Sailors and students from Training Support Center (TSC) and Surface Warfare Officer School Unit Great Lakes volunteered their time to read to students at a local elementary school, October 9.

Over 25 TSC Sailors and students spent the morning reading books and answering questions from students at Forrestal Elementary School in North Chicago as part of the Reading with Friends program.

“Volunteering for Reading with Friends is a good opportunity to give back in the community and be a positive role model for young children,” said Gunners Mate Seaman Krissean Brown. “My favorite part of the program is interacting with the kids and seeing the smile. I get a sense of nostalgia being back in a school setting.”

Staff and students volunteer once a month to travel to the school.

“Heroes, that's what our Navy reading mentors mean to our students,” said Ms. Inez Mitchell, principal for Forrestal Elementary School. “Heroes who gives us the courage to dream through books; dreams do come true."

Those who volunteer do hope that dreams come true.

“Being able to be a positive influence within my community is what drove me to revive and rename this program,” said Navy Military Training Instructor Yeoman Submarine 2nd Class David Bendis, Reading with Friends program volunteer coordinator. “I know that every child that I influence could be the next president and it does my heart good that the Navy and myself can have some small part of that journey in that child’s life.”

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