Golfing for a good cause

By JASON ELLIOTT

Staff writer

There’s a good chance that if Cheryl Breeden was here today, she’d be laughing about this fundraiser for Lucky.

The Links Golf Course in Post Falls will play host to the first Cheryl Breeden/Learning with Lucky “Epic” golf tournament, starting with registration at 11:30 a.m.

“We decided on going with a golf tournament because it was something that Cheryl was never a big fan of,” said Camy Popiel, organizer of the event and co-founder of the Learning with Lucky reading program. “She used to find it hilarious when her golfer friends would describe a golf tournament as ‘riveting.’”

Breeden died on Oct. 2, 2016, following a two-and-a-half-year battle with cancer.

“She’d absolutely hate the idea,” said Learning with Lucky co-founder Cathy Bayes, who is a first-grade teacher at Bryan Elementary in Coeur d’Alene. “She thought golf was absurd and stupid. We thought it would be a good idea and had a lot of laughs with the idea and what Cheryl would think of it. Since it’s for the puppies, she’d love it. We’re all dedicated to the program. It’s amazing to see the response we’ve received.”

Learning with Lucky started in 2005 with Popiel — a longtime insurance agent — and Bayes.

“She was telling me that she was concerned about her students — as she had 27 students, several with behavioral problems, and many, many non-readers,” Popiel said. “I told her about a program in Western Washington called Reading with Rover. A live dog was brought into the classroom to assist the young reader. Dogs are non-judgmental and are calming in nature. I didn’t have time to bring my dog to school and Cathy didn’t have the time to bring her dog, so we suggested stuffed puppies.”

The program was designed to help teachers overcome the challenges of increased class sizes and the varied learning levels of many students. It is an incentive-based system that motivates students to earn privileges/incentives associated with their “reading buddies.”

And those students that started in the program, well, they’ll be graduating this spring.

“All first-graders in Coeur d’Alene, Post Falls, Lakeland, Kellogg and Moscow school districts have the program,” Popiel said. “We also have a school in Kalispell and West Ada School District in Meridian that use the program as well.”

Each student receives a black or yellow stuffed Labrador reading buddy along with a book log at the start of the school year. The students spend time with their reading buddy each day in the classroom and work together as a team on a variety of projects designed to encourage reading. The program begins at the start of the school year and ends with the termination of the school year. Graduates of the program take their reading buddy home to continue to assist them.

“More people have heard about it and want to sponsor the program now,” Bayes said. “They know about the program and what it’s doing, and they’re all on board. And it works so well. Kindergarten classes know it’s going on and are getting excited about it. The program works, and it’s for a purpose. It’s been unbelievable.”

The tournament begins at 1 p.m., to be followed by a dinner and auction with more than 60 items to bid on.

“We also have a live band and auctioneer,” Popiel said. “This is why ‘Epic’ is so fitting.”

All money raised will go toward purchasing Learning with Lucky pups for the 3,000-plus first-graders throughout the area.