Monday afternoons are a special time for students at the Boys and Girls Club of Yazoo City. On these days and others, Daisy, a 10-year-old Yellow Labrador Retriever, comes to help the students read books.
Daisy belongs to Clay and Pat Ellis, who volunteer at the Boys and Girls Club on a regular basis.
"Pat read an article in a newspaper about a program where kids who have trouble reading discovered that it was easier to read to a dog, and their reading scores went up as a result of doing that," said Clay Ellis.
Clay, a member of the Advisory Board for the Boys and Girls Club, outlined the potential of the program to the board and he quickly received permission to bring Daisy to help read once a week.
"We started early in the Fall of 2016," said Pat. "At first, some of the children were afraid of Daisy because she is a Lab and she appears to be a large dog which made them a little apprehensive."
It didn’t take long for those fears to disappear as Daisy made new friends.
"Soon it became a special treat for the kids to have Daisy come, and now they have even gotten to where they will select a book ahead of time just to read it to Daisy," said Pat.
Pat said that some of the children are even challenging themselves and have been choosing a grade-level book or higher to show off their reading skills to Daisy.
"It's fun being with the children and to see the great job the Boys and Girls Club is doing to help kids in our community," said Pat. "While Clay and Daisy are outside in the hall reading books, I assist children with homework, and some kids even want to come and read a book to me."
Pat said it has been rewarding to see the children become better readers.
"These kids have become such wonderful and strong readers with the support here," said Pat. "It's terrific to see what's available to the kids in our community."
Clay says he hopes the program will expand as others learn about its success.
"We have high hopes that the program will expand and that more people will bring in dogs to help kids with reading during the week," said Clay.
Daisy has become a friend to people all over Yazoo City.
"Daisy also visits the Martha Coker Green Houses as a therapy dog," said Pat. "She enjoys both ends of the spectrum from children to senior adults." For more information about volunteering with the Boys and Girls Club of Yazoo City, please call Pennie Griffin, Director of Operations at 662-746-2322.
