Peter Sandoval, 6, made a new friend through his reading buddy Sue McRaith, who works at Hormel Foods Corp. and is one of many who has taken time to read to him once a week during her lunch hour.

“I say hi,” Peter said, describing how their reading time goes. “Because she’s a nice friend.”

Sue McRaith is one of many Hormel Foods Corp. employees who gives up her lunch period once a week to take a school bus to Woodson Kindergarten Center and read to her student buddy. The effort is a partnership between the school and company through Everybody Wins Minnesota, which was celebrated Friday.

“For 5- and 6-year-olds, it’s especially hard to figure out, ‘What does my reading buddy really do,’ and ‘Where do they work,’” Woodson Principal Jessica Cabeen said. “So Katie Larson here was gracious enough to host a celebration here so they can get a chance to see, ‘I’ve been in your environment for the last few months, now I get to have you in mine.’ They were so extremely excited for this opportunity today to come here.”

Peter was excited about the book he received from his buddy Friday, called “Happy Pig Day!” by Mo Williams.

“I just read two books, now three books,” Peter said excitedly.

For Sue, it was an awesome experience.

“It’s been really neat to see him now reading to me by the end of the [program],” she said. “It really was fun.”

Each student received a book from their buddy and got to eat lunch at Hormel Corporate Office North Friday in celebration of the program, which just came to a close. For student Eleanor “Ella” Searcy, she liked the book about pig day but was more excited about her buddy’s childhood books about The Little Mermaid.

“I brought in my series from when I was younger and she loved those,” Ella’s buddy Hanna McRaith said.

Cabeen said the program has had a big impact on the students.

“They will come up to me in the morning when I greet them off the bus and say, ’Is today my reading buddy day,’” she said. “They’ll come afterwards when the reading buddies are leaving and tell me the exciting things they learned.”

Hormel Foods Corp. employees get bused to Woodson once a week and read to their kindergarten buddy for about a half-hour over employees’ lunch hour. Woodson Principal Jessica Cabeen worked with Director of Organizational Development Katie Larson to bring the program to Austin, even though Everybody Wins organizers were hesitant to work outside of the Twin Cities area. Cabeen first worked with Everybody Wins when she was a teacher in St. Paul Public Schools about 13 years ago.

“This is a reading program where Corporate employees sit down with kindergarteners and help them discover the joy of reading,” Larson said.

After explaining the 45/15 classes at Woodson, and discussing the diversity at the school, the organization agreed to take the chance in Austin. The program kicked off earlier this year and finished Friday with a celebration at Hormel Corporate. But the for the readers, it wasn’t just about celebrating, they also had some work to do.

“Each student created a report card about their reading buddy and they’re presenting that to them today too, so it’s so cute,” Cabeen said. “It’s just wonderful, it almost brings you to tears to think about the connections and the impact that these adults have had on these kids, and creating that love of reading. I’ve got teachers over there that are tearing up. It’s so great, what a difference just an hour a week can make.”

Larson hopes the program will bring a big benefit to the students, and said the readers have already showed the benefits to their lives.

“We are hoping [to bring] the joy of reading, and discovering the fun of reading,” Larson said. “And the attention they get from an adult reader I think is an additional benefit. But nobody wins as much as our readers, they absolutely love this partnership and it’s the highlight of their week.”

For reader Brieg Anderson, Friday’s celebration was about the students spending time with willing Hormel Foods Corp. employees to read and know they are important.

“It’s really an opportunity to celebrate the last few months where a lot of great people from Hormel have taken time out of their schedule to go to the school on a weekly basis and really make sure they feel appreciated,” he said. “And they get an opportunity to hear someone reading to them and also a chance to read along with that person.”

He joined the program because of his own experience with a similar program when he was young. With the Big Brother program, older students would read to younger students like Anderson.

“I remember that had a huge impact on me,” he said. “First of all just the fact that someone was taking time out of their schedule to come read to me meant that my time was worth something for them to come invest in me.”

Anderson said his buddy’s favorite type of book were pop-up books, or books that you could touch.

“When there’s pop-ups and things you can touch it makes things more exciting, and they’re that much more involved with the story,” he said.

The program has been a big hit for both students and readers and doesn’t look to slow down anytime soon.

“We will definitely be continuing the program, it’s been a great success and a great win/win for the schools and for our company,” Larson said.