HISTORY AND FOUNDERS

Founded in 2003, SitStayRead was born out of a community outreach program at the Call of the Wild School for Dogs in Chicago. MaryEllen Schneider was managing the Call of the Wild School and volunteering at Rainbow Animal-Assisted Therapy with her dog, Shandy. As Shandy was nearing 10, she showed signs of aging while working with children in a very active volunteer program, but wasn’t ready for full retirement.

MaryEllen realized that her dog’s ability to sit and stay with children as they read to her could bring value to the community while keeping Shandy engaged during her golden years, so she enlisted Sarah Murphy and MK Czerwiec, to help her launch an innovative literacy program driven by animal-assisted learning. They began at the Chicago Public Library, and quickly moved to serving Chicago Public School kindergarten-third grade classrooms.

During COVID lockdowns SitStayRead revamped its curricula, began creating bilingual programs, and serving additional community partners and schools in its low-income anchor neighborhoods on Chicago’s south and west sides. In 2024-25, SitStayRead came full circle with its reentry into Chicago Public Schools and the establishment of an ongoing family literacy partnership with the Chicago Public Library.

As of June 2025, SitStayRead has supported more than 26,400 students, distributed over 65,000 books, and hosted countless literacy programs and events across Chicago.