CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- When Mary Kay Bond started a local Read Aloud group 21 years ago, the Pittsburgh-based Benedum Foundation gave her a grant.

Now she wants to revive a program that shrank after she left in 2000, and Benedum has given another grant - this time of $200,000 to expand Read Aloud into other counties.

Under Bond's leadership, Read Aloud West Virginia began as a one-county program and spread into 53 counties by the time she left to keep an eye on her then-teenage children.

During her time away, outer counties lost contact with the Charleston office, but Bond continued to lead classes to train Read Aloud volunteers.

Bond was a paid executive director when she left in 2000. She returned two years ago as an unpaid board chairwoman.

Now 57, she brings missionary zeal to the notion that children should experience the joy of reading and that adults should come into classrooms to set the example.

"We don't want children just to read under the threat of a test," Bond said. "When that happens, children are not reading outside the classroom."

Read Aloud sends trained volunteers into the same classroom once a week, Bond said. "We want to light a fire, to make reading an integral and enjoyable part of a child's life early on."

People who stop reading when they finish high school - or even college - fall behind in life, in health and in income, Bond said. "You need to update your information. We live in a world of constant change."

Kids receive messages all the time about sports, movies and television, Bond said. Ads tell how they want to spend their recreational time. "What we hope to do is help children experience the joy that reading can provide so they're not reluctant readers."

Vigorous Read Aloud programs exist in Monongalia, Cabell and Mercer counties, but if they remain in other counties they are fragile and small, Bond said. But trained volunteers may have continued reading, even if the county programs folded, she said.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- When Mary Kay Bond started a local Read Aloud group 21 years ago, the Pittsburgh-based Benedum Foundation gave her a grant.

Now she wants to revive a program that shrank after she left in 2000, and Benedum has given another grant - this time of $200,000 to expand Read Aloud into other counties.

Under Bond's leadership, Read Aloud West Virginia began as a one-county program and spread into 53 counties by the time she left to keep an eye on her then-teenage children.

During her time away, outer counties lost contact with the Charleston office, but Bond continued to lead classes to train Read Aloud volunteers.

Bond was a paid executive director when she left in 2000. She returned two years ago as an unpaid board chairwoman.

Now 57, she brings missionary zeal to the notion that children should experience the joy of reading and that adults should come into classrooms to set the example.

"We don't want children just to read under the threat of a test," Bond said. "When that happens, children are not reading outside the classroom."

Read Aloud sends trained volunteers into the same classroom once a week, Bond said. "We want to light a fire, to make reading an integral and enjoyable part of a child's life early on."

People who stop reading when they finish high school - or even college - fall behind in life, in health and in income, Bond said. "You need to update your information. We live in a world of constant change."

Kids receive messages all the time about sports, movies and television, Bond said. Ads tell how they want to spend their recreational time. "What we hope to do is help children experience the joy that reading can provide so they're not reluctant readers."

Vigorous Read Aloud programs exist in Monongalia, Cabell and Mercer counties, but if they remain in other counties they are fragile and small, Bond said. But trained volunteers may have continued reading, even if the county programs folded, she said.

Bond said she has 200 active volunteers in Kanawha County, and more who were trained and still read but no longer file forms with her organization.

The grant will help pay for a small staff so the Charleston office can communicate with - and be a clearinghouse for - outer counties, Bond said. She would like to ultimately reach all 55 counties.

"What we envision is a network of county programs," Bond said. "For the purposes of this grant, we would like to get 16 counties up and running and in a network. We want to pull the organizations together. In the past everyone has run their own organization. Now they'll continue to run it at the local level, but they can choose to be part of a larger organization."

The Benedum grant makes it possible for outer counties to join the network at no initial cost, Bond said.

Local businesses and foundations have offered cash and other support, Bond said.

Want to help?

Read Aloud aims to foster the love of reading by sharing with children the enthusiasm of adults who love good books. The group also distributes books at kindergarten round-ups at all Kanawha County schools, and provides books in a Food for Thought program that serves four schools a year.

Read Aloud is an all-volunteer group that needs volunteers who will offer time and donors who will offer money.

Businesses and individuals who wish to participate should call 345-5212, e-mail readal...@verizon.net or visit www.readaloudwestvirginia.org.

Reach Bob Schwarz at bobschw...@wvgazette.com or 348-1249.