RBI Club
In September of 2021, the Rox Community Foundation created a pilot program for the St. Cloud Area School District 742 that would put a Reading Book into the hands of elementary grade students once every month six different times during the 2021-22 school year.
The program was aptly named the RBI Club (adopting a well-known baseball glossary term for Runs Batted In) but using the acronym as an incentive that could teach young students the importance of Reading Books Independently.
The St. Cloud Area School District Community Education Department chose Oak Hill Community School as the first beneficiary of the RBI Club that put a new Reading Book into the hands of 373 students from grades 3-5.
The Rox Community Foundation followed up with its commitment for the 2022-23 school year that saw Lincoln Elementary chosen as the next recipient of the community education program by the school district. Just over 400 students from the same three grade levels had six free reading books delivered to them at school last year.
The school district has allowed the classroom teachers from each of the participating schools to hand pick the actual book titles for their students. They were purchased by the Rox Community Foundation through “Scholastic”, the world’s largest publisher, and distributor of children’s books. Scholastic is currently in over 100,000 schools nationwide including those in the St. Cloud Area School District 742.
Since the program began, the Rox Community Foundation has purchased over 4,500 new Reading Books for the students.
"We are so grateful to the Rox Community Foundation for their ongoing partnership with our district and especially for creating the RBI Club. We were so excited for these students to experience the joy of getting brand new books that were their very own."
-Lori Posch, Executive Director of Learning and Teaching, St. Cloud Area School District 742
