For us, fundraising falls into the “necessary evil” category. No one likes to do it and fewer still like to participate. That’s why we are delighted to hear that the Mary Hogan Read-a-thon is Middlebury Elementary School’s Association’s (MESA) only fundraiser. And the month-long challenge focuses on reading rather than traditional product selling. Last year, students read over 562,000 minutes and over 90% participated!

The Read-a-thon kicks off November 1, which means swarms of eager readers may approach you or your business in the coming weeks armed with adorable smiles, reading logs and a “read, record, collect” mantra. So let us arm you with some basic knowledge as to how this all works, fortunately it’s quite simple. Residents and businesses you can support the school in two ways:

1. Sponsoring a child’s reading goals: the students will collect pledge money from their sponsors at the end of the challenge (checks should be made payable to “MESA”)
2. by sending a donation to the Middlebury Elementary School Association (MESA) directly checks should be made payable to “MESA” and sent to: Mary Hogan School 201 Mary Hogan Drive, Middlebury, VT 05753

Last year the 5th grade class created this cute video to kick off the read-a-thon.

Your donation to Middlebury Elementary School Association (MESA) supports student rewards, author visits, and other Read-a-Thon activities, as well as MESA’s mission of providing Mary Hogan students and teachers with the materials and experiences they need for a successful academic year. Thank you for supporting the education and enrichment of our local students!