Judith’s Reading Room Celebrates National Nutrition Month

Judith’s Reading Room Joins Voices in Celebration of National Nutrition Month
March is National Nutrition Month and Judith’s Reading Room, a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit literacy organization will join its voice with others in bringing attention to the topic by gifting over $500 worth of children’s gardening books to Allentown’s Casa Guadalupe’s WIC program that serves families with children under the age of five.

Perennially favorite children’s books like Blueberries for Sal, The Red Lemon, and The Carrot Seed, among dozens of others about fruits, vegetables and gardening will be offered to Casa’s clients that come in during March who have been previously counseled over the phone by its education coordinators and nutritionists, according to Dawn Bush, WIC and Wellness Coordinator.  “Counseling will inform parents about ways to change their grocery store habits and will offer ways to participate in community gardens,” said Bush.

“The importance to Casa Guadalupe having children’s fruit and vegetable books for National Nutrition Month is that families of the WIC program can learn about the importance of nutrition. They also get to spend time reading together,” added Bush.

“These hand-picked children’s books make learning about fruit and vegetables fun,” said Cathy Leiber, President, Judith’s Reading Room.  Ms. Leiber, a 16 year Penn State Master Gardener has donated over 1,500 volunteer hours in communities across the region.  Notably, she partnered with other Master Gardeners to create The Garden of New Beginnings at the Sixth Street Shelter in Allentown where fresh vegetables were grown.  She saw first-hand how many inner-city residents were surprised to see that tomatoes grow on a vine, in soil, since they had only seen tomatoes come out of a can.

Judith’s Reading Room’s mission is to enrich lives and societies by proactively encouraging freedom through literacy.  That mission has been fulfilled by establishing 101 libraries in 22 countries with 130,446 books donated worth over $1.4 million.  The annual $5,000 Freedom Through Literacy Award, is bestowed on champions of literacy, who have done exemplary work to instill in others a love of reading.  Applications are available at www.JudithsReadingRoom.org.  Deadline for submission is July 1, 2021.

To learn more about how to grow fruits and vegetables, contact your local county extension office.  For residents in Berks County call 610-378-1327; for Lehigh County, call 610-391-9840; for Northampton County, call 610-746-1970.

 

Judith’s Reading Room Joins Voices in Celebration of National Nutrition Month

NEWS RELEASE

CONTACT: Cathy Leiber
www.JudithsReadingRoom.org

Judith’s Reading Room Joins Voices in
Celebration of National Nutrition Month

February 22, 2021 – Blandon, Pa –  March is National Nutrition Month and Judith’s Reading Room, a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit literacy organization will join its voice with others in bringing attention to the topic by gifting over $500 worth of children’s gardening books to Allentown’s Casa Guadalupe’s WIC program that serves families with children under the age of five.

Perennially favorite children’s books like Blueberries for Sal, The Red Lemon, and The Carrot Seed, among dozens of others about fruits, vegetables and gardening will be offered to Casa’s clients that come in during March who have been previously counseled over the phone by its education coordinators and nutritionists, according to Dawn Bush, WIC and Wellness Coordinator.  “Counseling will inform parents about ways to change their grocery store habits and will offer ways to participate in community gardens,” said Bush.

“The importance to Casa Guadalupe having children’s fruit and vegetable books for National Nutrition Month is that families of the WIC program can learn about the importance of nutrition. They also get to spend time reading together,” added Bush.

“These hand-picked children’s books make learning about fruit and vegetables fun,” said Cathy Leiber, President, Judith’s Reading Room.  Ms. Leiber, a 16 year Penn State Master Gardener has donated over 1,500 volunteer hours in communities across the region.  Notably, she partnered with other Master Gardeners to create The Garden of New Beginnings at the Sixth Street Shelter in Allentown where fresh vegetables were grown.  She saw first-hand how many inner-city residents were surprised to see that tomatoes grow on a vine, in soil, since they had only seen tomatoes come out of a can.

Judith’s Reading Room’s mission is to enrich lives and societies by proactively encouraging freedom through literacy.  That mission has been fulfilled by establishing 101 libraries in 22 countries with 130,446 books donated worth over $1.4 million.  The annual $5,000 Freedom Through Literacy Award, is bestowed on champions of literacy, who have done exemplary work to instill in others a love of reading.  Applications are available at www.JudithsReadingRoom.org.  Deadline for submission is July 1, 2021.

To learn more about how to grow fruits and vegetables, contact your local county extension office.  For residents in Berks County call 610-378-1327; for Lehigh County, call 610-391-9840; for Northampton County, call 610-746-1970.

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10th Anniversary ‘Stand Out’ Library – Casa Guadalupe

To celebrate its 10th Anniversary, Judith’s Reading Room, a global literacy non-profit organization founded in 2010 kept good on its promise to bolster libraries it has donated over its 10 year history. 

Casa Guadalupe was selected as one of the 10 ’Stand Out’ libraries that Judith’s Reading Room selected to honor during our 10th Anniversary celebration.  The Board allocated a total of $5,000 to spend on books, for $500 each of the ten awardees.  In this case, we purchased 44 books valued at $513.




The theme for the donation is in honor of March being National Nutrition Month.  


Dawn Bush asked for terrific children’s books that would make fruit and vegetables fun for the children served at Casa.  Some of the books (Blueberries for Sal and Carrot Seed) were favorites of Cathy Leiber’s sons when they were little.
Sadly, our charitable donation is on hold because Casa Guadalupe (WIC) is closed so the nutritionists there are unable to receive our gift.  We will reschedule the donation when we get the “all clear” from the authorities.
 
Books Donated to Casa Guadalupe, Allentown, PA (Date Pending Coronavirus Update)
in celebration of the organization’s 10th Anniversary and in honor of National Nutrition Month

A is for Artichoke, A Foodie Alphabet from
  Artichoke to Zest, (2 copies)
Ahlberg, J., Each Peach Pear Plum
Brown, M.W., The Runaway Bunny
Byrd, R., In the Garden, Turn & Learn
Chapman, J., Vegetables in Underwear (2 copies)
Child, L., I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato
Collins, R., What Does An Anteater Eat?
Doyle, L., Watch Me Grow
Ehlert, L., Eating the Alphabet — Fruits & Vegetables  from A to Z
Fruits & Vegetables – S.T.E.A.M. Learning for Young Children (9 copies)
Gaines, J. We Are the Gardeners (7 copies)
Graham, O., Carrot Soup
Hood, M., Carrot & Pea, An Unlikely Friendship (2 copies)
Hudson, K., Too Many Carrots ( 2 copies)
McClosky, R., Blueberries for Sal
My 100 First Words (3 copies)
Nelson, K., If You Plant a Seed (3 copies)
Scarry, R., Best Little Word Book Ever!
Staake, B., The Red Lemon
Swanton, T., The Vegetable Bible (2 copies)
Yonezu, Y., 5 Little Apples

Judith’s Reading Room’s 10th Anniversary – 10 ‘Stand Out’ Libraries 

In addition to libraries, Judith’s Reading Room holds an annual competition for the “Freedom Through Literacy Award.”  Initiated in 2015, Judith’s Reading Room has disbursed $33,500 in prize money, honoring 31 individual champions of literacy in the United States, the Philippines, Bhutan, Pakistan, Rwanda, Cambodia, Mexico, Australia, Zimbabwe and Greece.

Applications for the 2020 Freedom Through Literacy Award may be found at www.judithsreadingroom.org/freedom-through-literacy-award/.  Deadline is July 1st.  Winners announced end of July. 

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