Image of woman reading with little girl.
Image of woman reading with little girl.

Taking your lunch hour to share a love of reading

May 28, 2015  |  Lindsey Foat  |  1 min read

Every Tuesday during her lunch hour Lynn Carlton has a standing appointment with a first grader at Wendell Phillips Elementary.

In addition to her job as an urban planner at HOK in Kansas City, Missouri, Carlton is a volunteer with Lead to Read, and spends 30 minutes every week with her reading buddy Shamarian.

Jean and Lynn Rundle founded Lead to Read in 2011 with a simple premise: make it easy for working adults to volunteer at nearby low-income schools.

Tags:

Reading these stories is free, but telling them is not. Start your monthly gift now to support Flatland’s community-focused reporting.

Nick’s Picks | Messi, Jail, Buses, and More …

June 1, 2026

World Cup Team(s) Arrive It’s starting to feel real. The first World Cup team has landed in Kansas City. Defending champions Argentina touched down at KCI airport on Sunday and will begin practicing today at Sporting KC’s training facility in Wyandotte County. Much of the attention, of course, is focused on Lionel Messi. The soccer…

Related Stories

Candidates for the Kansas City Public Schools board will be on the ballot April 8. Top row from left: Brittany Foley, Tricia McGhee, Kelly Thompson and Rita Cortes. Bottom row from left: Bruce Beatty, Tanesha Ford and Joseph Nelson. (Provided photos)

Meet the Kansas City Public Schools board candidates for the April 2025 election

This story was originally published by The Beacon, an online news outlet focused on local, in-depth journalism in the public interest. Meet the Kansas City Public Schools board candidates for the April 2025 election All seven candidates running for the Kansas City Public Schools board support the $474 million bond issue that’s also on the…

Read More >
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor answered a series of questions posed by The Coterie Theatre's Managing Director Jonathan Thomas. Sotomayor had just watched the world premiere of a play based on her children's book "Just Ask!" (Paul Andrews)

SCOTUS Justice Applauds KC Stage Adaption of Her Book

As the first Latina, and the third woman on the U.S. Supreme Court, Justice Sonia Sotomayor is noted for reasoned questioning and, at times, searing dissents. But legal opinions, despite obvious historical weight, aren’t the writings that Sotomayor referred to as her life’s work during her recent visit to Kansas City. The messaging within her…

Read More >
"Kansas City Week in Review" host Nick Haines.

Nick’s Picks | DNC in Chicago, KC Symphony Takes Europe, KCPS Seeks New Funds

Trump VP pick in KC  The road to the White House finally cuts through Kansas City this week.  Republican vice-presidential candidate JD Vance will be in Johnson County on Thursday.  He is headlining a fundraising reception at a private home in Mission Hills.  Currently, Vance has no plans to meet with the public while he’s…

Read More >