NEWS RELEASE
CONTACT: Cathy Leiber
www.JudithsReadingRoom.org
First-Ever Library at Under-Resourced School Thrills
Children and Teachers in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
February 28, 2024 — Judith’s Reading Room announced the dedication of its 106th library at a public school in central Puerto Vallarta serving 189 students. Last Thursday, their world changed with the library’s inauguration at Escuela ‘Agustin Flores Contreras’ containing 538 bi-lingual, Spanish and English books, with a value of $3,632.
Judith’s Reading Room provided the books while the parents of the schoolchildren did all the rest. The fathers painted the library space a cheerful lime green, built custom-designed shelves and the mothers sewed cherry-red curtains. The parents had pressured the school principal to get books into the hands of their children because they knew better than anyone how debilitating it is to go through life, especially in a tourist town, without English. One parent said, “when you know English, half of your problems are solved.”
“Today the moment has arrived to inaugurate our school library — a space where you will find countless treasures to discover… magical places to know … and unexpected adventures to unearth. A space where our children can cast their imagination from the instant they touch a book,” said principal Maria Guadalupe Ramirez Lopez. The founders of Judith’s Reading Room, Scott & Cathy Leiber, met Ms. Lopez during a library opportunity exploration trip in November, 2023. It was during this meeting that the founders learned the school had no books, no library, no computers. The 106th library took just three months from being an idea to becoming a reality.
Four members of Judith’s Reading Room board of directors, (Scott & Cathy Leiber, Co-Founders, Linda Wellstein, Esq., Vice President, International and Carla Border, retired high school teacher) spent the week organizing and classifying the books and filling the shelves. Working in teams of two — one Spanish-speaker and one English-speaker — the board members taught English to all classes using books from the library, childhood songs and puppets to engage the children and to spark their imaginations.
“To see the look of pure amazement, pure joy — almost shock — on a child’s face who has never seen nor held a book in their life, touched my heart and reinforced my commitment to spread the joy of reading to children around the world, “said Cathy Leiber, President and Co-Founder, Judith’s Reading Room.
Dignitaries attending the event included the Academic Coordinator, Puerto Vallarta’s Cultural Center, the ‘Professor Martin 
Meza Sendis’ Library Coordinator, officers of the Parents Association and local educational authorities. Following the official ceremony and ribbon-cutting, the students, their teachers and parents entered the library by grades, allowing the children time to explore the books. The library was dedicated in honor of the founder’s high school Spanish teacher, Ms. Lola Danielli of Lafayette, California, whom Cathy credits with changing her life. A plaque in her honor was adhered to the wall inside the library.
Judith’s Reading Room, a global nonprofit literacy organization was founded in 2010 in the memory of Judith F. Krug, first cousin to the founders, who served as Director for Intellectual Freedom at the American Library Association for over 40 years. Judith’s Reading Room’s mission is to enrich lives and societies by proactively encouraging freedom through literacy. We have fulfilled that mission by establishing 106 libraries in 23 countries with over 133,000 donated books. For more information, visit the website at www.judithsreadingroom.org.
/WFMZ – TV interviewed Cathy Leiber, President and Co-Founder, Judith’s Reading Room and via zoom Maria Guadalupe Ramirez Lopez (“Lupita”), principal of Escuela ‘Agustin Flores Contreras’.
PUERTO VALLARTA, MX.- Judith ‘s Reading Room anunció la inauguración de su biblioteca número ciento seis en una escuela pública del centro de Puerto Vallarta. La escuela Austin Flores Contreras ahora tiene sienes de libros para sus estudiantes.
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