• Rotary Year: 2017-2018
  • Application Date: 5/30/2017
  • Club Name: Kingsport-Downtown
  • Project Name: Rotary Reading with Festus
  • Project Total Expenditures: $6,998.00
  • Grant Amount Requested: $3,500.00
  • Describe the Project, its location and its objectives: According to the United Way of Greater Kingsport, only approximately 54% of students in Greater Kingsport were reading on grade level at the end of 3rd grade in 2013. For this reason, United WE READ was implemented to have all students reading on grade level by the end of 3rd grade and to build a literacy-rich community.
    Therefore, the Rotary Club of Kingsport Downtown will partner with Kingsport’s annual summer festival, Fun Fest, which is a program of the Kingsport Area Chamber of Commerce, the Literacy Council of Kingsport, a member agency of the United Way, and local author Leigh Anne W. Hoover with festival mascot, Festus, to bring reading aloud to the entire community, as well as visitors to the region.
    Rotarians will present reading workshops for Kids’ Day events held in an at risk community. The ability for everyone in the house to read is a key component of success. Riverview Place, which is a low income housing development and recipient of the HOPE VI grant under the Kingsport Housing & Redevelopment Authority, will host the Fun Fest events for children. Located directly across the street from the FreshStart Foundation, which assists individuals and families of the community as they strive to achieve self-sufficiency, Rotary Reading with Festus will address the foundation’s literacy goal.
    Festus and His Fun Fest Favorites will be shared with auditorium audiences filled with early grade readers and their parents/guardians. The book will connect participants to events and attractions they can enjoy and experience together through reading.
    Because literacy levels have also been tied directly to reading materials in the home, grant dollars will supply hardback books, purchased at cost, allowing each participant to leave with his or her own FREE hardback book to begin their family’s own at home library.



  • This is the Club’s: Primary Project Application
  • Expected Start Date: 7/1/2017
  • Expected End Date: 8/31/2017
  • Expected Number of Beneficiaries: 1270
  • Describe how the project will benefit the community and/or improve the lives of the less fortunate: Early Grade Reading has been identified by the United Way of Greater Kingsport as the number one cause of community service and human health needs. Only approximately 54% of students in Greater Kingsport were reading on grade level at the end of 3rd grade in 2013. For this reason, United WE READ was implemented to have all students reading on grade level by the end of 3rd grade.

    Studies have shown that children lose reading skills during the summer months, which can be deterred by having books in the home and reading aloud. Unfortunately, reading is also connected to the literacy level and education of the parents and/or guardians.

    During the week of Fun Fest, Rotarians will present reading workshops for Kids’ Day events held in an at risk community. The ability for everyone in the house to read is a key component of success. Riverview Place, which is a low income housing development and recipient of the HOPE VI grant under the Kingsport Housing & Redevelopment Authority, will host the Fun Fest events for children. Located directly across the street from the FreshStart Foundation, which assists individuals and families of the community as they strive to achieve self-sufficiency, Rotary Reading with Festus will address the foundation’s literacy goal.

    Local author Leigh Anne W. Hoover with festival mascot, Festus, will present her award-winning children’s book Festus and His Fun Fest Favorites for auditorium audiences filled with early grade readers and their parents/guardians. The book will connect participants to events and attractions they can enjoy and experience together through reading.

    Participants from the local Girls Club, Inc. of Kingsport, which has also been an ongoing project beneficiary of the Rotary Club of Kingsport Downtown, will also bring their dance team to the events to perform on stage before the programs.

    The reading program meets National Core Curriculum Requirements by introducing children to an actual event in their region, historical facts and information, and local attractions they can read about and then go and see. If parents are unable to read, the hardback children’s book will allow them to “pretend read,” which has been identified as reading, to enjoy an experience while also helping the child.

  • Estimated Total Project Volunteer Hours: 200
  • Describe the Rotarian hands-on activities in the project (i.e. non-financial participation): The Rotary Club of Kingsport Downtown will host reading events during Kingsport Tennessee’s annual summer festival, Fun Fest. Members will unpack copies of the hardback, award-winning children’s book Festus and His Fun Fest Favorites from the publisher to stamp each with a sponsor logo sticker on the back of each book. Rotarians will also repack the books and deliver to the host site of the events. Following the reading aloud programs, Rotarians will distribute a free copy of the hardback book to each attending participant. Rotarians will also help operate audio and video during the book presentations.
    Additional copies of the book will be distributed by Rotarians to local pediatric and medical offices to give patients or for reading in the waiting rooms. The project will reach over 1,270 elementary children in the region.
  • Describe the publicity plan to inform the general public that this is a Rotary sponsored project: Since “Rotary Reading with Festus” will occur during Fun Fest, which is celebrating its 36th year, the event will be advertised in the Fun Fest brochure, with approximately 30,000 printed, and promoted through the Greater Kingsport Area Chamber of Commerce with the regional media.
    The Rotary Club of Kingsport Downtown will also send a media release to announce the grant and Rotary’s involvement and support of the early grade reading initiative. Festus, the featured mascot and narrator of the selected, award-winning hardback book, will be visible throughout the nine-day festival, and photo options will be available with Festus, the book, the United We READ logo, and the Rotary Wheel.
    “Rotary Reading with Festus” will also be featured online in the Fun Fest schedule on the Fun Fest website. Local author Leigh Anne W. Hoover and the Literacy Council of Kingsport will also promote the Rotary project at possible speaking engagements and in television interviews.
    Additionally, the Rotary Club of Kingsport Downtown, Fun Fest, United We READ, author Leigh Anne W. Hoover, and the Literacy Council of Kingsport will share images on Facebook of Rotarians at the “Reading with Festus” events interacting and giving copies of the hardback book to participants to begin their own at home libraries. Fun Fest will also utilize Twitter and tweet about the event.
  • Cooperating Organizations – Please list each cooperating organization, if any: Literacy Council of Kingsport,Inc., Fun Fest–Kingsport Area Chamber of Commerce, Kingsport Housing Authority, Kingsport City Schools – Ready to Read, United Way of Greater Kingsport’s UNITED We READ, and Girls Inc.
    With Rotary’s focus on reading, members of the Rotary Club of Kingsport Downtown will collaborate to address the United Way of Kingsport’s emphasis on the improtance of early grade reading. Beginning with the Ready to Read summer program in conjunction with Kingsport City Schools, Rotarians will take “Rotary Reading with Festus” into the community with local author Leigh Anne W. Hoover and continue as a Fun Fest event during the summer months, which is a time often associated with a decline in learning. Events will be coordinated through the Literacy Council of Kingsport, Inc. In addition to reaching thousands of families in the region, 1,270 children will receive their own FREE copy of the hardback book connecting children to the importance of reading and to their community.

  • Letter(s) of Participation: ROTARY GRANT KHRA support letter for Rotary (signed).pdf, Rotary Letter of Support - Girls Inc..pdf, Rotary Reading with Festus Kingsport City Schools Letter of Support.docx, Rotary Reading with Festus Literacy Council Letter of Support.pdf, Rotary Support Funfest Letter 2017.docx, Rotary United We Read Letter of Support RotaryReading2017.pdf
  • Project Expenditure Budget – list detail uses of funds for the project, or use the Budget Upload: See Budget Upload
  • Project Funding Budget – list detail sources of funds for the project, or use the Budget Upload: See Budget Upload
  • Budget Upload:Rotary Reading with Festus District Grant Budget Template 2017.xls
  • Primary Contact Name: Scott Boyd
  • Primary Contact Rotary Position: President Nominee
  • Primary Contact Email: ScottBoyd@KingsportTN.gov
  • Primary Contact Phone: (423)956-0374
  • Financial Contact Name: Bob Bullard
  • Financial Contact Rotary Position: Treasurer
  • Financial Contact Address: 
    612 Tomahawk Drive
    Kingsport, TN 37664
    United States View on Map
  • Financial Contact Email: rbullard1946@gmail.com
  • Financial Contact Phone: (423)279-7254
  • District Grant Project Authorization LetterRotary D7570 District Grant Project Authorization Letter.pdf
  • Project Supporting Uploads:Rotary Reading with Festus Project Details 2.jpg, Rotary Reading with Festus Project Details.jpg
  • Grant Number: 1718-13
  • Grant Award: $3,500.00