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ST. GEORGE — The Christmas celebration has begun a bit early in Southern Utah. This week, KSL's Read Today team, along with a special recruit, made a "Dixie Delivery" that will help thousands of students in southern Utah.
When Chopper 5 landed at Dixie Sun Elementary School Monday, it had some special cargo: Santa Claus. The Jolly Old Elf himself came to find out who's naughty, who's nice, and who's doing their reading.
"Thanks for doing awesome in your reading," he told students gathered outside of the school
Heritage Elementary School was the next stop, and Santa brought on the excitement while community members helped wheel in 2,000 books donated by Reading Tree and transported by a local business owner and state legislator.
"We need to do everything we can — as parents, grandparents and community leaders — to get kids interested in reading, because nothing will make their lives better," said St. George Rep. Don Ipson.
At Sandstone Elementary School, students greeted Santa with welcome signs. Twenty volunteers take part in KSL's Read Today tutoring program at the school.
All the fun and excitement on the playground couldn't take place without a lot of hard work from the tutors who read one-on-one with the students.
"I've noticed my reading has gotten a lot better," said Jalisce Lewis, a student who is part of the Read Today tutoring program.
"There's no way the state could provide a one-on-one initiative," said Kathy Peterson, Title 1 director for the Washington County School District. "This provides (for) children who don't have that one-on-one (attention) at home."
Educators believe our whirlwind "Dixie Delivery" will leave an impression on students.
"I just want to see these children in our state succeed," said Sen. Karen Morgan. "I'm passionate about reading, and it can help them so much."
"If Santa's here supporting reading, it must be a good thing," said Dale Porter, principal at Dixie Sun Elementary School.
In all, we helped deliver 9,000 books donated by Reading Tree and even local authors who wanted to donate. To learn more about KSL's statewide tutoring project, go to ReadToday.com.
Email: dwimmer@ksl.com
