News

Highlights

Projects

Achievements

In the Media

Highlights

Our First Year
In its first year of operation, Judith's Reading Room established five custom-designed mobile libraries with library carts in the United States and two permanent libraries in Afghanistan. The first ever war-zone library was dedicated The Judith F. Krug Memorial Library at Camp Phoenix, Kabul, Afghanistan. The first library at the Mehrabudin School in Kabul, serving 9,000, was dedicated as the result of books shipped by Judith's Reading Room. In one year, more than 11,000 books were donated, including 5,300 books shipped to American Soldiers and nearly 2,050 children's books shipped to Afghanistan.

Our First Library
On February 5, 2010, the first Judith's Reading Room mobile library was installed at the new 16-bed Pediatric Unit of Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Hospital in Bethlehem, PA. The custom-designed book cart was packed with 317 books and audio books valued at nearly $4,000. Five members of the Liberty High School Bagpipe Section presented his or her favorite childhood book to patients and parents at the Pediatric Unit and then performed.

Books for US Military
Since December 2009, at least one box of books (and as many as five) has been shipped each week to injured American soldiers recuperating in military hospitals overseas. On average, 13 books and audio books (sports, biographies, mysteries, crime stories) and several magazines are packed into each box along with a Judith's Reading Room bookmark and a handwritten letter addressed simply to Dear Soldier.


Noteworthy

• Boxing Party #25: April 2, 2012 marked the 25th consecutive month of community-minded patriots packing boxes of books for American Troops, Wounded Warriors, Nurses, and Veterans! Sponsored by the "No Rules" Book Club, led by Jenny McKenna, Boxing Party #25 had 23 boxers ranging in age from 4-years-old on up, who packed 26 boxes of 617 books with a cover-price value of $7,263! Since Boxing Party #1 back in April 2010, boxers have packed and shipped 19,432 books with a cover price of $213,983 to the troops! The books from this Boxing Party are destined for:
  • Troops in Afghanistan and Afghani children
  • Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Ramstein Air Base, Germany
  • LOCAL MARINES serving in Afghanistan
  • VETERANS at VA Hospitals in PA and NJ
  • The AIR FORCE in Kuwait and in Germany
  • Sailors on board the USS GEORGE H.W. BUSH (CVN 77) and the USS PORT ROYAL (CG 73)
• Our Boxing Party on March 5, 2012, marked the 2-year anniversary of boxing books for the troops. To recognize Judith's Reading Room boxers, Bethlehem Mayor Callahan presented us with a Proclamation, which he read, proclaiming Monday, March 5, 2012, as Judith's Reading Room Day! We also received proclamations from U.S. Senator Pat Toomey, the Honorable Charles Dent from the 15th Congressional District in Pennsylvania, and from Lehigh County Executive Don Cunningham for the important work done by Judith's Reading Room to promote literacy and encourage reading opportunities.
• Hats off to the Olympus volunteers who, during Boxing Party 23, packed 180 books for the Judith's Reading Room mobile library at Fox Chase Cancer Center; 205 books for the future Judith's Reading Room mobile library at the Children's Home of Easton; 100 pre-school books for our second library in Indonesia and 136 elementary children's books for a future library at a special needs school in Nigeria.


• On June 3, 2011, students at Northampton Area High School in Northampton, PA, donated 1,115 adult and children's books to Judith's Reading Room . This marks their 3rd donation since last year, bringing to a grand total 3,379 books they have donated in all!
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• In May, Senator Kerry and U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Elkenberry visited Balkh University and learned of Judith's Reading Room donations of books to that University, the 2nd largest in Afghanistan!
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• Judith's Reading Room has been granted an institutional buyer's discount at Barnes & Noble
• Club Read, a book club in Easton, PA, donated bags of used book club books.
• Thank you to Just Born of Bethlehem, PA, for its generous donation of PEEPS for the February 5th installation of the first Judith's Reading Room at the new Pediatric Unit of Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Hospital.
• Judith's Reading Room continues to receive generous donations of books and cash. Thank you to all our contributors!

2011 Projects

Libraries:

• USS George H.W.Bush Aircraft Carrier
• Veterans Sanctuary, Allentown, PA
• Westlake School, Westfield, NJ
• Kid’s Care Clinic, St. Luke's Hospital, Bethlehem, PA
• Behavioral Health Center, Westchester Medical Center, Valhalla, NY
• Casa Guadalupe, Allentown, PA
• U.S. Consulate, Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan

Book Drives:

• Haverton, PA Elementary School "Service Club"
• Legacy Oaks Community, Marlton, NJ
• Young Entrepreneurs of the Future "Book Club" collection, packing and shipping of books as a part of Global Youth Service Day, in Philadelphia, PA. Children read books aloud into tape recorders and the books along with tapes were shipped to Soldiers and the U.S. Consulate in Afghanistan in April of 2011.

Achievements

• February 15, 2012: Dedicated the first-ever English language children’s library at the Candipari II School, Sidoarjo, East Java, Indonesia, serving 211 children. Located within the Miep Gies library containing local language books, Judith’s Reading Room, containing 125 children’s books in English worth $1,033, was dedicated today on what would have been Miep Gies’ 103rd birthday.
• November 4, 2011: Judith's Reading Room donated to Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA, a mobile library including a hand-picked collection of 300 books worth $6,912. The donation was made in honor of Lawrence Nelson, father of Leora Hornick, a member of Judith’s Reading Room board of directors. In April, 2012 an additional 300 books worth $5,303 were added to the library for a total gift of 600 books at $12,215.
• October 19, 2011: Judith's Reading Room donated to Veterans Sanctuary, Allentown, PA a custom mobile library of 200 books worth $4,618. The first of its kind in the State of Pennsylvania, Veterans Sanctuary provides residential treatment for addiction and the effects of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), exclusively for veterans. Additional books were donated on Veterans Day, 2011 for a total donation of 307 books worth $6,701.
• October 3, 2011: The 5th permanent Judith's Reading Room library was installed at the Industrial Technical Mhila School, Ailum, Muzaffarnagar, INDIA. The custom collection of 41 vocational books worth $417 were hand-carried in luggage to India and included books on needlepoint, embroidery, hairdressing, English as a Second Language and basic computer skills. The library will give 100 girls the vocational skills to ensure a better future.
• September 26, 2011: In a unique collaboration with St. Luke’s Hospital and the Donegan Elementary School in Bethlehem, PA, Judith's Reading Room developed "Storytime at Judith’s Reading Room,” a monthly program with teams of storytellers. Volunteer storytellers read aloud and then give each 4- and 5-year-old attending the school three books to keep. Most of these 90 children are victims of generational poverty and do not have books in the home. The result is that they start school “not ready to learn.” To date, 2,100 books worth $16,800 have been gifted to these children to help them build their first-ever home libraries.
• September 21, 2011: Two custom mobile Judith's Reading Room libraries were donated to Westchester Medical Center’s Behavioral Health Center (BHC) in Valhalla, NY, one to the adult unit and one to the children’s/adolescent unit. The BHC serves acute psychiatric patients whose acuity levels are the highest in the country. The donation included 381 books worth $6,817. The donation coincided with Banned Books Week, an annual celebration of authors created by Judith F. Krug in 1982, and included more than a dozen “banned books.”
• September 6, 2011: An impressive collection of adult and children’s religious books were donated to Temple Covenant of Peace, Easton, PA, the 3rd oldest Synagogue in Pennsylvania. Judith's Reading Room's donation of 31 books worth $501 is made in memory of John Zago, brother of George Torrella.
• September 1, 2011: The 4th permanent Judith's Reading Room library was installed at Casa Guadalupe, Allentown, PA. The hand-picked collection of 2,362 books worth $21,487 makes this Judith's Reading Room largest donation to date. The library contains books for children pre-K to high school. Casa Guadalupe serves families who live in one of the most physically and economically distressed areas in Allentown.
• August 16, 2011: Judith's Reading Room donated 2,060 children’s and adult books to St. Luke’s Hospital & Health Network, Lehigh Valley, PA worth $20,927. The donation included six custom mobile libraries, including to KidsCare Clinics in Allentown, Bethlehem, and Easton; to the Adult Inpatient Unit in Bethlehem, to the hospital’s Medical Mobile Van serving 4 Lehigh Valley Middle Schools (Broughal, Northeast, Raub and Trexler) and to the Family Health Center located inside the Donegan Elementary School on Bethlehem’s Southside. Dr. Bonnie Coyle, Director, St. Luke’s Community Health Department, said of today’s donation, “We are very excited to collaborate with Judith’s Reading Room to continue to help at-risk low income children improve their reading skills throughout our local communities.”
• May/June 2011: Judith's Reading Room donated 117 new books worth $1,835 to Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA to celebrate Mother’s Day and Father’s Day 2011. The books were donated in honor of Patricia and William H. Horne and Wilda and Lawrence Nelson by their daughters Cathy Leiber and Leora Hornick, respectively.
• May 24, 2011: In collaboration with Garwood Cub Scout Pack #75, Judith's Reading Room donated a mobile library containing 732 children’s books worth $6,267 to Westlake School, Westfield, NJ, which serves multiply disabled students ranging in age from 7 to 21 years. The donation effectively doubled the size of the school’s library, according to Principal Dr. Cathy Patla.
• March 15, 2011: The 3rd permanent library was established on this date when Judith's Reading Room was officially “green-lighted” to ship books to the USS GEORGE H.W. BUSH (CVN 77), America’s newest aircraft carrier, home to 4,500 Sailors. Shipments are made monthly in honor of Charles A. Horne, Jr., a WWII naval hero and uncle of the Co-Founders. Since March 15, 2011, we have shipped 70 boxes to these Sailors containing 827 books worth $16,128. We also ship monthly to the USS PORT ROYAL (CG 73).
• February 22, 2011: Donated a mobile library to the Lehigh Valley Hospital Children’s ER – the first of its kind in the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania. The donation of 566 children’s books is worth $3,687. Subsequently, 29 books were added, bringing the total gift to 595 children’s books worth $3,891.
• January 31, 2011: Consulate Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan, invited Judith's Reading Room to establish a library of military history books, world and U.S. history, biographies and important works of non-fiction. Books delivered to the Consulate were shared with the 10th Mountain division Soldiers (NY State) at Camp Marmal, with U.S. troops at Camp Northern Lights, Balkh Province, and with Balkh University, Afghanistan’s 2nd largest university. Judith's Reading Room has shipped a total of 519 books worth $9,708.
• November 19, 2010: Donated to the Pediatric Unit of Lehigh Valley Health Network, Allentown, PA, a mobile library stocked with a custom collection of 484 children’s books valued at $4,478.
• Since November 9, 2010: On this date, Judith's Reading Room launched the “VA ‘100’ Program.” Judith’s Reading Room ships 100 paperback books on a monthly basis to interested VA hospitals. The “VA 100” member hospitals include, in Pennsylvania the VA Medical Center in Wilkes-Barre, Coatesville Veteran’s Hospital, the VA in Altoona and the Library at Butler Healthcare. In New Jersey we ship to the VA in East Orange. Since November 9, 2010, Judith’s Reading Room has shipped 5,550 paperback books worth $45,400.
• September 29, 2010: Judith's Reading Room delivered a hand-picked collection of 33 new children’s books worth $330 to Casa Guadalupe, Allentown, PA, for its Pa’Lante program. The Pa’Lante program is an after-school program for second language, at risk, learners in grades 1 to 5.
• Since September 10, 2010: Judith's Reading Room began shipping books to Marines in Iraq and Afghanistan. Since September 10, a total of 1,156 books worth $15,673 have been shipped to the U.S. Marines.
• September 1, 2010. Donated to the Pediatric Unit of Advocate Lutheran General Hospital, Park Ridge, IL, a mobile Judith's Reading Room library. Jessica Florence Krug, the grand-daughter of Judith F. Krug, for whom Judith's Reading Room is named, organized the donation of 700 children’s books worth $5,600 as her Bat Mitzvah service project.
• August 18, 2010: Donated to Old Orchard Health Care Center, Easton, PA, c/o Molly Border as beneficiary, a custom Judith's Reading Room mobile library, containing 227 LARGE PRINT books worth $3,551. Subsequent donations have been added. As of today, a total of 609 LARGE PRINT books worth $8,095 have been delivered to this senior facility.
• July 11, 2010: On this date, the 1st permanent Judith's Reading Room library was established at the Mehrabudin School in Kabul, Afghanistan, with its one-time donation of 911 books in 34 boxes worth $5,912. The donation created the first-ever library at this school, serving more than 9,000 students. It was dedicated by the 1/178th Field Artillery Battalion’s Camp Phoenix Soldiers, volunteers with Operation Outreach Afghanistan, a Soldier-led organization designed to provide humanitarian aid to Afghani civilians.
• Since July 2010: Judith's Reading Room began shipping boxes of books to the United States Air Force, Ali al-Salem Air Base, Kuwait City, Kuwait. We also ship to Airmen stationed in Kazakhstan and Germany. As of this date, we have shipped a total of 1,555 books worth $20,681.
• June 11, 2010: Donated to the Da Vinci Science Center in Allentown, PA, a custom Judith's Reading Room library, containing 223 science and math books, valued at $3,002. The museum-on-wheels will travel to inner-city schools too poor to provide field trips for their students. Subsequent donations have been added, bringing our gift to a total of 411 books worth $4,989.
• Since May 2010: Judith's Reading Room started shipping children’s books c/o the 1/178th Field Artillery Battalion and the 1/182nd Infantry, Kabul, Afghanistan in support of Operation Outreach Afghanistan, the military’s premier intellectual infra-structure project whose mission is to build schools across Afghanistan. We have shipped 3,141 children’s books worth $20,518.
• Since April 2010: The PA National Guard asked Judith's Reading Room to help establish "Lending Libraries" in support of US Provincial Reconstruction Teams deployed across Afghanistan. Since April 2010, we have shipped a total of 2,989 books in 217 boxes worth $40,998.
• February 5, 2010: Donated to the Pediatric Unit of Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Hospital in Bethlehem, PA, a custom Judith's Reading Room mobile library, containing 317 books worth $3,800. Subsequent donations bring to a total 538 books worth $6,504.
• Since January 2010: Judith's Reading Room has shipped a total of 2,089 books to wounded Soldiers and Marines recuperating at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center near Ramstein Air Base, Germany and the Nurses serving them in 142 boxes worth $28,440.

In the Media

• Judith's Reading Room was featured on the WLVT/PBS Channel 39 series Tempo InDEPTH under the topic of literacy! Scott and Cathy were interviewed in segments that ran on Monday, Wednesday and Friday during the first week of April 2012.
• In October 2011, Judith's Reading Room helped to set up a library for schoolgirls in a remote village in India. Read the Express-Times article here.
• Watch the video from NBC 10/Philadelphia's visit to Boxing Party #6 in September 2010!
• Judith's Reading Room presented a fully-stocked library of 223 math and science books to the Da Vinci Science Center. Watch here.
• Read the Morning Call's article and blog post about our donation to Lehigh Valley Hospital's new Children's ER.
• Barnes & Noble at the Lehigh Valley Mall named Judith's Reading Room its 2010 Holiday Book Drive charity, with special story-time guest readers during its book drive. Read the Morning Call article here.
• See the Express-Times photo of the Old Orchard Health Care Center donation to Molly Border.
• Read the Morning Call newspaper article reporting on the dedication of the first Judith's Reading Room library at the Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Hospital's Pediatric Unit in Bethlehem, PA, on February 5, 2010.
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