Volunteer Service Award winner:  Helping everybody win Continued:

—Original story appeared on Wells Fargo Financial's intranet site for team members.

“What if every child in this city could spend one hour each week reading with a caring adult role model?” asked Ben Gran, operations analyst with the Corporate Manuals team in Des Moines. “I think we would see kids getting better test scores. We’d see fewer kids using drugs, committing crimes or engaging in other destructive behavior.  We’d see fewer kids going to prison and more kids graduating from college.”

Ben’s philosophy comes from four years volunteering as a mentor for Everybody Wins!
Iowa.  He started reading to two area children in 2003 and continued to mentor them through their elementary school years.  “I’ve had the chance to work with several different students, mostly from disadvantaged backgrounds. The teachers and volunteer coordinators have told me what a noticeable difference they’ve seen in the children that I’ve read with.  One boy began reading below his grade level but, in a year’s time, he’d improved two grade levels,” Ben said. 

The Everybody Wins! program is a literacy and mentoring organization dedicated to increasing children’s success in school through reading and mentoring experiences with caring volunteers. The program matches elementary school students with compassionate adult volunteers to read aloud for one hour, each week.

Everybody Wins! Iowa is a privately funded, non-profit organization that began in Iowa in 2002.  The Iowa organization is an independent affiliate of the national Everybody Wins! organization. 

“When I joined Wells Fargo in 2006, I saw that the Company had a strong commitment to volunteerism and diversity. So I set out to promote the Everybody Wins! program at Wells Fargo and recruit some new volunteers,” Ben added. The result was 48 new Wells Fargo volunteers, including four in Ben’s department, for the 2006-2007 school year.  Ben is quick to note that he didn’t directly recruit them all.  However, the many contacts he made internally certainly benefited the effort.

Ben is one of 150 winners of $1,000 grants that will go to the organizations for which they volunteer through the 2007 Wells Fargo Volunteer Service Award program – and one of 14 Volunteer Service Award Winners from Wells Fargo Financial business units.   

Photo: Ben Gran (center) presents the $1,000 check to Erin Freeland, executive director of Everybody Wins! Iowa. He is joined by (left to right) Amanda Gillotti, Terri Matters, and Kristin Kernen, Corporate Manuals team members and Everybody Wins! volunteers.

Iowa Senator and EW! Student receive national MENTOR's Spotlight Award

Iowa Senator Tom Harkin and his EW! Reading partner, Amii Young received a 2006 Mentor Spotlight Award. The award is giving to exceptional pairs that demonstrate the power and influence mentoring relationships can have on the lives of young children. The pair is one of six that are being honored in 2006.

As part of the award, Freddie Mac and MENTOR will present Amii Young with a $5,000 educational scholarship, a $500 award for Senator  Harkin and a $2,000 donation to Everybody Wins!DC, where the pair reads. Senator Harkin donated his $500 award to Everybody Wins! Iowa to continue to promote literacy to students in Iowa.

For the full article visit: http://www.everybodywinsdc.org/mentoraward.asp