Valley Organizations Boost Reader To Reader Efforts
Amherst, MA – April 4, 2005 – A handful of Pioneer Valley organizations have given a much needed resources boost to Amherst’s Reader To Reader, Inc. The Rotary Club of Amherst, The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, the Barnes & Nobles Booksellers in Hadley, MA, and the Postal Connections store in Amherst, have all made significant contributions this past month to the award-winning literacy program which aids 200 school libraries across the country. At their annual Paul Harris Dinner, the Rotary Club of Amherst presented Reader to Reader with a check for $2,500 as part of the Rotarian’s centennial project, which was focused on literacy. The Amherst Rotarians also organized a children’s book drive in local schools which netted over a thousand children’s books. The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, MA collected books for Reader To Reader with their second annual book drive bringing in over 2,000 books. Reader To Reader’s executive director, David Mazor, spoke to over 300 area school children at the Hall of Fame on the final day of the book drive with his message that “There has never been a better time for you to have a positive impact on the world.” On Friday, April 1, the Barnes & Nobles Booksellers in Hadley, MA donated over 1,500 new children’s books purchased by their customers and staff during the months of December, January and February. The books were donated to Reader To Reader at an in-store ceremony presided over by Congressman John Olver. Teachers and children from Memorial Elementary in West Springfield were on hand to shop for $300 in special books purchases using a cash award provided by Barnes and Noble and administered by Reader To Reader, and Memorial Elementary principal, Geraldine Moriarty, was presented with over 300 children’s books to bring back to her school. Lastly, the Postal Connections store in Amherst donated hundreds of dollars worth of shipping tape to Reader To Reader. The donation is no small thing as Reader To Reader devours mountains of tape in shipping thousands of books each month to schools as far away as Alaska. “I want to thank all of these organizations and businesses for their generosity,” notes executive director, David Mazor, “they have each played a part in helping us reach over 75,000 students across the country who now know the joy of reading because they have a wide variety of books where there were none before.” Reader To Reader, Inc. is a public charity that donates books, free of charge, to under-resourced school libraries across the United States. The award-winning organization serves nearly 200 schools in 26 states by recycling used books that are in top condition so that they can find new homes in school libraries. For Further Information Contact:
David Mazor |