Today we’d like to introduce you to Mandy Horton Walker.
Mandy, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
When I walked into my first public middle school classroom, I quickly realized my bright students could not read, spell, or write anywhere near grade level. Even though they were intelligent, they were at risk of failing in school. They felt discouraged and frustrated with academics.
That realization propelled my quest to learn how to teach them to become literate, so they could experience success throughout life. Today, while tutoring students or while providing professional development in teaching literacy to colleagues across Florida and the USA as well as to our team at Love 2 Read, Inc., we share the joy of our literacy learning partnership.
Love 2 Read, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, had been a quiet dream until one afternoon in January, 2020. After a tutoring session with their daughter, Madeline, John, and Andrea Adams asked me, “Ms. Mandy, wouldn’t it be great to start a nonprofit to try to help every student receive this kind of instruction?” Thus, Love 2 Read, Inc. was established with the mission to provide access to students who need specialized tutoring instruction in order to learn to read.
The founding board of directors was invited to serve and we began tutoring students on a sliding fee basis. The type of tutoring we provide is usually very expensive. We are striving to remove barriers so more children and youth will receive the tutoring they need to achieve success in life.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Life is a lovely journey through which we learn and grow constantly. Since learning is one of my favorite things, I recognize the moments when my learning curve feels steep, or the path takes twists and turns that I had not anticipated. Our Board of Directors, Board of Advisors, SCORE and SBDC mentors, donors, sponsors, community partners, tutors, students, families, and close friends share the journey as we help each other along the path on which our mission propels us. We are determined to serve well!
When I feel discouraged, memories of my students and their parents reinvigorate my efforts. I think of the twice or thrice retained teenagers who ask me, “Why Miss, WHY didn’t someone teach this to me when I was in Kindergarten? I shoulda been doin’ this when I was in kindergarten and first grade! Why did I have to wait until NOW to FINALLY learn to read?!? Why?!?” I think of the mother who teared up with relief and joy when she heard that her preteen child was finally reading at the 3rd-grade level, while confiding that she, herself, only reached the 2nd-grade reading level.
Watching a student “get it” when practicing a new concept is like watching a miracle unfold and a world of opportunities opens up for that learner. That moment is beautiful! As long as I can serve literacy to others, I feel called to do so. Providentially, everyone on our team feels the same way about our shared mission and vision. We invite you to join us!
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Love 2 Read, Inc. is a young nonprofit tutoring organization whose mission is to help students who struggle with reading and require specialized literacy instruction. Our vision is to remove barriers for children and youth whose families cannot afford what would normally be very expensive tutoring.
Our team is led by expert educators, instructional coaches, and professional developers who mentor new tutors in service of underserved students. We slide our fees for the sake of students who face obstacles to receiving tutoring. Five of our educators are cross-trained in programs recognized for following the Science of Reading and the Structured Literacy Approach. Four of us serve on the Board of Directors of the International Dyslexia Association-Florida Branch, and I serve on nonprofit boards with compatible missions.
We use an Orton-Gillingham-based curriculum for teaching literacy online to our students. Recently, a parent who had been very skeptical of online tutoring, stated, “This is working! He looks forward to his lessons! He read his passage last night without any help!” Another student asked to spell more words during dictation practice because she said it was “fun”. and it helps her at school. Parents or guardians and their children love receiving online instruction, for not only is it effective, it fits their busy schedules and reduces the stress involved in shuttling between afterschool activities.
Our tutors appreciate the flexibility of being able to travel and still fit in a tutoring session with a client. Our team can more easily substitute for each other, as well. Our instructional decisions are informed by the data collected during quick, targeted online assessments, while our students progress from beginning to learn to read, to engaging in the secondary curriculum at school with a sense of success. Anecdotally, parents of two of our students reported each child’s FSA/FAST scores improved from Level 1 to Level 4 in two and one-half years.
Our logo uniquely captures the spirit with which we serve, and our goal to teach students, support colleagues, and spread the love of reading and learning to as many people as possible. We intend to become a trustworthy source for literacy education. Our services are funded by grants, donations, sponsors, fundraisers, ‘friendraisers’, and our sliding fee schedule for tutors and parents or guardians. YOU can make a difference in the life of a child today by donating and/or volunteering at: https://www.Love2Read.org.
Do you have any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
Among my most cherished memories is my childhood journey into literacy. My parents and my grandparents read to me constantly. Cuddling up with them to read a bedtime story was so sweet.
Mom and Dad read and discussed what they were reading with each other frequently, and I saw them critiquing and editing each other’s written work.
When I was in Kindergarten, I visited the first-grade classroom taught by one of my family’s dearest friends, Betty. During one of her reading circles, I marveled that the other children could somehow lift the words of the story from the pages and give them voice. “How did they do that?” I wondered.
Before I began first grade, another of our dearest family friends, Teri, taught me to read phonetically in Spanish. Her very first lesson broke the “code” and taught me the logic of decoding and encoding (reading and spelling words). When my first-grade teacher began teaching us to read in English, I already knew there was a coding system. I raced ahead to read, spell, and write well throughout the rest of my school years.
I LOVE reading and writing! It has been my ticket to success. Sharing this love of literacy with others is a great joy inspired by each student we tutor and each colleague we train and coach. I strive to share the gift of literacy that was given to me with as many learners as possible through Love 2 Read, Inc.
Pricing:
- $120 – $150 Full Price for each 60-minute session. We tutor twice per week at a minimum.
- We slide our fees based on income.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.
Love2Read.org - Instagram: https://www.
instagram.com/love2Read_org/ - Facebook: https://www.
facebook.com/love2read.org - Linkedin: https://www.youtube.
com/channel/UCjpupTv7- WloP4lWdPnyIKQ - Youtube: https://www.youtube.
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com/o/love-2-read-inc- 77731346063
- Email: Info@Love2Read.org
- Office Telephone: 772-333-6161
Image Credits
Love 2 Read
