best teaching practices and the highest expectations for mastering skills and acquiring the knowledge to be successful in today’s world. For more information see https://www.chatfieldschool.org.