On the same day each week, volunteers forgo their lunch breaks to travel to a nearby elementary school for one hour of one-on-one reading with a low-income student.  Upon arrival, volunteers check in with EVERYBODY WINS! staff and proceed to a classroom or school library to meet their students.  Based on the advice of teachers and principals, organizations adopt entire classrooms and/or children with reading deficits.  EVERYBODY WINS! provides 100-150 recommended, age-appropriate books from which students and volunteers can choose.  For the one hour session, the pairs promote both the skills and love of reading by reading aloud to each other, sharing favorite stories and talking about books.

Unlike many literacy programs, Power Lunch offers a one-on-one mentoring component, cultivating a rare rapport that transcends generations and socio-economic classes. 

Power Lunch engages one of the nation’s greatest resources—corporate and civic America—to combat the literacy crisis.

Volunteers commit to Power Lunch and their student for one year and are encouraged to continue the mentoring relationship, often “graduating” with the student throughout his/her elementary years.  In order to establish consistency but still allow schedule flexibility, many volunteers partner with a coworker to read with their shared student on alternate weeks.  Mentors are recruited en masse from businesses, universities, community organizations, faith-based institutions and government agencies.

Our simple equation - one mentor, one child, one book at a time - works.  Evaluation proves that Power Lunch students improve reading skills and attitudes, increase reading confidence and score higher on standardized tests.

Founded in Manhattan in 1991, EVERYBODY WINS! Power Lunch has grown from five volunteers in one classroom to more than 7,800 volunteers nationwide.  More than 500 companies and organizations participate.  EW!’s volunteer force includes major corporations such as US Bank, UBS and Pitney Bowes, Members of the U.S. Congress, police officers and CEOs.  In Washington, DC, Sen. Thomas Harkin (IA) actively participate as Power Lunch reading mentors.

Some Affiliates also offer Power Breakfast.