Read, Deed, &
Run: Motivating Students to Serve
Read, Deed, &
Run is a student organization for 3rd, 4th, & 5th
graders. Originally created by Katy ISD teacher Courtney Calfee, the program is
designed to motivate students to stretch themselves mentally and physically by
reading 26 books or 2600 pages, run 26.2 miles, and perform 26 community
service deeds over the course of the school year. This year there are 29
schools participating with over 1500 students! In May, all those students who
have completed the program will take part in the Final Run, usually held at
Rhoades Stadium. It’s amazing to witness
these determined students complete their final run and receive their finisher’s
medal.
Cimarron has 32
students participating in this year’s program. We are about halfway through the
program with 13 miles, 13 deeds, and 13 books under our belt. Students have
enjoyed collecting and sorting newspapers for CAP (Houston’s own Citizens for
Animal Protection), collecting crayons and coloring books for Texas Children’s
Hospital, decorating water bottles for the Veterans’ Day celebrating, and
making treat bags for teachers at our sister school, Alexander Elementary,
among other deeds.
One of our most
memorable activities was putting together Christmas gifts for children in
Zambia for the Magi Box program through Healing Hands International. This
program distributes boxes to needy children in various countries throughout the
world. For our Cimarron students, this was a unique occasion to reach beyond
their local community and serve others halfway around the world. Healing Hands
asks that each box includes soap, toothbrush and toothpaste, comb, socks, and
underwear. This project also provided an opportunity to discuss with our
students and bring home the realization that there are children, in Zambia as
well as closer to home, who need the most basic items, and remind them that we
are in a position to help.
Read, Deed, &
Run provides many of these opportunities, and our students and their parents are discovering new ways of serving and becoming healthier. I believe RDR helps
build our students’ stamina and perseverance as well as foster a love for
keeping our minds and bodies healthy and serving others.
I’m proud to assist in the program and work with these wonderful students. Here are some of their comments about the program:
“I really like the
magi boxes because we are getting to send them to a place that doesn’t really
have a lot of stuff. I like how we got to fill it with stuff we picked.” ~Jaeden R.
“I love when we
did the magi boxes because I love to help people and especially to deco rad for
Christmas! And we give it to people who need it more than me. I also like to
run – that’s what I love to do.” ~David
G.
“Read, Deed, and
Run is the most fun program I’ve joined. You do fun deeds. And you can run with
your friends. I love Read, Deed, & Run.”
~Jacob
V.
“Read, Deed, and
Run is great. It is great cause you get to help people in need. We just did a
program that is called Healing Hands. We got some boxes and send them to people
that do not get things on Christmas. We fill the boxes with coloring books,
toothpaste, and stuff like that.” ~Hope
A.
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