NEWS RELEASE
CONTACT: Cathy Leiber
www.JudithsReadingRoom.org
Judith’s Reading Room Celebrates Its 15th Anniversary
With Bold Initiative: Launch 15 Libraries in 2025
Effort Spans 4 Oceans and 4 Continents Impacting Thousands of Kids
January 3, 2025 — Judith’s Reading Room, a global literacy nonprofit organization founded in 2010 will celebrate its 15th anniversary in 2025. The board of directors announced today that it had approved a bold initiative called “15 Libraries to Celebrate Its 15th Anniversary in 2025.” The organization will do that by dedicating 15 newly named libraries or by expanding a select few of its current libraries across the globe.
Founded in 2010 in the memory of Judith F. Krug, a distinguished librarian and cousin to the founders, Judith’s Reading Room responds to requests to get books into the hands of those without access. For example, in 2010 we answered the call from the PA National Guard who insisted that they needed books for our troops about to deploy toAfghanistan. Over 65 consecutive months, Judith’s Reading Room shipped more than 38,000 books. “We believe — like book lovers everywhere — that providing the exact books people want to people without access connects people to the world and makes their lives meaningful and richer,” said Cathy Leiber, President, Judith’s Reading Room.
To date, Judith’s Reading Room has inaugurated 108 libraries in 25 countries with more than 133,000 curated books donated at $1.4 million. To celebrate its milestone anniversary in 2025, literacy organizations around the world were invited to declare their interest in partnering with us on the “15 Libraries to Celebrate Its 15th Anniversary in 2025” initiative. Once identified, together with our literacy partners, we will zero in on the needs of the community and together, will build solid and meaningful collections.
Consulting Librarian and Judith’s Reading Room board member, Ana Luhrs, co-director of Easton, Pennsylvania’s Lafayette College Special Collections, and Ty Allan Jackson, award-winning children’s book author and literacy advocate, have been tasked to ensure that the 2025 Judith’s Reading Room libraries contain books sure to delight and instill in others a love of reading. This effort is at the heart and soul of Judith’s Reading Room.
Ana Luhrs commented, “For example, the curated collection of books for Rwanda includes state-of-the-art books on robotics and the ocean to give their Robotics Team a leg up in this year’s LEGO championship, and the bilingual children’s books for Puerto Vallarta give voice to the community’s insistence that public school children become fluent in English.”
Library dedications will commence in January 2025. Geographically, moving West to East, libraries will be established or enhanced from Portland, Oregon and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico on the Pacific Ocean across the United States to New York on the Atlantic Ocean, to Scotland and to South Africa on to the Southern Ocean reaching the island country of Sri Lanka on the Indian Ocean.
The 15 Libraries and their Dedication Dates
- Bright School/TEACH Rwanda, Muhanga, Rwanda — January 7
- Escuela Agustin Flores Contreras, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico — January 15
- Read for Literacy, “Real Men READ-y”, Toledo, Ohio — February 1
- Avery Chapel AME Church, Southaven, Mississippi — February 15
- Watch Me Grow Learning Academy, Grenada, Mississippi — February 15
- Mosaic Preparatory Academy, East Harlem, New York — March 14
- Louisiana Methodist Family & Children’s Services, Ruston, Louisiana — April 1
- Harkins House, Portland, Oregon — April 4
- Heavy Sound, Edinburgh, Scotland — May 30
- James Prendergast Free Library, Jamestown, New York — July 31
- Chinle Planting Hope, Navajo Nation, Chinle, Arizona — November 1
- Public School, Kirioruwa, Sri Lanka — TBD
- Vhulakanjhani Primary School, South Africa — TBD
- Shree Jantra Adharbhut Vidhyalaya School, Kathmandu, Nepal — TBD
- Shree Prasad St. School, Kathmandu, Nepal — TBD
Judith’s Reading Room, a 501 (c) 3 global literacy organization was founded in 2010 in the memory of Judith F. Krug, a distinguished librarian and cousin to the founders. The mission: “To enrich lives and societies by proactively encouraging freedom through literacy.” It has achieved that mission by dedicating (as of December 2024) 108 libraries in 25 countries with more than 133,000 books donated valued at $1.4 million.
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