Within the next six months, Jed Gaines expects to take Read Aloud America’s family literacy program global, after two decades of trialing it across the Islands.
“We’re working with some great people overseas who helped build this Toolkit, which has taken over a year,” he told Aloha State Daily. “We’ve actually had the first draft edited and finalized, so it’s just fine-tuning everything and getting it together.”
Gaines said that The Read Aloud Program Toolkit will first be implemented in a local school to run as a pilot program. “And once they test it, then we could determine what needs to be changed, added or deleted,” he noted. “I see schools running it on their own. We’ll be there as a support system.”
The overall goal remains the same: to focus on family, and the communication and bonding that occurs through reading aloud.
He added that the Toolkit will include tips for family connection. “If you can get parents to shut down screens during dinner, so that families can talk, get to know each other and share love together, then we’re going to have a different society,” Gaines said. “Until we change the home, you’re never going to change our schools, communities, our nation or world. You’ve really got to get families to talk story, and the key is the parents.”
The Read Aloud Program offers immersive reading sessions for public school students and their families, as well as opportunities to enjoy entertainment, games and food. The program first launched in 1999 at Barber’s Point Elementary School serving 200 people. Attendance increases and a state grant in 2006 helped boost the program.
“Up until Covid-19, we had reached more than 350,000 adults and children. So why were they coming to these programs at such numbers? It’s because they were having fun, and if you have fun, you’re going to learn.”
As gatherings ceased during the pandemic, Read Aloud America continued sharing it reading resources and lists, while pivoting to what's next.
For Gaines, the most rewarding part of this work is engaging with the families and seeing the impact. He shared the sentiment of a parent who had attended every session in a series and told him, “Jed, this is the greatest thing that’s ever happened to my family.”
Gaines admits he didn’t learn to read until 7th grade. He says school was difficult for him, being dyslectic, though he we went on to attend college and grew fond of the hobby while in the U.S. Navy.
“The carrier had a library. I became a reader on my own and self-educated myself, basically,” he said. “I’m an avid reader today. That’s my escape.”
In the early ’70s, he moved from New York to Hawai’i and began cleaning apartments professionally, running the business Apartment Appearance for over 25 years. During that time, in 1995, Gaines created nonprofit Read Aloud America, whose mission is: “Through the fun of reading and being read to, parents can promote literacy, bond families, and build communities of lifetime readers and learners.”
He has passed the gift of reading to his children and grandchildren. When asked what he’s currently reading, Gaines said, “Strangers in Time” by David Baldacci; “The Widow” by John Grisham; “Broken Country” by Clare Leslie Hall; and “The Glass Castle” by Jeannette Walls.
For kids' book authors, he recommends Jerry Spinelli, Alan Brennert, R.J. Palacio, and E.B. White.
Visit readaloudamerica.org for more information.
Kelsey Kukaua Medeiros can be reached at kelsey@alohastatedaily.com.
