Read by the River is a Tufts Hillel initiative, which couldn’t be possible without its many sponsors. Organizations such as National Amusements, the City of Medford and the Medford Fire and Police Departments have been participating in Read by the River for the past five years. In collaboration with the Assistant Superintendent of the Medford School District, Arthur Swanson, Tufts students will be making visits to the local schools to promote Read by the River and to hand out bookmarks and book report forms. Upon completion of such a book report form and attendance at the event, the students can leave the literacy event with a free book in hand, donated by local bookstores, Scholastic and Tufts students. In addition to a free book, students will also receive a free movie pass, courtesy of National Amusements, when they bring along the completed book report form.

Special Thanks to the Tufts Hillel Staff:
Rabbi Jeffery Summit, Director
Lauren Estes, Assistant Director
Alex Schuman, Program Intern
Alex Bondarenko, Program Intern

We need volunteers for the event and we'd love for you to help out! Volunteers will get to work hands on with the kids, reading to them, helping run an activity or booth (like an art station where kids can make bookmarks), helping set up and clean up before and after the event, directing kids and families around and informing kids and their parents about different aspects of the event, and other related activities. You can attend our volunteer training day on either March 25th or 26th, 2008 at 9pm. Can't wait to see you there!

To find out more information about how you can help, email or call (617) 627-3242 for more information.

Tufts Hillel (the organizers) would like to start by thanking our sponsors and supporters:

We would like to acknowledge the founding members of Read by the River for their hard work, foresight, and ambition. Former JCSC, Yosh Schulman along with Jason Garfield (’02), Jason Litwack (’03), Nathan Perlis (’02), and Mia Sussman (’02) envisioned having a program at Tufts Hillel that would promote children’s literacy. After organizing and planning the first Read by the River Carnival, they then continually worked toward improvement and expansion of the program. Without each of them, Read by the River would not have grown into the amazing organization that it is today.

We would also like to thank former organizers of Read by the River who have provided an unparalleled example of leadership from which to learn and use as a foundation for the future.