Bennetts Coaches has raised £3000 for local organisation, Read With Me, highlighting the pivotal role businesses in Gloucester can play in supporting their local community. Read With Me.
Current research reveals that 1 in 5 children in the UK struggle to read and write – and this number increases in areas of deprivation. Read With Me was set up to help bridge this gap by providing one-to-one reading support to children in schools. Now partnered with over 45 schools across Gloucestershire, their volunteers help to improve children’s confidence, as well as their literacy skills. However, the demand for their service is overwhelming and without adequate funding and volunteers, they cannot offer their service to all who need it.
Well known for championing community projects that are close to their heart, every year Gavin and the team at Bennett’s Coaches choose a local organisation to fundraise on behalf of. After witnessing first-hand, through their colleagues’ interactions during the school run, the difference that Read With Me makes to the children in the local community, the team at Bennetts raised a whopping £3000 for Read With Me, through raffle and auction sales at their Christmas party.
The funds raised by Bennetts Coaches will be instrumental in providing the necessary support to children across the county. Gavin Bennett, Managing Director of Bennetts Coaches, added “Being able to read is key to a child’s education and opens up so many opportunities later in life for them that may not otherwise have been possible. My wife is a teacher and she experiences firsthand the difficulties of supporting children in school with their reading. The staff at Bennetts have been fantastic raising the amount they have and we hope the funds go some way towards helping Read With Me achieve their goals.” Gavin, and the team at Bennetts Coaches, would like to encourage other businesses in Gloucestershire to recognise the positive impact they can have by supporting local organisations, like Read With Me.
Despite fundraising success, Read With Me faces an ongoing challenge. They urgently need an additional 200 volunteers to ensure that every child in Gloucestershire can receive the support they need to reach their full potential. By committing just 1-2 hours each week during the school term, you could help shape a child’s future and make a real difference in your local community.