Athena Program Combines Literacy With Cooking

Reader to Reader’s Athena Interactive Literacy Program launched its week-long workshop that combines poetry, family literacy, and healthy eating and cooking.

The Athena Program works with teen mothers from Holyoke, Massachusetts and takes place on the campus of Amherst College.

Chef Bill Collins conducts the healthy eating and cooking lessons and he’s always a big hit. Today’s lesson focused on the versatility of the egg for creating low-cost meals.

The first day also featured a poetry and spoken word workshop conducted by Reader to Reader staff person, Ophelia Hu.

The poetry will be recorded at Northfire Recording Studio on the second day of the program.

The teen mothers are students at The Care Center in Holyoke where they are working on receiving their G.E.D. diplomas.

“This is our fourth year running the Athena Program and we are so pleased to partner with The Care Center,” notes David Mazor, executive director of Reader to Reader. “We have tremendous admiration for The Care Center’s commitment to improving the lives of these young women and their children.”

The Athena Interactive Literacy Program is part of Reader to Reader’s DiscoverBooks Program, which receives generous support from Mary Ann Cofrin and the AEC Trust, the Irene E. & George A. Davis Foundation, and PeoplesBank.

DiscoverBooks Summer Program Makes Summer Literacy Fun & Healthy

Our DiscoverBooks summer family literacy camp came to a close last week, and we couldn’t be more proud of our families. After six weeks of learning, reading, and fun we had a celebration of all their hard work. Congratulations, everyone!

DiscoverBooks works with families and young parents to help their children become better readers from an early age. As parents discover the aspirations they have for their children and learn how to encourage their children to succeed, they also learn of the responsibility they have to continue their own education and the amazing opportunity they have to be their child's first teacher.

The families worked with Katy Moonan, Reader to Reader’s family literacy coordinator, to learn about why learning together was important, how parents could help kids be better readers and learners, and about the 7 habits of effective readers. Each habit was teamed with a set of books and activities, centered on the theme of the week. We made inferences from poetry, visualized the text of “To Be an Artist,” and connected with “Who Belongs Here?” The kids and parents loved being visited by zoo animals, going to the farm, and being read to by local authors.

Our good friend Chef Bill Collins came to each school to talk about healthy snacks, alternatives to unhealthy ingredients, and cooking techniques that made family favorites healthier. He also showed the families how to make perfect devilled eggs, complete with paprika garnish. (Yum!)

To see more photos of our program, check out the album on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/readertoreader.

This branch of DiscoverBooks was run in partnership with the Holyoke Public Schools, Enchanted Circle Theater, Marcela Kelly Elementary School and EN White Elementary School.

The program was made possible by funding from the United Way, Target, the Holyoke Food and Fitness Policy Council, the AEC Trust, and the Irene E. & George A Davis Foundation.

Win a Romantic Valentine’s Day Dinner for Two From Chef Bill & Help Reader to Reader!

For the second year in a row, Chef Bill Collins has generously offered to prepare a romantic Valentine’s Day dinner for two cooked in your own home with all proceeds from the online auction going to Reader to Reader.

Chef Bill (www.chefbill.com) is a personal chef in Western Massachusetts. He is offering a four-course dinner to the winning bidder, to be prepared in their home on February 14, 2012. The lucky couple will select the menu, and enjoy an evening of food, fun, and relaxation. Quite often, Chef Bill’s dinners turn into an impromptu cooking lesson. Having a Chef Bill dinner is like having your own cooking lesson TV show right in your kitchen!

Chef Bill will travel anywhere for this dinner. For details, please visit his website, www.chefbill.com

Chef Bill Collins has operated his business, Chef Bill, Inc, since 2001. He has cooked for many people (including some very famous folks) throughout New England and beyond. He also does cooking lesson parties, cooking lessons, Romantic Dinners for Two, and small dinner parties. He teaches classes for the public at Stonewall Kitchen and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and is a popular celebrity chef on WWLP-TV.

Place your bid at www.chefbill.com and have an amazing, delicious, fun-filled night while helping us do important work all over the U.S. and across the globe!

Chef Bill to Cook to Aid Haiti

Friday, February 04, 2011
By DIANE LEDERMAN
dlederman@repub.com

AMHERST - Chef Bill Collins, known as Chef Bill, is hoping to tantalize lovers this Valentine's Day with a romantic dinner for two that will spread the love to Haiti.

Collins is auctioning off a meal to be chosen by the winner and prepared in the winner's home Feb. 14 to benefit Reader to Reader's Hope of Haiti project build a school. Reader to Reader is working with Mount Holyoke College senior Haeinn Woo on the project.

Woo said they need to raise at least $3,000 to get the project going. They want to build the school in Meyotte, a small village in the town of Petionville, a suburb of Port Au Prince.

Woo was in the Dominican Republic when the earthquake struck last year and ended up going to Haiti to help. She's been back three times and is committed to seeing the school get built. She said there's little money for education from the government and little opportunity for youngsters to learn.

Woo said she values education. "As a Korean-American, my parents gave up careers (in Korea) to give me an education," she said.

David Mazor, executive director of Reader to Reader, heard about Woo and her work in Haiti and began working with her on the project. He said it's part of Reader to Reader's growing international reach. The organization donates books and computers to schools and promotes literacy in myriad ways.

Besides the dinner auction, Woo said students are holding an art auction and dinner at Mount Holyoke to raise money. The artwork will remain on display until Feb. 13 at the student gallery, Blanchard Campus Center at Mount Holyoke.

The auction ends Feb. 24 at a dinner.

Besides buying the land and the building, they need money for teachers and supplies.

Woo said they want to see the school be self-supporting eventually, and the idea is to make it sustainable with a farm, using micro-finance models.

Collins, who lives in Pelham, said he got involved because the couple in Salem who he normally cooks for on Valentine's Day decided not to hire him this year. He decided to offer his services for charity and has done some things for Reader to Reader before.

Collins will prepare a menu of the diners' choice in the couple's home. While such dinners usually cost $300, Collins said, "I'm not looking for somebody to get a bargain. I'm looking to get a bundle to Reader to Reader."

To bid on the dinner, visit www.chefbill.com. The auction ends Feb. 10. To learn more about Reader to Reader, visit http://www.reader toreader.org and to learn about Hope of Haiti visit http://www.hopeofhaiti.org

Win a Romantic Valentine’s Day Dinner for Two and Help Build a School in Haiti!

Chef Bill Collins has generously donated a romantic dinner for two cooked in your own home with all proceeds from the online auction going to Reader to Reader’s Hope of Haiti project. The project is building a school in the tent city area of Petionville, Haiti.

Chef Bill (www.chefbill.com) is a personal chef in Western Massachusetts. He is offering a four-course dinner to the winning bidder, to be prepared in their home on Monday evening, February 14, 2010. The lucky couple will select the menu, and enjoy an evening of food, fun, and relaxation. Quite often, Chef Bill’s dinners turn into an impromptu cooking lesson. Having a Chef Bill dinner is like having your own cooking lesson TV show right in your kitchen!

Chef Bill will travel anywhere for this dinner. For details, please visit his website, www.chefbill.com

Chef Bill Collins has operated his business, Chef Bill, Inc, since 2001. He has cooked for many people (including some very famous folks) throughout New England and beyond. He also does cooking lesson parties, cooking lessons, Romantic Dinners for Two, and small dinner parties. He teaches classes for the public at Stonewall Kitchen and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Place your bid at http://www.chefbill.com/2011/01/valentines-day-romantic-dinner-for-two-auction/ and have an amazing, delicious, fun-filled night while helping us do important work in Haiti.

Reader to Reader Announces the Athena Interactive Literacy Program

We are pleased to announce the Athena Interactive Literacy Program, a new program to be held August 23-27 at Amherst College. This special program works with pregnant and parenting teens in order to build their reading and writing skills, and to explore healthy eating and cooking.

The young mothers in the program currently attend The Care Center in Holyoke, Massachusetts, where they are working on getting their G.E.D.s so they can attend college.

Athena Interactive Literacy Program supplements their studies, giving them a dynamic week of exploration that moves beyond test taking to help them discover the joy of being a student.


The program's theme is "Fiction, Food & Fun" and couples reading and creative writing with an exploration of food that will help them cook and eat healthier.

The program brings together an exciting team of educators, writers, and artists, including noted writing teacher Peter Elbow, and Chef Bill Collins, a graduate of the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts with over 15 years professional experience, including the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Boston.

The students will spend their mornings exploring reading and writing in a variety of interesting settings, including recording poetry at a professional recording studio. They will spend their afternoons with Chef Collins learning to cook healthy food for themselves and their children.

The Athena Interactive Literacy Program is sponsored in part by Peoples Bank.

A special thank you to Chef Bill Collins (www.chefbill.com) for the generous donation of his services.

For more information contact info@readertoreader.org