October 05, 2009
Those of us who love reading are often shocked to realize that many people do not have overstuffed bookshelves.
It is a shocking fact that 60 percent of underprivileged children do not own a single book.
A Massachusetts-based organization called Reader to Reader is trying to correct that imbalance. The brainchild of an independent film distributor named David Mazor, the project began when he helped one small library.
Mazor was astonished to find such need in a wealthy state like Massachusetts. Then he found Durant, Miss., the poorest county in the poorest state, and discovered that its high school had been unable to buy a book in 40 years.
According to its librarian, all its funds went into repair of the building.
Thus was born Reader to Reader, which serves the nation’s poorest communities, including inner-city schools, Native American Reservations, and poor rural towns, where the need for books is acute. Its staff at Amherst College is assisted by local volunteers and work-study students.
It has put a lot of books into eager hands: more than 2,000,000 books shipped nationwide, more than 1,200,000 books shipped to rebuild school libraries devastated by Hurricane Katrina, and more than 400 schools with poor resources receive books from the Reader To Reader program throughout the school year.
There are major Reader To Reader initiatives in Bridgeport, Conn.; Louisiana; rural Mississippi; Detroit, Mich.; Massachusetts; rural Maine; the Navajo Reservation; and Compton, Calif. There are also projects in rural areas of New Mexico and Texas.
Financial donations are always welcome, as well as boxes of new or nearly-new books, packed in boxes not to exceed 35 pounds, and sorted by approximate grade level.
The address is Reader To Reader, Cadigan Center, 38 Woodside Ave., Amherst, MA 01002, or e-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
You can find the whole story at readertoreader.org.