Andy Kelly sits in his State Farm office in Rhea County Tuesday, February 09, 2016.A group of Chattanooga-related businessmen who once specialized in reading football formations on the college gridiron have launched a new business to promote reading of books by preschoolers.
Four investors who once played football at either University of Tennessee at Chattanooga or University of Tennessee in Knoxville launched My First Reading Club this month to send three age-appropriate books a month to children from infants to age 5 for $9.99 a month, plus $5 a month in shipping costs. The books are shipped on the first day of each month along with a small gift to mom, and the service is already attracting hundreds of subscribers.
"We value literacy and know it is the foundation that all education is built on," said John Woods, an East Ridge native who is a part owner of the Chattanooga Lookouts and one of the investors in the new reading club business. "By creating learning opportunities for children and by providing parents with the books they need, we help to engage and ignite an excitement about reading."
Woods is joined by Joe Kelly, a Nashville attorney, and Danny Schaefer, a Knoxville businessman. Both Kelly and Schaefer played football at UTC in the 1980s with Woods. The other investor in My First Reading Club is Andy Kelly, (Joe's brother) a starting quarterback for the University of Tennessee Volunteers in 1989-1991 and now a State Farm agency owner in Dayton, Tenn.
"We're delivering the gift of reading," said Andy Kelly. "Every time a box arrives, children are excited about what's inside. We think that contributes to the joy and excitement of reading."
In Tennessee, Dolly Parton's Imagination Library mails a free book a month to each child who signs up for the program. But Garrett Wagley, a spokesman for the Knoxville-based My First Reading Club, said the private venture still sees a lot of opportunity to supplement Imagination Library with other books for children.
"There's a real excitement every month of getting a gift with more books," Wagley said.
Early childhood studies have shown that reading is key to the future success of children, and reading books with children at an early age helps improve reading interest and abilities.
Wagley said My First Reading Club also extends the gift of reading to other children. The company partners with Project Night Night and donates one book for each new subscription to the nonprofit group, which sends 25,000 packages annually to homeless children.
The retail value of the books is always higher than the subscription price and shipping cost, Wagley said, but the business is able to negotiate discounted purchase prices from book wholesalers.
More information about My First Reading Club is available online at www.myfirstreadingclub.com.