Mary Winfree, Governor of the Carolina District of Kiwanis International, announced last month that the district’s annual mid-year conference was held in Wilmington, NC on February 10 and 11^th.

As part of the conference, International President, Bert West, of Colorado, visited Lincoln Elementary school, where literacy is one of the three areas of focus for the Carolina District. Lincoln Elementary has a program known as “Read to a Dog,” where children gain confidence in their reading ability by reading to a stuffed dog.

The school rebranded the reading program for a day, calling it, “Read to a Cowboy,” since Mr. West is known for his western style of apparel, especially hats.

Mr. West read a book to the entire second grade class during his visit. Two students, in turn, read to him and received a book and a cowboy hat.

Photo by Donald Giannatti on Unsplash