READERS CAN END HUNGER AND POVERTY
At Heifer International, our mission is to end hunger and poverty while caring for the Earth. By gifting livestock, training, tools and resources to families in need, we instill hope, a source of income and a brighter tomorrow.
With Read to Feed, readers have the power to make a difference in the palm of their hand. For more than 20 years, kids have been making a difference by reading. With our new Read to Feed apps, you can track your reading progress and unlock donations, making participation even easier.
Family
Read to Feed at Home
Parents play a critical role in fostering generosity and compassion in their children, and Read to Feed provides a valuable tool for achieving this goal. Through the program, kids learn they can make a difference at any age while practicing their reading skills.
Read to Feed:
- • Motivates better reading habits through helpful reading alerts
- • Shows instant progress updates about milestones
- • Tracks your reader's impact around the world
Recommended Program Use:
- • Read to Feed app: K–6
- • Read to Feed through Beanstack: 6–12
Ways to Read to Feed
Read to Feed App
FOR GRADES K–6
On the Read to Feed app, the more you read, the more you feed. In the Read to Feed app, students can unlock donations that help families in need by reading books and participating in "eggstra credit." To make an even bigger impact, students also have the ability to collect pledges based on the number of books read or the time they spent reading. Reading content is also available within the app.
Explore additional resources to supplement your program here.
- • Download the app
- • Parents can sign their kids up under their credentials
- • Individuals, classrooms or even an entire school can join
- • Parents and teachers: Read the FAQs to set up dashboards to see student progress
Thank you to our generous sponsors
- • Anonymous Indiana donor challenges everyone to give in honor of Heifer’s 80th anniversary
- • St. John’s Mission Endowment
- • Springhill School, Petaluma
- • Growing Solutions
- • Jonas Philanthropies
- • Download Your User Guide Here
- • Parents download and set up the account in the app
- • Kids access the Read to Feed App
- • Each time your student completes a few questions about what they're reading, they will earn eggs that equate to real impact
1. What is Read to Feed?
Read to Feed is a reading incentive and fundraising program for children that supports Heifer International. Participants obtain sponsorships from parents, friends and relatives based on the number of books (or units of time) they read. The goal is to promote reading and help Heifer assist millions of people around the world feed their families and reach self-reliance through the gifts of livestock and training.
2. Does our entire school have to participate in Read to Feed?
Read to Feed is flexible and can work with one classroom, several classrooms or a whole school! When a teachers signs up, they receive an email with their unique teacher code that they will share with parents or guardians. When the student is registered, they will enter the unique teacher code.
If a teacher wants to be linked to a school, we encourage the school to register first.
3. How do we set up a school-wide Read to Feed?
A school administrator will need to register here to receive a unique code that they can share with teachers at the school. During the teacher registration process, the form asks if you are registering as part of a school. If a teacher selects "yes" and adds the school code, they will be linked to the school.
After a teacher registers, they will receive an email with their unique teacher code that they will share with parents or guardians. When the student is registered, they will enter the unique teacher code.
4. Can we monitor reading progress for our students?
Parents, teachers and school administrators can set up a dashboard online at https://api.prod.readtofeed.org/landing-page
5. Is Read to Feed only for schools?
No! Parents can sign their children up as readers, without having to be part of a classroom or school. Parents can also set up dashboards to track reading progress!
6. How long do you recommend that a group participate in Read to Feed?
The best part about Read to Feed is that you can customize your experience according to the time you have to devote to the program. For the full curriculum experience, three weeks is recommended.
Read to Feed is great for Thanksgiving or holiday breaks, spring break or even to do as a weekly activity for a month. It is also ideal as a supplement to the post-testing time in the spring.
7. What Read to Feed materials are available?
All Read to Feed materials are free and available for download here.
8. How can I order Read to Feed materials?
Read to Feed materials are available to be downloaded on the website.
9. Are there lesson plans associated with Read to Feed?
Yes, we encourage you to partner the Read to Feed program with our free lesson plans, These lessons are aligned with Common Core Standards for English Language Arts and Mathematics, Next Generation Science Standards, c3 social studies standards and professional organization standards for visual arts and more.
10. Do you have a recommended booklist for students?
Any book is a good book for Read to Feed! Teachers might encourage students to read a certain type of book, but it is not required by the Read to Feed program.
11. Do you have recommendations on ways to do group sponsorships instead of individual student sponsorships?
Yes, many Read to Feed leaders have asked civic groups, local businesses, or community neighborhoods to sponsor their children as a group, like the local Rotary club or neighborhood bookstore. The feedback we've received is that leaders find it easy to tell Heifer's story to potential sponsors and to promote the idea of children changing the world.
12. Do you have suggestions on how to implement Read to Feed in a non-competitive way?
Yes, for a program that emphasizes collaboration, you could ask the children to turn in their reading lists and sponsor donations confidentially at the conclusion of the program. The classroom then tallies up the total reading effort (books or units of time spent reading), and funds raised, and has a celebration!
Another suggestion is to enlist older students to partner with younger students. This can be done in collaboration with a "big buddy" activity or even as a student leadership program for middle school students.
If there are classroom (rather than individual) sponsorships, the children could collectively track the number of books read or time spent reading by anonymously dropping reading slips (for each book or number of hours) into a box. At the end of the program, all slips are totaled and announced to the classroom sponsor(s).
13. Will Read to Feed sponsors receive a tax-deductible receipt?
Sponsors who donate online through a classroom's fundraising website will receive a receipt for their donation. Sponsors donating by check will receive a receipt by mail. The check must include the sponsor's current contact information. Sponsors who wish to write a check should make their check payable to Heifer International: Read to Feed.
14. How do we send our donations to Heifer?
Once your children have completed the program it's time to tally up the results and celebrate!
If your class created and used your own customized class fundraising page, it's easy! Sponsors simply donate online and the funds come directly to Heifer International.
However, some students may have had sponsors who preferred not to donate online. Ask the children to collect their pledges- checks made payable to Heifer International: Read to Feed- and return them to their Read to Feed leader.
Total all sponsor pledges and discuss with the class or group which animal(s) to give.
Use Real Kids, Real Animals for information about specific animals. You may also wish to discuss how the chosen animal benefits the geographic area where Heifer has a project.*
Fill out the Donation Form included in the Read to Feed Leader's Guide or the envelope in the Read to Feed Student Kit, and mail the form and checks (no cash please) to:
Heifer International
P.O. Box 8058
Little Rock, AR 72202-8058
*To help the greatest number of families move toward self-reliance, Heifer does not use its limited resources to track individual animals from donation to distribution to specific families. Instead, your gift supports the entire Heifer Mission. We use your gift where it can do the most good by combining it with the gifts of others to help transform entire communities. Heifer's unique community development model assisted more than 154,769 families last year with gifts of animals, training and passing on the gift. And another 1,835,643 families received significant benefits indirectly.
15. We would like to share our Read to Feed story with our local paper, is that OK?
Absolutely! We encourage you to tell your friends and the local media about your successful Read to Feed program. Kids love seeing their efforts in the newspaper. We also invite you to share your story through your social media accounts.
16. How do the animals and people work together?
Animals provide families with draft power, financial security, manure, wool, transportation and protein from milk, eggs and meat. Our project partners take great pride in owning livestock and consider their well-being as a primary responsibility. They provide their animals with protection from predators, clean water, food, exercise space, comfortable housing and humane treatment.
Read to Feed Through Beanstack
FOR GRADES 6–12 AND ADULTS
Our new Read to Feed platform for grades 6+ is powered by Beanstack, an award-winning app.
This unique reading platform allows readers to log in and record their reading by scanning their book ISBN and track by minutes, pages, or even number of books read. Nurture a culture of reading with healthy habits while growing your literacy skills. It’s a great motivator for readers of all ages, where they earn digital badges for reading. The app can be used by schools, classrooms, homeschools or individuals.
Explore additional resources to supplement your program here.
- • Create an account as an individual or family.
- • Teachers: Read our FAQs below to learn how to set up your class account.
- • If your school or library already uses Beanstack, search for the “Read to Feed” template to customize your challenge
- • If you don’t already have a Beanstack account, you can use ours!
- • Read, read, and read!
- • See how reading lifts families out of poverty.
Thank you to our generous sponsors
- • Anonymous Indiana donor challenges everyone to give in honor of Heifer’s 80th anniversary
- • St. John’s Mission Endowment
- • Springhill School, Petaluma
- • Growing Solutions
- • Jonas Philanthropies
1. Can I access Read to Feed at home?
Yes! Read to Feed is a free app on the Beanstack platform that is available anywhere at any time, including a web based interface. All you need is a smart device!
2. How does the Beanstack app enhance the reading experience for students?
Read to Feed Beanstack is a reading platform, which allows students to create reading streaks, enter books or graphic novels, and track their reading time. There are cool Heifer videos that explain our mission and digital badges and achievements.
3. Our school/library already uses Beanstack for reading tracking. Do we have to re-register for Read to Feed?
No. In fact, you can customize a Read to Feed Challenge for your readers using the Read to Feed template in Beanstack. Simply log in as an admin and navigate to “challenges” to search for “Read to Feed” in templates. In the challenge description, you will see a registration form to complete for your school or library and you’ll be responsible for reporting your total number of readers and minutes read. For more information, here is a helpful video.
4. I am a teacher but our school does not currently have a Beanstack account. I would like to set up one or more classes within Beanstack so I can track their progress. Is this possible?
Yes! Our Read to Feed team is eager to help you get your class started, but we need a little information from you. For each class enrolled in Read to Feed please email beanstack@heifer.org the following:
• State
• School Name
• Teacher Name
• Class or Period
We will then get each class set up so students can select their class when they set up their accounts. You’ll receive an email from us with YOUR login and password so you can monitor their activity. We will also send you a set-up guide that will guide your students step by step through the sign up process.
5. How can schools or educators assess the overall impact of the Read to Feed platform on students' reading habits and literacy skills over time?
The Read to Feed Beanstack platform offers robust reporting and metrics so that teachers, schools and parents can assess how much their student reads.
6. How does the tracking feature work?
Books can be scanned in using an automatic ISBN reader or by entering the book manually. Reading can be tracked using a timer, by time increments, or by book completion.
Read to Feed Offline
ALL AGES
Looking for a screen-free way to engage your students in reading? Our Read to Feed Offline program offers just that. With downloadable or orderable resources and guides, this version emphasizes less screen time and more hands-on learning.
Students set their own reading goals and ask family and friends for pledges. Reading progress is recorded on a paper tracking sheet, giving students a tangible way to see their achievements. Once goals are met, readers collect pledges and pool their funds to select meaningful gifts for families in need, fostering a sense of accomplishment and generosity.
Explore additional resources to supplement your program here.
- • Download your resources and start reading!
1. What is Read to Feed?
Read to Feed is a reading incentive and fundraising program for children that supports Heifer International. Participants obtain sponsorships from parents, friends and relatives based on the number of books (or units of time) they read. The goal is to promote reading and help Heifer assist millions of people around the world feed their families and reach self-reliance through the gifts of livestock and training.
2. How long do you recommend that a group participate in Read to Feed?
The best part about Read to Feed is that you can customize your experience according to the time you have to devote to the program. For the full curriculum experience, three weeks is recommended.
Read to Feed is great for Thanksgiving or holiday breaks, spring break or even to do as a weekly activity for a month. It is also ideal as a supplement to the post-testing time in the spring.
3. What Read to Feed materials are available?
All Read to Feed materials are free and available for download here.
4. Are there lesson plans associated with Read to Feed?
Yes, we encourage you to partner the Read to Feed program with our free lesson plans. These lessons are aligned with Common Core Standards for English Language Arts and Mathematics, Next Generation Science Standards, c3 social studies standards and professional organization standards for visual arts and more.
5. Do you have a recommended booklist for students?
Any book is a good book for Read to Feed! Teachers might encourage students to read a certain type of book, but it is not required by the Read to Feed program.
6. Do you have recommendations on ways to do group sponsorships instead of individual student sponsorships?
Yes, many Read to Feed leaders have asked civic groups, local businesses, or community neighborhoods to sponsor their children as a group, like the local Rotary club or neighborhood bookstore. The feedback we've received is that leaders find it easy to tell Heifer's story to potential sponsors and to promote the idea of children changing the world. To help you get started, we have included a sample sponsor request letter in our Read to Feed Supplemental Resources Bundle.
7. If we choose not to use the apps, can our students still unlock donations from the app sponsors?
At this time, only students who track their reading within one of the Read to Feed Apps will be able to unlock donations from the app sponsors.
8. Do you have suggestions on how to implement Read to Feed in a non-competitive way?
Yes, for a program that emphasizes collaboration, you could ask the children to turn in their reading lists and sponsor donations confidentially at the conclusion of the program. The classroom then tallies up the total reading effort (books or units of time spent reading), and funds raised, and has a celebration!
Another suggestion is to enlist older students to partner with younger students.  This can be done in collaboration with a "big buddy" activity or even as a student leadership program for middle school students.
If there are classroom (rather than individual) sponsorships, the children could collectively track the number of books read or time spent reading by anonymously dropping reading slips (for each book or number of hours) into a box. At the end of the program, all slips are totaled and announced to the classroom sponsor(s).
9. Will Read to Feed sponsors receive a tax-deductible receipt?
Sponsors who donate online through a classroom's fundraising website will receive a receipt for their donation. Sponsors donating by check will receive a receipt by mail. The check must include the sponsor's current contact information. Sponsors who wish to write a check should make their check payable to Heifer International: Read to Feed.
10. How do we send our donations to Heifer?
If your class created and used your own customized class fundraising page, it's easy! Sponsors simply donate online and the funds come directly to Heifer International.
However, some students may have had sponsors who preferred not to donate online. Ask the children to collect their pledges- checks made payable to Heifer International: Read to Feed- and return them to their Read to Feed leader.
Total all sponsor pledges and discuss with the class or group which animal(s) to give.
You can use our Living Gifts Activity Guide or our A Kid Can Change the World guide for information about specific animals or other gifts. You may also wish to discuss how the chosen donation benefits the geographic area where Heifer has a project.
Fill out the Donation Form and mail the form and checks (no cash please) to:
Heifer International
P.O. Box 8058
Little Rock, AR 72202-8058
*To help the greatest number of families move toward self-reliance, Heifer does not use its limited resources to track individual animals from donation to distribution to specific families. Instead, your gift supports the entire Heifer Mission. We use your gift where it can do the most good by combining it with the gifts of others to help transform entire communities. Heifer's unique community development model assisted more than 154,769 families last year with gifts of animals, training and passing on the gift. And another 1,835,643 families received significant benefits indirectly.
11. We would like to share our Read to Feed story with our local paper, is that OK?
Absolutely! We encourage you to tell your friends and the local media about your successful Read to Feed program. Kids love seeing their efforts in the newspaper. We have included a Sample Press Release in our downloadable Read to Feed Supplemental Resources Bundle to help you get started. Feel free to personalize it to meet your needs. We also invite you to share your story through your social media accounts. Be sure to tag Heifer so we can celebrate with you! We love to hear your success stories.
12. How do the animals and people work together?
Animals provide families with draft power, financial security, manure, wool, transportation and protein from milk, eggs and meat. Our project partners take great pride in owning livestock and consider their well-being as a primary responsibility. They provide their animals with protection from predators, clean water, food, exercise space, comfortable housing and humane treatment.
Free Resources
We offer many free resources that can be seamlessly integrated with any version of the Read to Feed program. Whether you prefer digital or offline formats, you can easily access and tailor these resources to fit your needs. Additionally, you can order physical copies for a hands-on experience. With these versatile and complimentary tools, empowering your students to make a positive impact through reading has never been easier.
Resources Include:
- • Activity sheets
- • Reading logs
- • Bookmarks
- • Downloadable books
- • And more!
