The New Age Role Models and Friends is seeking volunteer readers for its twentieth year of supporting the Reading is FUNdamental program.

The organization will helps support the literacy goals of Reading Is FUNdamental, through their annual “A Salute to RIF” read-aloud program.  This year the program will be held from November 15 to 19.

RIF is a national nonprofit organization that promotes literacy by bringing hundreds of volunteers - politicians, sports figures, community leaders, parents and celebrities - into the state's elementary schools to read-aloud to children.

Eastern Bank Executive Rose Berry and her staff will be coordinating activities in the elementary schools in Wareham for “A Salute to Rif”’s 20th celebration. If you are interested in participating, you can sign up by visiting the bank or by calling “A Salute to Rif” coordinator, Joanne Raymond Anderson at 508-295-5064. Volunteering to read in the classroom requires a time commitment of 30 minutes to one hour.

The deadline to sign up and volunteer to read is November 8.

“Children should be introduced to the joy and wonders of reading," said Wareham resident and former Newton schoolteacher Joanne Byron, who chairs the program. "Encouragement and inspiration from a special person can make a difference in a child’s future.”