Read with Me Volunteer Program Brings Powerful Documentary about Epidemic of Childhood Illiteracy to Indio Performing Arts Center

WHAT: A fundraising event for Read With Me Volunteer Programs will take place at the Indio Performing Arts Center, featuring a special screening of the powerful documentary about the epidemic of childhood illiteracy.

WHEN: Tuesday, January 27, 2026, Starting at 6:00

WHERE: The Indio Performing Arts Center, 45175 Fargo Street, Indio, CA   92201

PRICE: $49.00 per ticket includes the 70-minute documentary, lite bites catered by students from Rancho Mirage High School CAFÉ (Culinary Arts Food Education) Academy program, a silent auction with great items to bid on, and a question/answer session following the screening.

SPONSOR: City of Indio

INFORMATION: ALL ABOUT READ WITH ME VOLUNTEER PROGRAMS AND TO PURCHASE TICKETS, please go to www.readwithmevolunteerprograms.org,  and click the events tab or call 760-567-1630.

MISSION: To assist local children from a low-income, limited English-speaking environment to develop to their fullest potential by learning to read, comprehend, and speak English, while understanding that people care about them as individuals.

THE STORY: A fundraising event for Read With Me Volunteer Programs will take place at the Indio Performing Arts Center, featuring a special screening of the powerful documentary about the epidemic of childhood illiteracy on Tuesday, January 27, 2026, at 6:00 p.m.

SENTENCED, an intense documentary co-produced and narrated by NBA superstar Stephen Curry, continues its unimaginable rocket ride. SENTENCED is an immersive and vulnerable exploration of the epidemic of childhood illiteracy through a series of braided character-driven stories. Filmed from the point of view of ethnically diverse adults and children who have never learned to read, SENTENCED is a forceful yet tender tale of how literacy can free children from the cycles of generational poverty.

“As Executive Director of Read With Me Volunteer Programs, this work is deeply personal to me because, as a child, I struggled to read and needed an extra caring adult to sit beside me and help unlock the words on the page so I could unlock my future. Our partnership with the documentary SENTENCED and The Children’s Literacy Project—and knowing the film is narrated and championed by Stephen Curry—fills us with promise and excitement, because it shines a light on what happens when a child does not get that help in time and calls all of us in the Coachella Valley to stand beside our children as that ‘extra adult’ so their stories become ones of possibility and hope.”

The hope is that this powerful and heartbreaking story will inspire others to join the cause of early childhood literacy.  The film sets out to deliver the urgency of literacy and tells a story about humanity — families, teachers, and children living this crisis every day. It’s all about literacy and how it can change lives for the better.  Those young people who lack the fundamentals of reading and comprehending what they read are most likely to drop out of school and enter a life with no prospects and no future.  The film SENTENCED raises awareness about the benefits of literacy and how it opens doors to opportunity, as well as how the lack of it can close them forever.

After the first showing of SENTENCED held at the Mary Pickford Theater on October 20, 2026, Juanita Perezchica, principal of Cielo Vista Charter School, stated, “Sentenced reveals that being unable to read is not just an academic issue, but it’s a life sentence of limitation. The documentary shows how illiteracy can strip away confidence, independence, and hope. I was especially struck by how the film’s adults described feeling invisible, as though society had already decided their worth. Learning to read, then, becomes an act of liberation. It restores voice, power, and the ability to dream again. The film reminds us that literacy isn’t only about decoding words, but it’s about reclaiming one’s story.”

Please join the nonprofit Read With Me Volunteer Programs for an evening of enlightenment from this powerful documentary.  There will be a Q&A after the film.

$49.00 per ticket includes the 70-minute documentary, lite bites catered by students from Rancho Mirage High School CAFÉ (Culinary Arts Food Education) Academy program, and a silent auction with great items to bid on.

MISSION: To assist local children from a low-income, limited English-speaking environment to develop to their fullest potential by learning to read, comprehend, and speak English, while understanding that people care about them as individuals.

Read With Me Volunteer Programs is a proud partner with the Riverside County Office of Education Literacy by 5th Grade Initiative.

Please visit https://www.readwithmevolunteer.org/and click the events tab to order tickets or call 760-567-1830.