Buses and books, that's what Mr. Herman does

Herman Cruse is a bus driver for the Middle Township School District in New Jersey. He commutes over an hour to his bus route, so instead of making the journey home between shifts, he often spent those hours hanging out close to the school and killing time. 

For Herman, "killing time" involved going to the gym, reading in the library, or even napping in his car. Until one fateful day, that is, when he heard one of his young students share on the bus that she had successfully learned how to read🤓. 

💡 The spark: Hearing what an achievement it was for the little one – and knowing he had the time to spare – Herman reached out to the school to see if he could somehow get involved to help other students improve their reading.

At first, he simply started going in twice a week and reading in one of the kindergarten classrooms. The students loved sharing books and conversations with their bus driver, and soon enough Herman was in high demand. 

• “He told me about how he was looking for something fulfilling to do to make the most of passing the time in between his routes instead of driving home," shared Mrs. Byron, a teacher at the school. "But he could have never imagined making an impact on these kids the way he does now.”
• By the end of the school year, Herman was spending four days a week in the school reading to children between his shifts.

🏆 Somebody get this man a cape... Herman, who's also a dedicated father of five, was recognized in a district-wide meeting last school year for his dedication to helping kids learn and grow. And his reading program even has an official name now: "Mr. Herman's Kids."

🗯 What he's saying: “It’s been a tsunami of blessings," he shared. "I’m so thankful that I was in a position to help kids... In a sense, I became part of their family. I became a father figure – a grandfather figure." 

• He continued, "... a lot of children don’t have a male role model in their lives. Reading was my way of tapping into their home structure, getting to know them on a personal level and combining the help with reading."