The Power Lunch Program Good Books, Good Buddies! From October through April, employees from eleven state agencies and two St. Paul businesses, head to Franklin Music Magnet to have lunch with students and read to them for 20-30 minutes once a week. The program recruits "Reading Buddies" to partner with students in grades Kindergarten through 6th grade, getting together once a week to share lunch and read a good book. Each adult is paired with a student "buddy" whom they meet with throughout the school year, and possibly into future grades. The mission of the program is to encourage a love of reading in the children and to foster one-on-one relationships with caring adults. The children say they like the program; they enjoy spending time with adults and it helps them with their reading. As a result of the program, the school is able to boast higher test scores, improved attendance on reading buddy day, and a much higher reading average (number of books read per year) among Franklin students as compared to other similar schools. Adults who have participated in the program say they love it and really look forward to reading with their buddy each week. No special skills are needed for this volunteer project (other than being able to read and liking kids). If you are interested and want to know more, please feel free to email Gordon Goodwin, the project coordinator, at gordonew2004@earthlink.net