May 6, 2025 — A chance encounter on a flight from New York to San Francisco in 2017 found Cathy Leiber, President, Judith’s Reading Room of Pennsylvania and Professor Tissa Wijeratne, Senior Neurologist and Chair, Migraine Foundation of Australia seated next to each other.  Within minutes they discovered that they shared a passion for literacy, coming at it from wildly different perspectives.   The five-hour flight was filled with discussions of brain health, literacy, education and the role that reading plays in lifting people out of poverty.  Their conversation resulted eight years later in a shared commitment to establish a library in Dr. Tissa’s home country, Sri Lanka.  This epitomizes how a Judith’s Reading Room library materializes “out of thin air.”

Judith’s Reading Room, a global 501 (c) 3 literacy organization based in eastern Pennsylvania, was founded in 2010 in the memory of the founders’ first-cousin, Judith F. Krug, a distinguished American librarian who served 40 years as Director, Office of Intellectual Freedom at the American Library Association in Chicago, Illinois.  Its mission is to “enrich lives and societies by proactively encouraging freedom through literacy.”  One way the organization has achieved this mission is by dedicating (to date) 111 libraries in 25 countries with over 134,000 books valued at more than $1.44 million.

2025 marks the non-profit’s 15th anniversary and to celebrate the occasion, its board of directors voted to establish 15 new or enhanced libraries.  A call from Cathy to Dr. Tissa firmed up Sri Lanka as a candidate to become one of the 15 libraries to celebrate Judith’s Reading Room’s 15th anniversary.  The “15 Libraries to Celebrate its 15th Anniversary in 2025” initiative stretches across 4 oceans and 4 continents and will impact nearly 8,500 children and community members.  Sri Lanka’s will be the 14th library featured in the global 2025 celebration.

Cathy’s call prompted Dr. Wijeratne to declare his commitment to establish 1,000 libraries over five years in his homeland with Judith’s Reading Room’s library as the #1, first-ever, model library, expected to be dedicated in September. “Education is the key to restoring hope and progress in the region.  I and many others carry powerful personal stories that show how education is the only real antidote to poverty and historical injustice that traces back centuries,” Dr. Tissa explained.

Judith’s Reading Room will contribute USD$500 toward the purchase of children’s books in English while Dr. Tissa will mobilize large volumes of books in English, Sinhala and Tamil through the Sri Lankan expatriate community to embellish the organization’s library and to create the other 999 libraries.  Dr. Tissa declares, “Creating 1,000 libraries in five years is not just a dream — it’s an achievable reality.”

To learn more about Judith’s Reading Room, its awards and initiatives, visit our website at www.judithsreadingroom.org.

For more information about Judith’s Reading Room’s 111 libraries in 25 countries and our Awards, please visit www.judithsreadingroom.org.