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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Judith’s Reading Room’s 10th Anniversary Celebration Honors 10 of its ‘Stand Out’ Libraries 

NEWS RELEASE  
CONTACT:  Cathy Leiber
484-661-6151
 
 Judith’s Reading Room’s 10th Anniversary Celebration Honors 10 of its ‘Stand Out’ Libraries 

 January 28, 2020 — Lehigh Valley, Pa.  This year marks the 10th anniversary of Judith’s Reading Room, a nonprofit literacy organization, founded in 2010 in the memory of Judith F. Krug, Director, Office of Intellectual Freedom, American Library Association and cousin to the founders.   Its mission is to enrich lives and societies by proactively encouraging freedom through literacy.  The organization has fulfilled its mission by establishing 98 libraries in 21 countries with 128,000 books valued at nearly $1.4 million.

Judith’s Reading Room chose to celebrate this milestone by honoring 10 of its ‘stand out’ libraries  A special fund of $5,000 has been set aside to purchase new books for each library. 

 The 10 Judith’s Reading Room ‘Stand Out’ libraries are:

TEACH Rwanda, whose founder, Janet Brown, hails from Easton, Pa was the first to be notified that her organization was selected as one of the ten.  In 2016,  Judith’s Reading Room established its library in Rwanda at the Bright School in Muhanga, where public schools and libraries are rare, with a donation of 137 books valued at $1,181. 

“With Judith’s Reading Room’s help to provide the best books from around the world, Bright School is well-known in the community for children’s love of reading, “said Brown, President and Founder of TEACH Rwanda.   

“By supporting the good work of others, we aspire to share and celebrate people who are doing genuinely astonishing work, instilling in others a love of reading,” said Scott Leiber, Co-Founder of Judith’s Reading Room.

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.  Deadline is July 1st.  Winners announced end of July. 

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