Celebrity Read Reaches Almost 6k Students in 2013

United Way of Essex and West Hudson has just completed another successful Celebrity Read initiative. In its 23rd year, Celebrity Read had over 200 volunteers read to almost 6,000 students in 20 primary and elementary public schools in East Orange, Irvington, Newark, and Orange.

Created in 1990, Celebrity Read is a "local legacy" initiative that recruits volunteers from throughout New Jersey to model their love of reading and the pursuit of education as a pathway to success in local elementary classrooms.

United Way believes that everyone can be a "celebrity" in the life of a child and we encourage those who want to be positively engaged with our communities' youth to become Celebrity Readers.

This year's readers visited a school site in the morning, read aloud with students and answered questions about their profession while encouraging youth to read and get an education. Volunteer readers crossed a variety of occupations and came from many communities.

To find out more about the Celebrity Read Program go to www.uwewh.org/news-and-events/united-way-events/celebrity-read/

About Celebrity Reader (pictured above). Karol Corbin Walker is the 2012-2013 NCBP president. Ms. Walker is a past president of the New Jersey State Bar Association and the Garden State Bar Association, which is New Jersey's statewide African American attorney group. She is a member of the ABA House of Delegates as well as the ABA Standing Committee on Federal Judicial Improvements. Ms. Walker is also the current chair of the National Bar Association's Budget Committee.