It is quite interesting when something small becomes something big over time. I\u2019m not talking about compounded interest though the results are quite similar. Or my rapidly growing middle, softer in time. I\u2019m talking about reading 30 minutes to a young student during lunch – over 25 years. The truth is – I started doing this quite egotistically as part of an accumulation of effort around a software startup back in 1996. We had grown the company a bit and hired people and I wanted to set an example – be the better man, be a bigger man. I\u2019m not hiding my motivation here – i really just wanted to be cool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Everybody Wins!<\/a> is a terrific organization that had just been gaining traction nationwide. Power Lunch they called it and I simply went to an elementary school and read for 30 minutes once a week. They paired me with a child that needed a little help catching up on their reading level. In a word, hearing me read, gaining interest in the story, knowing I cared enough to be there – that all mattered. Some of these kids don\u2019t have this at home – parents that read to them, or parents that read. The act of hearing the words changes their brain and helps their vocabulary. They look at reading in a different light and perhaps want to read themselves. This became interesting to me. And I stuck with it over the years. For 25 years from 97 to 2022. I might have started in 98 but who\u2019s counting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well Everybody Wins was counting and they gave me a little award, <\/a>honored me for it at this years banquet<\/a> and that was kind of nice. They call me a mentor – but to be honest I think I\u2019ve learned just as much. So just show up, persist on the days you don\u2019t want to, consider the other, in the end it all adds up. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It is quite interesting when something small becomes something big over time. I\u2019m not talking about compounded interest though the results are quite similar. Or my rapidly growing middle, softer in time. I\u2019m talking about reading 30 minutes to a… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-leadership","category-thoughts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3mX8K-82Y","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":31043,"url":"https:\/\/www.charanis.com\/blog\/2022\/11\/14\/15-minutes-for-25-years\/","url_meta":{"origin":30936,"position":0},"title":"15 Minutes for 25 Years","author":"Jimmyc","date":"November 14, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Well the article hit Sunday and I\u2019m a bit overwhelmed at mostly the kind words from folks on my wife Stephanie\u2019s Facebook share and the comments on LinkedIn. I\u2019m talking about my 15 minutes of fame in an article in Sunday\u2019s AJC paper 25 years of reading to kids I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Thoughts"","block_context":{"text":"Thoughts","link":"https:\/\/www.charanis.com\/blog\/category\/thoughts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9907,"url":"https:\/\/www.charanis.com\/blog\/2014\/03\/09\/terps-win-their-final-acc-regular-season-game-beating-virginia\/","url_meta":{"origin":30936,"position":1},"title":"Terps win their final ACC regular season game – beating Virginia!","author":"Jimmyc","date":"March 9, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"MARYLAND WINS MARYLAND WINS!!!!!!! Terps upset #5 Virginia in overtime! Final score 75-69. #GoTerps #ACCFarewellGame\u2014 Maryland Athletics (@umterps) March 9, 2014","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":121,"url":"https:\/\/www.charanis.com\/blog\/2013\/09\/29\/payments-mfa-mobile-phones-and-innovation\/","url_meta":{"origin":30936,"position":2},"title":"Payments, MFA, Mobile Phones and Innovation","author":"Jimmyc","date":"September 29, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been considering how we get to mobile payments, card-less transactions, call it what you will - but right now we are in a knife fight and its really starting to annoy me. I've started this post a hundred times and each time I stop because things change so rapidly.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Banking Tech"","block_context":{"text":"Banking Tech","link":"https:\/\/www.charanis.com\/blog\/category\/banking-tech\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"20130929-172310.jpg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/charanis.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/20130929-172310.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7541,"url":"https:\/\/www.charanis.com\/blog\/2014\/01\/19\/carpe-diem-take-a-risk-make-a-friend\/","url_meta":{"origin":30936,"position":3},"title":"Carpe Diem: Take a Risk, Make a Friend","author":"Jimmyc","date":"January 19, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"These are my friends George and Bill. \u00a0George is a hitchhiker I picked up on Christmas Eve and Bill (or Billy) is his brother. \u00a0I'm the absolute last one to advocate picking up hitch hikers and completely understand the risks but at 48 give me the credit that I 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