Many schools and communities are overwhelmed with the number of students suffering from isolation, anxiety, depression and mental paralysis. Reach Out was founded in 2019 by students from the Lumen Scholar Institute to increase awareness of this need and to encourage individuals and communities to understand how to build connections, friendship and support for one another. Our mission is to build a safe community where everyone can feel balanced and brave enough to reach out and focus on making connections rather than receiving them.

News Reporter

Allison

Allison Richardson

Founder

Allison is the mother of seven children ranging in age from 11 to 28 years old, four girls and three boys. She is married to her best friend, Michael Richardson, and together, they do the best they can to build a balanced family with God as the guiding force. Allison has worked with youth as a mentor and motivator for over 15 years. She has helped develop programs for youth and is excited to help the coming generation develop to be as powerful and content as they are meant to be. She believes many will find balance and peace they deserve through Reach Out.

Gideon

Gideon Warnock

Co-Founder

Gideon is a junior in high school who grew up in Salt Lake City. He is passionate about learning and has plans to earn a PhD after serving a volunteer mission for his church. He loves spending time with his family and enjoys outdoor activities. Gideon’s life has been strongly impacted by peers and mentors who have reached out to him, and he hopes that Reach Out will have that same effect on students throughout Utah.

Emma

Emma

Co-Founder

Emma loves reading, animals and hanging out with people of all ages. She will often take a group of friends to visit the elderly, and she especially loves to play cards with her 93-year-old aunt! She would love to go into bibliotherapy (therapy through books) and is planning on earning a bachelor’s degree in humanities and a master’s degree in counseling.

Malena

Malena

Co-Founder

Malena is a senior at Lumen Scholar Institute, where she is taking concurrent enrollment classes. She plans to graduate high school with her associate degree and continue to achieve a BFA acting degree. In her spare time, she enjoys playing the piano, reading or painting. Acting is one of Malena’s favorite activities, and she has portrayed many fun roles, such as Timon in “The Lion King Jr.” and the Genie in “Aladdin Jr.” Her younger brothers often participate in the theater with her, and she loves the opportunity to connect with them as well as the other actors. Malena comes from a large family, where she is the sixth of eight children and only one of two girls! Family is a constant source of love and connection for her, and she hopes Reach Out will help others make connections as she has.

Dr. Michael Richardson (PhD)

Dr. Michael Richardson is a developmental psychologist with extensive experience working with youth and families who faced various challenges at school, at home or in treatment contexts. For many years, he has taught university courses in adolescent development/psychology, classroom management, and approaches to teaching and learning. He also conducts and publishes research relevant to supporting adolescents’ social and moral development and positive relationships between adults and youth.

Alexis Foust

Program Coordinator

Alexis has worked to supply people with resources to become their best selves for over 10 years. Alexis has worked as a daycare specialist, a summer camp program designer, a family specialist, and a parent mentor and teacher. Alexis has seen all types of people overcome and work together to achieve their best selves. With a bachelor’s degree in human development (minor in gerontology) and a master’s degree in architecture and sustainable design, Alexis also has experience using resources and has firsthand knowledge of how one can succeed when they reach out to others different than themselves for help, support and resources.

Favorite Quotes

“Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers.”
— Charles W. Eliot

“Literacy is a bridge from misery to hope.”
— Kofi Annan

“Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.”
— Frederick Douglass

“Whenever you read a good book, somewhere in the world a door opens to allow in more light.”
— Vera Nazarian

“We read to know we are not alone.”
— C.S. Lewis

“When you learn to read you will be born again ... and you will never be quite so alone again”
— Rumer Godden

“He that loves reading has everything within his reach.”
— William Godwin

“Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.”
— Neal Gaiman

“There is no friend as loyal as a book."
— Ernest Hemmingway

“It is what you read when you don’t have to that determines what you will be when you can’t help it.”
— Oscar Wilde

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”
— Dr. Seuss

“Reading gives us someplace to go when we have to stay where we are.”
— Mason Cooley

“Reading is an act of civilization; it’s one of the greatest acts of civilization because it takes the free raw material of the mind and build castles of possibilities.”
— Ben Okri

“That’s the thing about books. They let you travel without moving your feet.”
— Jhumpa Lahiri

“The whole world opened to me when I learned to read.”
— Mary McLeod Bethune

“I read a book one day, and my whole life was changed.”
— Orhan Pamuk

“If you don’t like to read, you haven’t found the right book.”
— J. K. Rowling

“Books were my pass to personal freedom.”
— Oprah Winfrey

Reach Out Today

Contact us today to learn more about Reach Out and discover how you can be involved!